Evaluation Blog

I have really enjoyed this unit BC2006 - Working in the broadcast media. i have learnt many things about industry life as well as myself. Through doing this work experience it has been made clear to me, how I am personally going to proceed into the media industry. By Comparing my experiences of Endemol (Runner) & TwoFour (Logger), I have learnt that the runner roles suit me & my character best.  It is my ultimate ambition to become a researcher, as my experience at Deal or No Deal as "Audience Researcher" has reiterated & reinforced my love & passion for researching factual entertainment subjects.

If I was to do my work experience again, i would endeavour to maintain a positive enthusiastic approach to all my placements, regardless of my issues, as i have learnt from this experience that the media industry isn't all glamour, you do have to put a lot of effort in, & that in the beginning of your career there are a lot of lows, the jobs will be boring & mundane  & you will be expected to do the less than favourable tasks. But In the future, you will go onto what you want to be weather that's, camera man, director, producer, etc. 

Link.

http://www.dealornodeal.co.uk

www.twofour.co.uk 

    

Weston Hospice Care DVD Evaluation.

Pre-production went very well, communication hit off to a good start, with several positive meetings with Liz & Tracey. I feel that perhaps my lack of in depth planning had a nock on effect in the filming of the project. For instance if I’d of carried out an extensive recce I’d of spotted that there was a lot of clutter in the room, which was visible on camera, distracting the viewer in the final edited film.

Originally it was decided to have two days filming, the 1^st days filming went without any problems, equipment was at the hospice ready and set up ½ hour before filming was due to commence. We got plenty of footage, but felt as a team we did not get enough cut a ways of around the hospice, this was mainly down to the hospice placing major constraints on us with what we could & couldn’t film with regard to patient confidentiality. Two days before the second shoot we found out that the equipment scheduled for the 2^nd days filming had been double booked to the 1^st year students. It was at this juncture we had to cancel the 2^nd days filming, which displeased the hospice as they had invested time & people into the organising the 2^nd days content. We were unable schedule the days shoot due to deadlines & coursework constraints fast approaching which inevitably left us short of material to fulfil our brief.

It was then decided to schedule a meeting with the hospice to discuss the content of the film. Structure & content were agreed at this point over the phone, as I stupidly forgot about the scheduled meeting. The next day keely & I scheduled a meeting to view the material edited, make any changes & add finishing touches, so a DVD could be burnt off & given to the hospice at our next meeting. Due to technical problems with Keely’s computer we were unable to burn a copy of the disk, so it was decided that Keely would come with me to the hospice to view material from Keely’s computer. The hospice were very pleased with the final DVD only commenting on the sound issues & asked us to change the sequence of two sections. Although it was decided that the hospice were not going to use our DVD it secured the desire for professional DVD in their minds.

This was the 1^st time I had taken on the role as producer organising a team of people. I feel I did not carry out this role as effectively as I could of due to lack of preparation & organisation on my part & poor communication skills between the hospice, my team, & the college. I also feel I did not fulfil the role as a producer of overseeing all aspects of the production i.e. during the edit I should have been more proactive, informing Keely of the changes I thought necessary, rather than letting her get on with it. I know Keely put a lot of hard work & effort into this project & spent more time on the edit than she should of to get the film as polished as it is.

I have learnt from this project that producing is not one of my strengths, I know I should’ve been more thorough in double checking things & should’ve been more proactive throughout the whole project, rather than being my comfortable passive self. If I was going to do this project again I feel would take on a more passive role for instance scripting as I know this is something I am good at & I know I can deliver the goods well.

I have learnt from this project that if filming I would keep the main camera on a wide shot of the speaker rather than zooming in & out, Having the hand held getting zooming shots and audience reaction shots. I also feel from a technical point of view I would need to pay more attention the quality of sound.

All in all I think we managed to pull off an extremely hard project, quite well, we managed to deliver the hospice with a DVD that they could use for training purposes, which is what they set out to achieve when they approached the college at the beginning of this project, & I feel as a group we have learnt a lot of invaluable skills from making this film.

