Last Wednesday, I was in the enviable position of being in the same room as one of Britain’s leading newsreaders. ITN employee Nina Hossain visited the University of Huddersfield to talk to a packed room of students all wanting to make their way into the television industry.
With an impressive CV which boasts four years at Border TV as a trainee journalist on both sides of the camera, four years at BBC London as a reporter and presenter, and a further five years at ITN as a presenter for ITV, Nina knew television journalism inside out. She spoke of how she dreamt of being a journalist from the age of 11, and to look at what she has achieved, you can only admire her determination to succeed in an industry so many fail to break in to.
Although I am aiming for a more production based role in television when I graduate from university, it is important I don’t rule out any possible avenues when I finally begin my search for employment. Nina mentioned how she never considered herself destined to be in front of the camera; and whilst at Border TV, she even took on the role of Production Assistant. Who knows, in ten years time I may find myself in front of the camera reading out the days headlines! However, unless it’s for BBC Look North or ITV Calender (providing it’s still around), I think I may have to start toning down my accent!
After Nina talked about her career to date, a question and answer session was held. I asked Nina, who will have undoubtedly seen an endless stream of people come and go on work placements, what she thought made someone on work experience stand out from the crowd and make a possible employer consider them for future work. Now I don’t want to give her advice away to the world, but one of the main points she made was that it’s crucial in television, particularly in journalism, that you know the agenda. This is advice I have received from professionals in the industry before, not just for work experience but for job interviews too.
Nina isn’t the only influential person who has given me advice this month. On Monday the 11th January, I was lucky enough to have a quick meeting with Caroline Roberts Cherry, an executive producer from the BBC. If you’ve read my earlier posts on the BBC Sessions I attended last year at University, you will remember that I’ve met Caroline before. I managed to talk to her before she gave a lecture to the second year TV students, where she advised me on how best to approach gaining work when I finish my degree. I’ve gained some fantastic advice from both Nina and Caroline, and I intend to put it into practice as soon as possible.
Filed under: TV Student | Leave a Comment
Tags: border tv, caroline, caroline roberts cherry, Cherry, crumpton, hossain, huddersfield, huddersfield university, itn, ITV, journalism, matthew, nina, nina hossain, Roberts, student, television, TV, tv production, University of Huddersfield
On October the 14th, I was handed a fantastic opportunity by my lecturers to help a number of players from the England Rugby League team complete a media training course prior to their appearance at the 2009 Four Nations tournament.
Eorl Crabtree of the Huddersfield Giants, Sam Tomkins of Wigan Warriors and Sam Burgess (pictured) of the South Sydney Rabbitohs all visited the newly refurbished television studio at the University of Huddersfield to learn how to cope with the pressures of the media. My course mates and I were lucky enough to be chosen as the studio crew for the day, and I was extremely pleased to be given the role of director.
The rugby stars weren’t the only visitors for myself to get exited about; Dave Woods, a sports presenter and commentator for numerous broadcasters, and Robin Bailey, a sports presenter and reporter for the BBC, were holding the media training session, and stood in as the interviewers. This meant as director I was working along side two media professionals who have worked in the industry for over 40 years between them!
As it was the first time many of the crew had ever used the new facilities in the studio and gallery, it was important we familiarised ourselves to the new equipment the day before. Due to our preparations prior to our guests arriving, the day was relatively simple. It was fantastic working in such a new studio with the very latest technology available to the industry, and the picture and sound quality was amazing! Being the director for the day was a privilege, as it meant I was in control of how each package looked. Thankfully both Dave Woods and Robin Bailey said that they were impressed with the quality of the packages produced, and at the level of professionalism all of the crew worked to.
The whole day was a great experience, and was a welcoming realisation to me that I can handle working in a studio under the pressures of a professional production.
Filed under: 1, TV Student | Leave a Comment
Tags: 2009, crew, Dave Woods, director, England Rugby, England Rugby League, Eorl Crabtree, Four Nations, huddersfield, Huddersfield Giants, Media Training, Robin Bailey, Rugby, Rugby League, Sam Burgess, Sam Tomkins, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Studio, TV, University of Huddersfield, Wigan Warriors
A much needed update
Since my last blog post came all the way back in April last year, I thought it was about time I shared some of my recent television experiences with the world wide web.
After my trip to BBC Manchester back on the 1st of April, I found myself travelling back across the Pennines just three days later to help Mentorn Media with their preparations for filming the second series of School Musical at Grenada Studios. The whole day was a great experience, and I wasn’t actually required to do much work at all. I, along with the other twenty or so volunteers who were all students from universities across the north of England, had to pose as the performers to help the Mentorn crew carry out a camera rehearsal. I then watched the show being filmed and sat in the ecstatic audience which was made up of students, teachers and parents of pupils from the three schools who made it to the finals. If you happened to watch the series on Sky1 over the summer and have a ridiculous talent for finding needles in haystacks, then you will have seen my friend and I in the audience!
