Back in the TV Studio!

Filming in the TV Studio with Rangoon Sons for our Final Production Project.

Next Generation

Last week I spent a couple of days in Salford for the Next Generation event which was the student part of the Salford Media Festival. Over the 2 days I went to 6 sessions that we each aimed at giving students an insight into the media industry and giving us a helping hand into it.

How to break into TV...and stay there with Scott Martin (CBBC)
This session was led by Scott Martin, a producer for CBBC, and gave us loads of tips for breaking into the industry, from the usual careers advice to other places we can look to for getting the jobs we want and how to go about getting them.

Managing Productions in TV with Natalie Bolton and Judith Coker
Natalie and Judith are both Production Managers for the BBC and spoke to us about their role, what it entails and what route they took to get there as well as talking about what it's like to work in the industry in general.

How to write a winning CV for the Creative Industries
CV writing workshops are nothing to us as students but often they can be quite generic. This workshop was aimed at what employers in the creative industries are looking for when they see a CV so it was really helpful to us as it was designed to give us tips that would be relevant to the sector many of us are looking to go into.

Let Me Entertain You
Entertainment is a core genre for many channels, we all want to be entertained by TV, no matter how much we moan about - talent shows are getting samey, it's the same thing all the time, we want something new. Well, what is next? This session looked at what makes a good entertainment show and what sort of a future they have. Who knows, maybe the next big thing for entertainment shows will come from a student who attended that session.

Ben Fox - Showrunner
Showrunner is a relatively new term to the UK media industry and one that's come over from America - basically, you're the one in charge. Ben Fox is one of those Showrunners and shared with us what he does in his job as well as telling us some of the stories from what he's done, including showing us some clips from Emmy award winning Gettysburg.

Creating a World in a TV Studio
A lot of what you see on TV isn't really real, from the sets and the props used in them to the stunts. Duncan Howell is a Production Designer and has worked on programmes such as Shameless, In the Night Garden and The Royal. He talked about how he went about creating the sets for programmes - borrowing people's homes and redecorating them, building sets inside a studio of part of a room or even building a whole set outside of a terrace of houses like those used in Shameless or Coronation Street.

As well as attending the event, my time in Salford also included me introducing a friend to Wagamama for the first time, having the chance to catch-up with a couple of friends in Manchester that I haven't seen for a while and going exploring properly for the first time to finish my Christmas shopping before going to an art exhibition that a friend was exhibiting at - lager and potatoes, that was an experience in itself (you had to have been there).

Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops?

Is it possible to miss something you never really had? Yes, I think maybe it is. It's more a sense of feeling as though you missed out on something. For me that 'something' is independent record shops and vinyl. With the record shops it's a lack of appreciation for them as I wasn't old enough to when we still had ours in town, I still remember them though. I've seen things come and go, and changes happen, but didn't really understand back then. But with vinyl, I'm just not old enough to remember it. That's something I think is quite sad really. I'm 21 and I don't think I've ever held a vinyl record, let alone heard one playing. (That's probably shocked some people into thinking they're old now, sorry.)

Anyway, the point of this post is about this book - 'Last Shop Standing: Whatever Happened to Record Shops?'

I started reading this book for my dissertation as I'm primarily looking into how the Internet has changed the sales of CDs with things like downloads (with a bit of vinyl thrown in). This was a book that I wanted to read anyway as music's always been something that I've been interested in and had a love of since I was little, and so my dissertation has got off to an enjoyable start.

'Last Shop Standing' tells of Graham's personal career in music - in particular, the record sales business - and charts the changes that he's seen take place in the industry throughout his career. It's such a good book but when you really think about it, it does make for quite a sad read. The book focuses on how the changes have affected the independent record shops (like the title suggests) but shows that the music industry that once was, isn't the music industry that we have today - it's a whole different ball game. The contributors in the book are all owners of independents (and survivors of the changing industry) and their anecdotes, memories and views really make you think at times. The music industry that I'm used to, having only been born in the early 90s, is not necessarily the one I would like. There was one quote that really stood out to me: "I asked Piers if he thought that the Bridport Record Centre would be one of the 'Last Shops Standing'. "Of course", was his reply, "I will just purchase more musical instruments and fewer CDs"." The independents are having to kill off their own business (and in may cases, their passion) in order to be able to stay in business.