Links:

http://www.westonhospicecare.org.uk

www.weston.ac.uk 

 

 

Day 4 – Across The Pond Filming.

Call time 8:15am, another extremely long day. I picked several people up from the train station about 7:45am , we then made our way to the production office, where Brendan gave us the low down on the days schedule. We were using three locations today & had a lot to pack in! Our 1st filming location, was the hotel, we were filming the vacancy / no vacancy scene where James (Havier) turns up looking for a hotel to stay in, as he has nowhere to go, As runner I ran people down to the hotel & also equipment too, this involved two trips as my car was not big enough for everything. On location I was in charge of continuity, it was my job again to take shot notes, time codes, & shot / scene numbers.  Our 2^nd location was back at Sam’s house, we were shooting the scene where James (havier) nocks on Phoebe’s (James’s Ex Girl Friend) door. Here the scene is very dramatic with a lot of emotion. Half way through filming at the 2^nd location, I left with the set dressers to dress my dining room, as the 3^rd location was based at my house, I was surprised & amazed what set dressers can do! My dining room is rather minimalist, but the script describes the dining room as cluttered & non-minimalist, so the set dressers came in & subtly but tastefully cluttered the dining room with flowers, photographs, & wall hangings etc. It was interesting to see my ding room in this light, as I actually liked what they did! It was 9pm at this point & the cast & crew were only just arriving at my house, I was exhausted & really wanted to go to sleep at this point as I had now been up 14 hours, but I kept going! As it was my house, it was decided that I would take a more of a passive role on the production, as people would need instructing where things were for instance the toilets etc. It was nearly midnight we were all exhausted by the time we finished filming, but there was certainly an air of satisfaction!

http://web.mac.com/javierronceros/Site/Welcome.html

www.weston.ac.uk

http://picasaweb.google.com/acrossthepond.pilot 

Day 3 Across The Pond Filming.

 

We had a call time of 4:30pm as it was an evening / nights shoot.  The aim of this evenings shoot was to film “The Blakehay Runners “ An amateur dramatic society based in the building that James (havier) had applied to be manager of. Today I took on the role EPK, whilst Corrie Raymond was in hospital; it was my responsibility to get back stage footage, interviews, general scene shoots, & establishing shots of the Blakehay theatre. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this job role when it was decided I was going to stand in for corrie. But I surprised myself at how much I really did enjoy this job role! It gave me the chance to be creative with camera, something I had never really done before, as in previous productions I had strict scripts  to film, which did not allow this much creativity with the camera.

http://web.mac.com/javierronceros/Site/Welcome.html

www.weston.ac.uk

http://picasaweb.google.com/acrossthepond.pilot 

Day 2 Across The Pond Filming.

The 2^nd days filming started a lot latter in the day about 10:30am, which was great fro me as I’m not really an early riser in the mornings.

 

Having learnt from yesterday’s lack of clothing mistake, I made sure I turned up with about 10 layers on (slight exaggeration, but not far off!) I was like the Michelin woman. Today the director had organised another person to be in charge of continuity, so I was a spare runner, & running I did! I spent most of the day driving people between locations, which I didn’t mind as it was the warmest job available.

 

After the days filming, we headed back to the production office for a production meeting, where we watched the footage filmed back & discussed the rest of the weeks filming schedule. Once again another delicious spread of food laid on for us

http://web.mac.com/javierronceros/Site/Welcome.html

www.weston.ac.uk

http://picasaweb.google.com/acrossthepond.pilot 

Day One Filming Across The Pond.

It was an 8:15am call, which meant we all had to be at the production office for about 8:00am. It was my role as producer’s assistant to meet & greet all involved on the production from the train station & drive them to the production office.  Today I picked up …… (actress) & Adam Jones director of stills photography.

 

At the production office we were greeted by the pleasant smell & delicious taste of toast tea, croissants, bagels  & other yummys. Whilst we were eating & getting to know each other on the days shoot, Havier , Brendan, Sam,  ran through the days schedule 1^st thing we were shooting James (Havier ) in Grove Park. 2^nd thing we were shooting James (havier ) at the hotel & 3rdly we were going to be filming James (havier) at the bus top.