The Man. The Legend.
On the 21st of July I was back at ITV Calender for another day of work shadowing with Richard Sowden. However, Richard was out on location in the U-Pod, which only has two seats. Now it was either me or the correspondent accompanying Richard, and unfortunately my opponent called shotgun first. As gutted as I was not being able to learn about the U-Pod; not going filming with Richard allowed me to experience a day in the studio instead.
I spent the morning in the traffic room, learning how clips such as sports highlights are sent down the line and captured from different studios. I also watched Jon Mitchell perform his weather reports for the day and watched the 6 o’clock news broadcast go out live from inside the actual studio, rather than the viewing room in the gallery. However, the highlight of the day definitely belongs to the ten minutes or so when I stepped in as the auto-cue operator whilst members of the crew learnt new roles. Despite the fact it was only a training exercise, I really enjoyed being part of a professional crew working in the gallery and it is definitely something I would like to do in the future.
On October the 2nd I was extremely lucky to spend the day with Chris Robson, the director of photography at Mezzo Films, an independent film company based in Leeds. We spent the day at an Asda Living store in Leeds filming training videos which showed Asda’s staff how to handle customers who had questions on certain games consoles. It was a great experience for me to see a crew consisting of a director, producer, camera operator and sound operator working together in a professional environment, as my final year practical project requires me and my course mates to work in a similar crew set up. It was also interesting to see the difference between location filming for news programming and location filming for corporate shoots. Of course, the funding is there in corporate productions for a crew consisting of more than just a camera operator and a presenter, as opposed to the low budget approach most news channels take in the current economic downturn. The director that day, Steve Wright, actually visited the University of Huddersfield to give some of the third years on my course of Television Production & Media a workshop on directing. Unfortunately I was only able to stay for an hour or so due to other course related commitments I had that day, but learnt a lot in that short space of time.
That’s enough information for one day, I’ll be sure to post two more blogs in the near future which will include directing Rugby League stars and attending a question and answer session with ITV news presenter Nina Hussain!
Filed under: TV Student | Leave a Comment
Tags: media, work, experience, ITV, chris, studios, Matthew Crumpton, Mezzo, School Musical, School, Musical, Grenada Studios, Grenada, Mentorn Media, Mentorn, Sky1, Calender, ITV Calender, Jon Mitchell, Richard Sowden, Robson, Steve Wright, Steve, Wright, Work Experience, University of Huddersfield
BBC Manchester
On the 1st of April, My course mates and I were lucky enough to visit Manchester’s BBC offices to pitch the idea of a quiz show, along with a taster tape we had made, to an executive producer from BBC Manchester Entertainment.
Firstly, I would like to apologise for my lack of activity on here over the past month, but university work has had to take priority as the deadlines came thick and fast, and my stress levels blew through the roof! Amongst this work, as a course, we had to produce a 30-minute quiz show that we then edited into a 5-minute taster tape to include in a pitch to Caroline Roberts-Cherry, an executive producer for such quiz shows as ‘A Question of Sport’ and ‘Brainbox Challenge’.
The day was extremely interesting, and after all of the groups had presented their pitches, we were joined by BBC Three’s programme development team to help collaborate ideas for new shows. Of course, they were interested in our views as we were BBC Three’s target audience, and I found it intriguing how they came up with ideas for shows. We were split into groups and given two words, such as ‘taboo’ and ‘experiment’, and discussed possible shows which could originate from these words.
The pitches were a success for every group, with Caroline giving both praise and contructive criticism to every presentation. I decided to talk about the marketing aspect of the quizshow, and how its format would appeal to the international market. The pitch was part of a portfolio for my Television Production Management module, adding more significance on the quality of our pitches. Thankfully Caroline was said to be impressed with the presentations, so fingers crossed my lecturer feels the same!
Filed under: TV Student | Leave a Comment
Tags: bbc, BBC3, caroline, Cherry, huddersfield, manchester, Pitch, quiz, quizshow, Roberts, roberts-cherry, show, Three, university
Work Experience at ITV Calendar
Yesterday I was lucky enough to participate in work shadowing for a camera operator at ITV Yorkshire’s news based programme Calendar.
As I mentioned in my previous post, it is important for any student aiming to make their way into the television industry to take the initiative and arrange some work experience. This is exactly what I did, and within a week I had gained a work shadowing placement with a man called Richard Sowden, a well respected camera operator at ITV Leeds.
The day itself started bright and early at 7.30am. We then went to meet our correspondent for the day Jon Hill, who I recognised immediately from the television, and went up to a small town called Pocklington, just 13miles from York. Our story was about a local man who had made a perfect recreation of the local Pocklington Airbase to a 300:1 scale as it was back in World War Two. To watch the story, click on this link and work your way to 25.18 on the time line.
