I must admit that this blog’s title is
slightly deceptive, because when I do work it is in fact play :)
I never thought that I would enjoy my first
year at University so much; it has been all that I dreamt it would be and
more. I’m not going to lie, it was extremely difficult, but looking back I
wouldn’t wish it any other way. I think I have come very far and I can’t wait
to see what next year has to offer.
From a critical perspective there is a lot
that I need to improve on. For example in semester one, my blog posts were not
up to scratch. Although I enjoyed the political side of philosophy and I
contributed well in my seminars, somehow that did not reflect as well in my
blogs. By semester two I think that I did improve, by not just copying out
lecture notes and actually rewording them so I understood more clearly. Next year when it comes to philosophy, I
think that I have to write more in depth blog posts, hopefully this will be
easier as I can now link back to year one work.
This year I have seen that to be a
successful journalist, you need to know your equipment. Winchester has an
excellent media loan counter that allows students to borrow everything from
cameras to lighting equipment. The best thing about this is that it is all for free!
I spent my first semester getting trained
on as much equipment as possible, and then during semester two I decided to
take out certain things and play with them. I now feel that I understand the
basics of all the available cameras, meaning that I have a wide choice to
choose from when it comes to taking them out.
Our knowledge of the equipment was tested
regularly throughout the year, especially in Radio News and TV Production.
In Radio we had the opportunity to create
various bulletins in small groups, this prepared us for our final assignment,
which was to create a ten minute news programme that contained both news
stories and short packages.
For
this I was in charge of coming up with a package and a story, each with their
own audio cuts. With my news story I decided to use data from 100 surveys that
I had sent out which asked whether 18-25 year old's were likely to vote in the
2015 General Election. When the results came back, I found out that although
most 18-25 year old's do want to vote, a large percentage feel that they do not
know enough about how politics works. I felt that this story would benefit from
an interview with someone who knew about the issue. Firstly I contacted Steve
Brine, the local MP, and although he was very busy and could not make the interview,
he suggested that I speak to a politics teacher or lecturer. William Sheward,
the head of Politics and Global Studies at the University agreed to take part
and although I was very nervous, the audio cut was fantastic.
Our package was on the decrease of CD sales
in the UK. Initially I planned to talk to someone at HMV about this however
they pulled out at the last minute. Due to the deadline being close, I pulled
up a list of all of the music shops in Winchester and managed to get an
interview with the manager of CY Music that day. This was the first time that I
had properly panicked but I’m glad that I quickly had the initiative to find a
speedy back up plan.
I utilised my editing skills during this
assignment and I am very proud if the finished product.
For our TV News Production module we were asked to
shadow a WINOL journalist and then create a profile on them. Elly MacDonald and
I spent the day with Raveena Ghattaura, Sports Reporter at WINOL. We recorded
the interview and several sequence shots, then we edited it all together in
Final Cut Pro. Overall I am happy with the final product, however I think there
are some things that we can improve on. Due to the fact that Elly is a bit
taller than Raveena, it does look like the camera is not at eye level, but its
really because Raveena is looking up. It was also a very sunny day and we had a
little bit of trouble with the picture looking overexposed.
To see the finished profile click the link below;
Also for our
TV News module, we had to create a 99 second news bulletin in our seminar
groups. It tested our organisational skills, ability to work to strict
deadlines and confidence when working as part of a team. I think as a group we
met all of these criteria as we completed this task within the space of an
afternoon. I
think as a group we did well with this, however there is quite a lot that I
would probably change. I think the sound is quite metallic and ‘tinny’ in my
opinion and there’s something about the framing that bugs me (although that
could just be me). Considering we used a DSLR, I also don’t think the picture
quality is fantastic. Overall it was fairly good but next time I think we
should spend more time with the set up of the camera.
To view the
completed 99 second news bulletin, click the link below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP6rfaAjzi8
My
confidence levels have definitely grown throughout the year. At first I was
very nervous to call up people in order to get interviews, sticking to emails
instead, but now I’m fine with it. One of my most challenging calls was with
the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, I had to get a lot of
information from them and it almost felt like I was pestering them too much. In
the end I made sure I thanked them a lot for their help and in turn they said
not to worry about contacting them again. I think as long as you are polite
people are likely to cooperate more, and as a journalist there are going to be
times where it feels like you’re being annoying but hey, might as well get used
to it now.
Although I
am looking forward to next year, I am also very anxious. This year has been
very focussed on news and broadcast but I am not very comfortable in front of
the camera (I literally feel like crying every single time). I want to make
sure that I am happy next year with my role on WINOL, and I think the best way
for this to happen will be to start off in features. My favourite thing to do
is covering events, entertainment and writing film reviews… I can see myself
pestering celebrities on the red carpet at film premieres, clutching my press
pass as I struggle through the crowds at the MCM Expo and sitting back as I
watch the latest blockbusters. That is what I want to go into however I know it
is not realistic to think that way.
Although I don’t feel as excited by news,
In semester two next year I want to do something to do with politics. The 2015
General Election is going to be an exciting time for WINOL, and I have no doubt
that we are going to cover it well (surpassing the standards of other
universities by far).
We are going
to have an excellent team next year and I’m sure that WINOL is going to carry
on growing, picking up more awards in the process.
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