 

It was my role as producers assistant to double up as continuity, so throughout the whole day it was my job to stand next to the camera, producers, & directors, scribing down notes, e.g. good, bad, boom dropped into shot, etc about each scene , I also noted the scene, e.g, scene 1, shot A (Grove Park) Take 1,2,3,4, etc. & I also took down the time code in e.g 00:00:00 & the time code out e.g.  00:00:58.

The day went very quickly, finished filming by 2pm, which on the day I was glad about as I was frozen! 1^st lesson learnt wear lots & lots of layers of clothing! You can never wear to many & you can certainly take them off if you get too hot. 

http://web.mac.com/javierronceros/Site/Welcome.html

www.weston.ac.uk

http://picasaweb.google.com/acrossthepond.pilot 

BC2006 - Working In The Broadcast Media

Across The Pond. - Synopsis.

The title is Across the Pond, and a basic synopsis is; the two main characters James and Kate lived in LA together and then Kate went home to England breaking up the relationship. James vows he will follow within a few weeks but dosnt get there for 5 years for various reasons. When he does arrive Kate has moved on and married, although not for love. James takes a job running the local theatre and managing the local amateur dramatic society (he ran a small theatre in LA). He moves into a guesthouse run by woman, potentially romantic relationship.

Then plan is to write the show in a five year story arc as a romantic comedy, with quite a few local characters  and several story lines running concurrently. Kind of a 'will they wont they' plot. Although there will be more a lot more complications. Kate has a teenage daughter (not Jame's), her new husband seems like a good guy on the surface, but there's more to him, and James may really end up with the other female lead who runs the guest house and introduces him to the English idiosyncrasies, such as odd food (toad in the whole, fagots, spotted dick; a new dish each episode) and colloquialisms.

http://web.mac.com/javierronceros/Site/Welcome.html

www.weston.ac.uk

http://picasaweb.google.com/acrossthepond.pilot 

BC2003 Working in Broadcast Media

Web Blog 6.

Evaluation.

 

On the day it went very smoothly with no hiccups, our extensive planning paid off, although due to circumstances beyond our control we had to deviate from our original plan, this included last minute changes to the focus of the event, having to completely change the angle at which we were pitching the event to our audience e.g. it went from an annual event encouraging young people to do the course, to a one off event enticing young people into the media industry. Another problem we encountered related to the above problem was a lot of things had gone to press & banners & flyers were printed so we had to contact all of the companies in concern & make sure all evidence of the previous idea had been scrapped. Having looked at the feedback if I was to do this project again I would pitch it more of a round table discussion with the guest speakers answering the same questions, e.g. in the style of BBC’s question time. On the technical side I also feel that if we were a little more organised we could ironed out a lot of technical problems that could of easily been avoided. E.g. having showreel’s already loaded in the computer, would have saved waiting & would have been more professional. In summary the event went very well, as a group we worked well together I personally feel our portfolio illustrates this & as well as the event itself, there is very little I’d change if I was to do this again!

Link: www.weston.ac.uk

Link: www.yourmediayourfuture.co.uk 

BC2003 Working in Broadcast Media

Web Blog 5.

Group Event.

My day started by organising the front desk, as it was my job role to check delegates in giving them name badges, explaining the quizinaire and handing out cookie tokens. Unfortunately there were a few that turned up late, but as a group we decided to carry on without them. Once everyone was checked in and seated we were able to join in & watch the conference & guest speakers.

 

I found Cormack’s speech most interesting as I am most interested in journalism, subjects touched upon during his speech, are new concepts not learnt on the course, but very much tap into my interest in print journalism. Consequently I have decided to go back to my roots within the factual entertainment to focus my efforts in the future on the journalistic aspect of the media industry.

 

I found Jason Holmes show real really entertaining & riveting as it was the beginning of a programme, illustrating well that it is so hard to create a show real that informs people of exactly what you do.

