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.