It's a real insight into an industry that a lot of us only see the face of and one that we take for granted. In today's world we want something for nothing and will take what we can get but in doing so we are killing off an industry that we can't get enough of - we're all guilty of it.

If you've got fond memories of your local record shop, a place that's likely to no longer be there, dig out your vinyl (I know I would if I could) and get reading this book! It's a big book but one that's definitely worth reading. No doubt it'll bring back memories for you - you're lucky - because that's something I don't really have.

Demonstrating 'Demonstration'

He's only gone and done it again! As far as album previews go, Tinie Tempah's preview for 'Demonstation' is visually amazing. And yes, it rather does follow on from his lyric videos for the album. Don't just listen to the new album, you really need to watch this one.

'Demonstration' is pretty different to 'Disc-overy' but both Labrinth and Emeli Sande feature on the album again, along with Paloma Faith this time - a rather interesting choice I thought.

Digital Polish

Over the summer I have been working with Digital Polish as a Digital Marketing Intern. I have been creating blog posts to be published on their website and have also been maintaining the social network sites by posting links interesting and relevant articles from sites like The Drum and The Next Web.

These are the blog posts that I've had published on the Digital Polish blog:

Content Matters! Top 5 apps for content creation
5 Reasons You Should Be on Google Plus
Top 10 Best Vines of the August Bank Holiday
How On-Demand Streaming services are changing the way we watch TV
An Intern’s Insight into the World of Content Creation

I have also been updating the social media platforms for Digital Polish - Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Lyric Videos

Tinie Tempah's got a new album coming out on the 4th November and I can't wait! He's already dropped 2 singles from the album and I wanted to post the lyric videos for each on here. I was really impressed with both of them and event thought that the one for 'Trampoline' was better than the official music video itself. From what I've heard already - 'Trampoline' featuring 2 Chainz and 'Children of the Sun' featuring John Martin - 'Demonstration' is going to be a cracking album and if the standard of these videos stays the same, the Tinie Tempah is going to have an album full of amazing lyric videos as well.

This is it!

So this is it. I'm now in my 3rd and final year of my degree. It's scary to think just how fast these past 2 years have gone and even scarier when you think about how fast this year is going to go. Before I know it the end of my time at university will be up - my course will be over and I'll be graduating! This year I want to do as much as I can - getting involved and gaining experience - and really make the most of my final year of being able to call myself a 'student'.

[Keep reading my blog and you'll find out just how it goes!]

Don't try to make money out of me ITV!

ITV have a new money making scheme and I'm not too impressed with it.

Part of the fun of watching a series where episodes are split into more than one part is the wait for the next episode. Well now you don't have to wait a week any more. I was watching the first episode of the new series of Whitechapel when I got to the end of it and ITV informed me that I could now pay to watch the next episode online! Safe to say I wasn't too happy about that.

ITV are making money out of people who are just too impatient to wait for the next episode to be aired on TV. How long is it before other channels start to follow suit?

Blakeway North

During August, I spent 3 weeks on work experience as a Research Assistant at a TV production company called Blakeway North, based in Manchester.

As a Research Assistant my main job was to look into different programme ideas. As the company worked with factuals, this was the genre that I was working towards. I had to research possible contributors and locations for filming at (along with useful contact details) for ideas that they were already working on ready to pitch to commissioners as well as trying to find interesting stories that could potentially be made into factual programmes.

In order to carry out this research I spent a lot of time on Google but also got to use a site called Lexis Nexis which is an archive of newspaper reports from all over the world. I also spent a day going through the national newspapers to try and find new stories.

Another site I got to use was Broadcast Greenlight. This is a database that lists all of the programmes on UK TV channels that have been approved by commissioners, therefore, given the green light. The basis of many programmes are re-used years later and repackaged into something new, maybe for a different channel. I was using Broadcast to go through all of the programmes that have been shown over the past few years to see if there was anything that I thought Blakeway North could repackage or take ideas from. This site is updated daily so you can see what has just been commissioned long before it goes out on TV.