 

I found Valerie’s speech interesting as it was more of a personal account of her route into the media, talking about highs & lows & manoeuvring & taking / making career decisions to get her next promotion / job. Conveying a holistic point that sometimes you need to take a step back in order to move forward.  

 

I found Laura’s speech also very interesting as again it was very much a personal account, but she tailored what she was saying very much towards the audience. E.g. 16 / 17 year old boys. I also liked the point she made about having a fall back plan, by all means be enthusiastic & keen to put yourself about in the media, but always having a back up if all goes wrong.

 

After the event we got the opportunity to sit with guest speakers over lunch to talk about the media industry some more.

Link: www.yourmediayourfuture.co.uk

Link: www.weston.ac.uk 

Link: www.heart.co.uk 

BC2003 Working in Broadcast Media

Blog 4.

 Chairing the meeting.

 

Meeting number 7 I chaired, initially I wasn’t overly comfortable with the role, but as soon as the meeting got underway I slipped into the role comfortably. In this meeting we covered a lot of ground as it was the final meeting before the event. We finalised the Budget, with Kim giving us the low down on what was agreed with North Somerset & Sadie Skellon (He Funding co-ordinator for Weston College). North Somerset county council agreeing to give the full funding amount, requested of £750.00, & Sadie Skellon agreeing to give £500.00 of College money, giving us a total budget for the event of £1,350,00. We discussed the speakers & in which order we’d like them to appear on stage on the day, we decided as a team that Valerie Burke-Ward, Commissioning Editor would go 1^st, Cormac Macmahon Heart Fm news editor would go 2^nd, Jason Holmes Freelance Director would go 3^rd, & Laura Abrahams Freelance Producer would go last. We decided to place them in this order based on their showreels & personal statements & how in this order flowed nicely, with one perfectly leading into the other. Unfortunately the actors cancelled last minute. Alecia confirmed that the performance space had been booked. Sam confirmed that the posters & fliers would ready in time. & I confirmed that the press release would have gone to press by the deadline. The only thing we were unable to get a definite answer on was the time scale on the banners being done on time. All in all it was a very good meeting, we covered a lot of serious matters, & I can say by the end of the meeting, I am now confident & happy to chair other meetings in the future.

Link: www.yourmediayourfuture.co.uk

Link: www.weston.ac.uk 

BC2003 Working in Broadcast Media

PRESS RELEASE.

By Kate Pritchard.

Web Blog 3.

 

“Your Media, Your Future.”

Weston College Interactive Media Event.

 

Broadcast Media students from Weston College are hosting an Interactive Media Event titled “Your Media, Your Future” aimed at School leavers to inform them of the various jobs & roles within the media industry, with personal accounts from guest speakers of their route into the media industry. “If you’re interested in Film, TV, or Radio this is a great opportunity to find out how to get into the industry, & meet industry professionals.” Sam Simmonds event organiser & Broadcast Media Student.

 

The Event will be held in the performance space at Weston College’s University Campus, Loxton Road, Weston-super-Mare on Tuesday 5^th May 2009 between 10am & 12:15pm. The Event includes guest speakers Cormac Machon Radio News Editor Heart FM, Valerie Burke-Ward Freelance TV Producer, & Jason Holmes Freelance TV Director. Sketches, & interactive workstations with a quizanaire, prizes up for grabs. “This promises to be a very entertaining event with top level speakers from TV, Radio and a Film Production. The second year students on the Foundation Degree in Broadcast Media have done a very good job in organising this event for one of their assignments.”  Said Kim Brooke Co-ordinator of the Foundation Degree in Broadcast Media.

 

For more information please contact Leah Whiting Email Leah.whiting@weston.ac.uk or visit our website www.yourmediayourfuture.co.uk . This event is funded by the Find Your Talent North Somerset pathfinder. Find Your Talent gives children and young people, aged between 0 and 19 years, the chance to try out different cultural and creative activities. It's about helping them to discover new things, to express themselves, to develop a passion and to make the most of their talent. Whether it is music, art, film, theatre, dance, digital media, exploring libraries, museums or heritage, Find Your Talent is for every child and young person, whatever their age and whatever their ability.

Link : www.findyourtalent.org

Link: www.weston.ac.uk

 

 

BC2003 Working in Broadcast Media

Your Media Your Future Minutes

Web Blog 2.

I have posted the minutes of this meeting up as I wrote them, this web blog shows my contribution to the team effort.

 

Date: 24/02/09

Present: Kim, Tom, Adam, Alecia, Kate

RECAP FOR TOM.

 

Group style

Spoke to Wendy (audience)

Established music performance space

Intention educate inform, enthuse 16 -20 years into media industry.

Actors simulate real life media scenarios (networking)

Timings (3 hours)

Interactive – show reels, computer stations, information points / display boards.

Speakers

 

Agenda for this meeting.

 

Date of event. 05/05/09 (Tuesday) based on Wendy’s group Morning event. Agreed 10.30am best for everyone.

Name of the event.

Confirm roles.

Confirm tasks.

Filming event – Tom has volunteered.

 

 

·      Matters Arising

 

Budget.

 

“If the money can be used to raise the expectations of the Btec students Sadie can give us money” Sadie.

 

Sarah Clarke approach Alice miller from n Somerset council Alice replied referred Kim to a new person up to £750 possibly available

 

No money from the enrichment guy.

 

 

Suggestions / Ideas.

 

Loxtons Cafeteria possible venue for refreshments (Tom’s idea)

Performance space (Adam to confirm availability)

refreshments in the gallery

Interactive in the gallery.

Make students sign in. (kim’s idea)

Questionairres to make students involved. – answers found around the event. (kim’s idea) E.g. What skills you need to be a director.

Refeshments in the reception area.

 

Questions.

 

Has Kim found any suitable speakers?

Last years speakers not available this year.

Cormac macmahon from GWR  news Is possibly available.

 

Speakers.

 

Payments.

We can pay 3 freelancers. (3hours + mileage 40p per mile)

 

Warren Smith (Adam’s contact)

Valerie Burke Ward (Kate’s Contact) Email Valerie 24/02/09

Cormac macmahon (GWR) (Kim’s Contact)

 

10 minutes speaking

5 minutes show real

5 minutes Q&A

5 speakers 2 hours total speaking time.

 

Descsions Made

Action (Jobs to be done.)

 

Adam To find out about music space.

Adam Contacting Warren Smith

Kim To find out available Cormac macmahon & Ben Marks (GWR)

Kate Flyers & displays.

Kate Email Valerie.

Alecia arrange to meet Btec students & get questions.

Everyone Think about possible on screen presenters willing to speak

Kim to find press cutting / personality profile.

Alecia Reeccee the performance space.

Tom will book equiment

Adam talk

Style of event.

 

Preparations Monday evening 5 – 8pm

Preparations Tuesday morning 8:30 – 10am

 

Host giving a welcome. (5 mins)

Interactive Browzing (25 mins)

Settling down (10 mins)

Speaker 1 (20 mins)

Sketch 1 (5 mins)

Speaker 2 (20 mins)

Sketch 2 (5 mins)

Refershments

Speaker 3

Sketch 3

Speaker 4

 

Need to ok with technicians food & drink with computers

 

Next meeting

 

Role allocation

Name of event

Style of event

Date of next meeting.

Chair Alecia

Minute tom.

Link: www.yourmediayourfuture.co.uk

Link: www.weston.ac.uk

 

BC2003 Working in Broadcast Media

Web Blog 1.

About the conference.

This module is about organising a media event. It will involve all the same sorts of production skills speaker & customer liaison that of which are similar to those involved in organising a film. We will look at event planning and management skills, budget planning, & time management. We will have to deliver an event including drafting & editing promotional material. e.g. websites fliers & posters.  Initially we brainstormed ideas & came up with the idea of an interactive event aimed at school leavers encouraging them to sign up for the foundation degree, & or to continue to pursue a career in the media industry. But during the later stages of planning we had to change the direction of the event due to unforeseen circumstances. The event is still aimed at school leavers, but its main emphasis is to encourage youngsters to consider the possibilities of a career within the media. I am most looking forward seeing this project through, from concept to fruition, as I believe our idea of a interactive media event will tap into youngsters minds & will hopefully enthuse them to start a career in the media or persuade those already in the media to further their career. I am a little apprehensive about a few of the leadership roles involved during this module, but I hope I will succeed & learn to conquer my leadership fears.  