One of Blakeway North's biggest programmes is Benidorm ER (Channel 5) and they were just coming back from filming and getting ready to go back out for another series when I was there. All of the interviews that they filmed had to be transcribed so that it was easier to work with the clips in the edit. I spent a few days transcribing some of these interviews - 2 with Spanish doctors and one with a German doctor. It was quite a painstaking task and it did take a while but it gave me a chance to see what goes on with the raw footage before it gets into the edit and it made me more aware of just how essential the task was.

When pitching to commissioners you have to create a document that explains exactly how your programme is going to play out. Blakeway North make programmes for the Perspectives strand on ITV1 so I was able to read through a pitch for one of these as I was asked to proof read it. I also helped to put one of these documents together as I had to write a short synopsis about each of the contributors.

This was the first time that I had really spent any time in Manchester and in my last week I was brave enough to venture into the city in my lunch breaks. I've decided that Manchester isn't so bad after all and I kind of like it now.

There was also a cupcake shop just round the corner from the office (which is dangerous for me) and I'd managed to be really good and avoid going in there over my 3 weeks. But on my last day, the girls in the office bought me a cupcake to say 'thank you'. Lucky me!

Blogging for Digital Polish

At the moment I am on an internship with Liverpool based company Digital Polish as a Digital Marketing Intern. Over the duration of the internship, part of my job is to write posts for the blog. This week I wrote my first blog post and now it's been published to their website!

Content Matter! Top 5 apps for content creation

Impressed!

It's been a while since I did a general blog post about something that interested me that didn't involve an event or uni, so here's a little one.

Tonight I saw the new advert for The X Factor on ITV for the first time and I can safely say that I was pretty impressed with it. So to whoever created the mash-up - well done! Whether you like The X Factor or not, the full video is definitely worth checking out!

The Murder Trial (Channel 4)

Being a television first, I thought this would be an interesting watch as a media student. On the other hand, it's a subject that I'm interested in.

I thought it was a really good idea to be able to see into a court with a real-life case as it's an experience that many people don't get (thankfully) and the only insight we do have is usually through TV dramas. These fictional events are obviously based on the real procedure but they are often exaggerated for the purpose of the story, and they're scripted.

Having read the article about the programme beforehand in the Radio Times, I was a bit wary of what it was going to be like but was surprised to find just how much I was able to get into it and I really enjoyed it. The case really drew you in and made you evaluate the evidence for yourself and keeping asking "did he or didn't he" throughout. I came to the conclusion that he was guilty but was still surprised that the jury came to this conclusion as well since I thought they wouldn't have a verdict either way. I also thought that the farmer knew more than he was letting on but the interviews with him conducted after the court case, where he had the benefit of hindsight, told another story about him and we were shown a side to him that suggested he was innocent.

I think Channel 4 done really well by not having a narrator to tell the story but letting it guide itself through the the way in which they edited it together. By having interviews with the accused daughter outside of the court proceedings, the programme felt more balanced and took into account the human side of this story.

It was really nice to be able to see the barristers in between sessions as this took the tension away from proceedings and meant that the audience got a break and chance to relax with them. They were able to make light of their work and you got an insight into the real person instead of just the profession.

This is something that I would definitely like to see more on TV and think that Channel 4 would suit this well as a platform. The issues surrounding having cameras in court is one that I think could be eradicated in time. Some held the views that people would play up to the cameras but if this became the norm so that every case was filmed regardless of whether it was destined for TV or not would sort this out. Surely having cameras in a court room can only help - safety, education purposes.

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2013 - Interviews

As mentioned in the previous post about my trip to Sheffield Doc/Fest, I have since finished editing together the series of short interviews that I filmed with the Festival Director, the organisers and some of the industry delegates that were attending the festival this year. This in itself has turned into a short documentary now, I think!

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2013

Sheffield Doc/Fest is the first event that I've been to where I've attended as a Delegate instead of working as a volunteer - I'm the other side of the fence this time around. Whilst, in ways, I've missed not being the one volunteering for the event, it's been good to be able to go to the sessions, films and parties and actually have the freedom to pick and choose which ones.

There were 5 Media Professional Studies students that attended the festival from all 3 years - Me (2nd), Lee (1st), Mark (2nd), Chris (3rd) and Colin (3rd).