Link: www.yourmediayourfuture.co.uk

Link: www.weston.ac.uk 

 

Summary Of My Experience @ TwoFour

Whilst I was at TwoFour I felt I was discriminated against being dyslexic I didn’t feel on top of the world at the end of the week, as the entry level tasks I was given at TwoFour will always reflect badly on any dyslexic. Consequently I felt I learnt failure!

 

Work environments can be very stressful to those who are not familiar  with a new location and for whom there is no guidance as to what is expected of them. This can be a disconcerting experience that can lead to illness. An example of this that is recognised is ‘freshers-flu’. It is all to easy for those who have become comfortable in their familiar working environment to overlook the effect that there complacency can have.

 

 

I felt that I was failing in my own eyes as well as in the expectataions of the staff at TwoFour who saw me taking a long time to achieve anything and judged that I was not capable of anything else. I did not get the opportunity to shadow other people and experience other aspects of the work.

 

 

Endemal structured the time spent there so even though one was in a different function each day, one was left in no doubt of the expectations upon you. TwoFour however has no such planning and is in danger of being accused of a narrow exploitation of cheep labour to cover only a task that the paid staff would prefer not to see themselves doing. Maybe there is some kind of cultural hierarchy that they see themselves above those who carry out less creative tasks that are still essential to bringing the product to the screen. Snobbery and elitism. In their conceit they fail to recognise that despite the small number of quality media jobs available, they still must work to attract quality staff with motivation, imagination and talent. TwoFour is in danger of weeding out the creative individuals with a mechanism that favours those who only blindly go through the motions.

 

 Link:

www.twofour.co.uk 

Advice

-                you’ve got to be passionate.

-                You cant have any other commitments (e.g. family)

-                Their company is not interested in you having a life, they want to be in control. Sometimes you cant even plan your evening, because they may ask you to stay on late that day.

-                If you like that lifestyle you’ll go far in the industry.

-                You’ve got to be selfish, yet a team player.

 

Three days into my experience here at TwoFour I’ve begun to understand the culture of the company, everyone very wrapped up in what they were doing & not bothering to intregrate you to others unless they thought you were useful.

 

Key skills TwoFour are looking for.

-                Enthusiasm

-                Keen

-                Team Player

-                Good communication skills

-                Sense of humour

-                Competent

-                Can hold your own in conversation.

-                Good grounding e.g. good BA degree in media related subjects.

-                Good Portfolio

-                Keep in contact with contacts.

-                Always positive, no one cares about your moans & groans.

 

Hazel Wallis route in the media industry (it took her 75 applications before she got offered her 1^st job as a runner 10 years ago.)

 

Runner 

Junior Researcher 

Seniour Researcher

Assistant Producer

Producer

Director.

Currently producer / director of Gutted for UK Style.

Link

www.twofour.co.uk 

 

Commissoning Process @ Two Four

BBC commission TwoFour to produce 6 ½ hour programmes.

 

 

TwoFour need staff to meet that commission from initial ideas to finished product.

 

 

Someone like like mysef (FREELANCE / SELF EMPLOYED) approach production company (E.G. TWOFOUR)

 

 

Get Contract.

 

 

Contracted to work on production. Contracts last from 3 weeks to 6 months depending on programme commissioned & weather its high budget (starcks school of design) or low budget (hotel inspector)

 

          

 

 Work on the production.

 

 

Production goes to air, depending if it pulls in the viewers, may get re-commissioned again if so  your contract gets renewed.

 

If  contract not renewed, contract expires, or if the production company have more commissions & you were good, may get contract renewed to work on the new commission.

link:

www.twofour.co.uk