Wednesday

Wednesday saw the start of our 5 days at Sheffield Doc/Fest. Once we'd arrived and collected our Delegate passes we picked up tickets for the sessions and films we wanted to see, giving us a chance to find out where a few of the venues were and see a bit of Sheffield. On our way between venues, we came across a Scream bar that was offering Delegates 50% off food and discounted drinks throughout the festival - it was soon settled that this was to be where we'd be having lunch everyday! Since we'd just arrived and had all our bags with us, we decided not to attend any films or sessions and instead went to explore the city a bit and begin to get our bearings.

After checking in at the hotel, we all came back out for the BBC Storyville Opening Night After Party.

Thursday

The festival really started to kick off. I went to 3 sessions as well as seeing a film:

The BBC Interview: Janice Hadlow and Sue Perkins - The Controller of BBC Two talking about her work in documentary.

The Best of BUG: The Evolution of Music Video - Adam Buxton gives a taster of his BFI music video show.

Michael Palin in Conversation with Miranda Sawyer - Michael Palin talks about his work as a travel documentary maker.

Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers (Havana Marking, 2012)

The Best of BUG was an entertaining whistle-stop tour of music videos with Adam Buxton providing a social commentary. This was a really good session that had the audience laughing the whole way through.

Smash and Grab is the best film that I've seen at Sheffield Doc/Fest. The story of a gang of real life diamond thieves was really interesting and definitely one I'd watch again. This film was shown in collaboration with Disaronno so we each got a complementary bottle of Disaronno and the film was followed by a drinks reception with free cocktails - making for a pretty happy bunch of MPS students!

Friday

Friday consisted of 2 more sessions, another film and a late night party:

The Channel 4 Sheffield First Cut Pitch - 5 film-makers pitch their idea for an hour long documentary where one would ultimately be chosen to be commissioned.

The Channel 4 Interview: Jay Hunt - The Chief Creative Officer talks about her role at the channel.

Allergy to Originality (Drew Christie, 2012) and The Great Hip Hop Hoax (Jeanie Finlay, 2013) with Q&A
Documentary Campus Party with Guilty Pleasures and Hot Gusset

The Channel 4 pitch wasn't something that I had intended on going to but decided on the day that I would. I was quite surprised to find that I really enjoyed watching a real life pitch and it was a good experience to see. Each of the 5 film-makers had to make a short 3 minute taster of a documentary on a given subject - Dinnertime. At the end of the pitches we got to see the panel vote and, as it resulted in a tie, 2 films got commissioned.

The Great Hip Hop Hoax was a film about lies, deceit and making it big in the music industry. It was quite an incredible story that I found played with your emotions. On the one hand I disliked the characters that the guys had become as the film progressed whereas I felt a kind of empathy towards the real people behind the characters as they looked back on their story.

We all very much had a good time at the Documentary Campus Party and it was a chance for us to meet up with the Film Studies students as well.

Saturday

What with the party the night before, we'd all had a bit of a late one so took it easy on the Saturday. I went to the Kitchen Sink Collective present 'Happy Shorts' screening which was a collection of clips from various music documentaries. I also used Saturday to spend some time exploring the city of Sheffield itself as I hadn't had too much of an opportunity to venture too far into it.

Sunday

We had exhausted ourselves by the end of the festival so decided that we didn't really want to see any of the films that were showing. As we'd checked out of the hotel, we had all our bags with us again so really we just wanted to start heading home.

Throughout the festival I managed to shoot some interviews with people who were involved with Sheffield Doc/Fest in various ways as I rather bravely introduced myself to the Festival Director, in order to create a short film.

I really enjoyed being at Sheffield Doc/Fest and it definitely made a change to be a Delegate. I'd like to go again next year but I am yet to decide whether I'd want to attend as a Delegate or work as a volunteer next time around.

Liverpool SoundCity! 2013

Another year of Liverpool SoundCity! has been and gone and again I've been involved as a Runner for the Expo.

So this time the Expo took place in the Hilton hotel, alongside the conference, but was a totally different experience to last year's Expo. Being in the Hilton it was on a smaller scale and much more business focused this time around. It was interesting to be able to see the business side of the music industry and get to know the people within it. The atmosphere was so different compared to that of the previous year that it made for a really good couple of days.

One of the highlights of the Expo were the music performances that ended up happening on the LAM Music stand. Thursday afternoon saw a few musicians from Argentine bands come together with the guys at LAM for a jam session which sparked an idea that formed into an open mic style session on the Friday afternoon.

Here's some of the talented entertainment we were provided with:



If next year's Expo could incorporate last year along with this year, it would definitely shape up to be the best one yet. It would certainly be good to see all the exhibitors back again.

Once again I've been lucky enough to be able to spend 2 days getting to know some fantastic people, forming new friendships and learning yet more about myself. Along with another Friday night out to remember, seeing some great new music. Bring on 1st-3rd May 2014!

Getting Noticed!

As a bit of a follow on from my FutureEverything blog post, the post has been published on the blog section of their own website and can be viewed here! Also, the videos that I put in the post have been noticed on Twitter after the YouTube links were sent to various members of the #futr production team. Here's what they had to say (or "tweet") about them:

A group of super bright 1st yr students from LJMU collared me RT @Ceri_Scouse @tomhigham here's vlog youtu.be/a2YffK5HQKE #futr
— Tom Higham (@tomhigham) March 24, 2013

Were you this bright at 18? @lofrost @lsslreid @petergreggs and friend sum up @futureverything youtube.com/watch?v=L8_2-S…
— FutureEverything (@FuturEverything) March 24, 2013

Team #futr

So for the last few days I've been having a bit of an adventure to Manchester as I've been volunteering for the FutureEverything Summit - Team #futr. The programme of events covers a Conference, music and art.

"At it's best, FutureEverything is a space to experiment, where new ideas come into the light, and artworks and experiences make tangible and real the possible futures we imagine in the Conference."

Tuesday and Wednesday were largely centred around setting up for the Conference, in Piccadilly Place, that was to be taking place on the Thursday and Friday, as well as holding some fringe events.

For me, these 2 days involved being on the info desk on reception and greeting delegates that were here to register, putting different leaflets in the delegate bags, helping to set up the conference rooms and speaker space and, believe it or not, I've even built a wall!

Thursday saw the start of the Conference, however, I didn't. I had to be in uni all day but was surprised to find that I actually quite missed being in Manchester and being involved. With that in mind, I couldn't wait to get back into it on the Friday - then came the weather warning for Liverpool. Snow or no snow, if the train was getting to Manchester, then I was going to be on it. The snow came!

For Friday I was in the Red Room for the day, stewarding and helping out with the microphones during the Q&A sessions. There was a really diverse range of talks going on all day from Smart Cities to urban ecologies to predicting the weather, most of which I had no clue about but there were some interesting points made and I learnt quite a lot throughout the day.

Whilst all this was going on, there were various other general runner jobs that I was doing, such as running errands, sorting out the different spaces and changing ink cartridges (that in itself was an experiment really). I ended up doing some washing up Friday night as well - that was something I definitely hadn't bargained on doing!

I'm back in again this morning (Saturday) and it's so quiet here compared to the last few days as there's only 2 workshops on today. After sorting out the White Room this morning ready for today's workshop, I'm back where I originally started on the info desk in reception. It's that quiet here I've managed to write this blog post!

The reason that I heard about this event in the first place was because my course wanted to send some student delegates to the Conference. So whilst the first years were here, they made the most of the fact that I was as well. They were doing some filming of the events and wanted to create some vlogs also. Being a part of team #futr, I was able to get hold someone from the FutureEverything production team in order to film a short interview with them - this being Tom, the Senior Producer. In my break on Friday morning I managed to find the time to film a vlog for the first years as they wanted to capture their thoughts of the whole Conference as well.

So here's the videos that they've put together - credit to Lee Reid, Peter Greggs, Lois Frost and Shani Vizma (LJMU Media Professional Studies).




Manchester's been quite an experience for me - even more so than I thought it would be! Travelling to this event has been the first time that I've actually been on a train on my own so that's something that I've learnt that I can do now. It might even be that Manchester will be seeing more of me - I'll have to get myself a map of the city beforehand though as this the first time that I have properly been to the city.

Every time I volunteer for an event such as this, I learn so much about myself and discover that I am capable of doing lots of things that I didn't know I could before. Somehow it always seems to involve some form of heavy lifting, which really isn't my strong point (no pun intended).

I certainly won't miss the 4am and 5am starts that have come with this in order to catch the train though!

Finally - I just want to say a massive "THANK YOU" to Sarah for giving me the opportunity to be involved with FutureEverything and everyone else on the Production team that's looked after me whilst I've been here in Manchester.

@FuturEverything
#futr

Going it Alone...

This morning I went to my first LJMU Centre for Entrepreneurship event that was all about setting up your own small business or going freelance once you've graduated. At the moment I have no plans to go down either of these routes once I finish uni but it was really good to get to meet some LJMU Alumni that have done this. As well as meeting Alumni, there were also several industry professionals at the event. This was my first real chance to network with people who have established themselves in the media industry and it's shown me just how important and useful networking is. From this I've also managed to add to my list of companies that I need to make contact with in terms of work experience placements.

A free lunch is always good as well!

Business & Minicards

So it's probably taken me about a year now to finally get round to getting myself some business cards. I've been through several different design options and various printing companies, ordering samples and seeing which would be the cheapest for me to use. Eventually I came across Moo.com. After seeing an advert for them on TV, I thought I'd check them out and see what they had to offer.

I decided to order 10 sample business (for free!) to see what they were like and then thought I'd treat myself (at last) to 100 minicards - business cards that are half the size, so they're cuter! They weren't a bad price either. With 20% off your first order for students (when you sign up with your uni e-mail) and 10% off with this link: www.moo.com/share/xnhhzg, it's well worth getting some.

I can't wait to start networking and handing them out now!

View from the Flat

View from the Flat, a set on Flickr.

Whilst being a domestic goddess today and finding innovative uses for chopsticks, I also found the time to take yet more photos of the view outside my living room window - something which I can be found doing quite often. The photos that I took today made me think about actually putting them up on my Flickr account. As most of them find their way onto my Facebook, I'm just going to put the prettiest ones on here.

Jack's Back! Or Is He?

The opening episode of Ripper Street (BBC One) saw the possibility of Jack the Ripper being back, terrorising the streets of Whitechapel once more. After establishing that he hadn't returned, the series continued with little mention of him, only shots of newspaper clippings about his murders were shown. Until now. The last episode (to be aired next Sunday, 24th February) sees his work back again, with the discovery of an organ under the floorboards of the living quarters of Captain Jackson...

This is going to make for an interesting last episode to the series.

MediaCityUK

As part of looking for my work experience placement this summer, I have been applying to some placements that have been offered by the BBC. With this in mind, my Dad and I decided to take a trip to MediaCityUK on the train to see how easy it would be for me to get there on my own. (I haven't been on a train for years and was in France the last time I went on one.)

Once you know what platforms you need to be on for the right trains, it's fairly easy. The tram is even easier than that as the line ends at the plaza in front of the BBC.

Hopefully sometime before Easter I'm planning on doing one of the tours of the BBC with my flatmates. Having toured the BBC in London back in year 11 for a media trip, I'm looking forward to being able to have the chance to have a look around the studios at Salford.

Another First!

Today we got back our grades for the TV Studio Production module. Our group had all been hoping to get a first for 'The Alternative Lunch' and we were quite confident about it...and we got one! So we were all really pleased about that. At the same time we were given the grades for our individual dossiers and I was surprised to find I'd got a for that as well.

Knowing that I've got a first overall for this module, it has started me thinking that for my 3rd year production I'd like to do something that is TV studio based.

First!

Today we got our marks back for the Digital Media Culture essay that we submitted before Christmas and I was very surprised and pleased to discover that I'd achieved a First in it! I was aiming for a 2.1 and thought a 1st would be nice but would be a bonus.

The essay question that I chose was 'choose one area of the cultural industry and assess the impact that the Internet has had on the way that particular industry operates' and I decided to focus on the music industry.I found this essay quite difficult to start off but once I'd got going I really quite enjoyed writing it. From writing this essay I've been thinking that this may well be the sort of topic area that I want to focus on for my dissertation next year as it's something that really interests me. I've always had a love of music so being able to mix this with media is something that I'd really like to do, and beyond my degree as well.