We spent over 3 hours filming the whole piece, where I learnt dozens of new techniques from Richard on the camera, and from Jon as a reporter. I even found myself on the actual airbase filming some GV’s, but they were not used in the final piece. We then headed back to the Kirkstall Road Studios in Leeds, where I was introduced to numerous people, even the presenters Duncan Wood and Christine Talbot! I was then offered the chance to see some more filming, this time with camera operator Mike Newton and correspondent Chris Kiddey. We travelled up to Harrogate Magistrates Court were Chris did a piece to camera reporting on a current investigation. Although filming only took two takes of around a minute each, the professionalism was amazing. The camera man did a slow zoom in, whilst the correspondent managed to fit his speech to the targeted time of a minute.
I then arrived back at the Leeds studios in time to watch a live transmission of the show from the gallery, where I could watch numerous roles taking place which I have performed in my University studio. Richard, who was camera operator for the programme, even let me practice using the Calendar studio cameras!
The whole day was a fantastic experience, and after being invited along again by Richard, I cant wait to learn even more about the wonderful world of TV!
Filed under: TV Student | Leave a Comment
Tags: calendar, chris, christine, crumpton, duncan, experience, harrogate, hill, ITV, jon, kiddey, kirkstall, leeds, matthew, mike, newton, pocklington, richard, road, sowden, studios, talbot, wood, work
Disaster for ITV Yorkshire
After reporting a loss of £2.7 billion for 2008, ITV has announced it will be cutting 600 jobs across the company, and is to close down its Kirkstall Road studio in Leeds.
Not only is this news devastating for those who have lost their jobs, it’s yet another set back for students and the unemployed aiming to find work in television. As a television production student from Yorkshire, the news was a real blow for my future in television, with more competition for even fewer jobs. For me, the likelihood of moving down to London in order to find work is ever increasing, an unfortunate circumstance for someone who loves life in Yorkshire.
ITV, who include ‘commitment’ and ‘integrity’ in a list of their values on their website, could be criticised for closing down the Leeds studio rather than relocating some of London’s productions up to the Yorkshire area. Although London has a population of around 7.5 million, it is important ITV do not forget about the 5.5 million people in Yorkshire and Humberside.
While it is unfortunate that ITV depends on commercial revenue and is having to find ways in order to make significant savings, I still feel that the decision to close down their Leeds based studio could have been avoided. However, with the BBC Trust planning to relocate around 1,600 production and broadcasting staff to the BBC’s new North-West base in Salford Quays by 2011, the future of television production in the North is far from finished. Unlike the commercially driven ITV, the BBC is able to focus more on producing good quality shows and less about its income due to television licence funding.
So, as the old saying goes, with every door that closes, another opens; despite the gloom currently surrounding ITV Yorkshire, there is always going to be a future in television production in the North of England for those who really want it.
Filed under: TV Student | Leave a Comment
Tags: bbc, crumpton, cuts, ITV, job, jobs, leeds, London, manchester, matthew, production, Quays, Salford, Telvision, Trust, TV, Yorkshire
Taking the initiative
For a television student, work experience is a crucial element in our education of the industry. Not only can you gain vital knowledge about the way television works, but you are able to build up a list of important contacts.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the BBC have being holding numerous sessions at my University regarding television entertainment and how it is produced; with a chance of work experience for a certain amount of people. Unfortunately, I wasn’t chosen for a work experience placement, but I have learnt a vital lesson from my disappointment. It’s clear to me now that taking the initiative is vital to secure any work experience, and any opportunities that arise should be grabbed with both hands.
Although the work experience offered by the BBC was a great opportunity, and those chosen will benefit greatly, it is not the last time I will have a chance of experience in television. I have several contacts regarding possible work experience and work shadowing, and I am already trying to arrange a work placement.
Filed under: TV Student | Leave a Comment
Tags: bbc, crumpton, experience, huddersfield, initiative, matthew, student, taking, television, the, TV, university, work
BBC Sessions
Over the past five weeks, I have been lucky enough to attend four sessions held at the University of Huddersfield by important figures from the BBC. These sessions were presented to my course mates and I to help us understand what it takes to create a quiz show deemed worthy enough by commissioners to make it on to television.
Caroline Roberts-Cherry, a Producer and Executive Producer on numerous shows on the BBC such as ‘A Question of Sport’ and ‘Brainbox Challenge’, held the first and last of the sessions. Having such an important figure speaking to us was extremely beneficial, as she helped us understand exactly what makes up a good television show. The sessions were not only informative, but very practical and hands on, with numerous tasks being set for us to help us with our quiz show development skills.
The second session was held by Julie Kelling, a Producer in entertainment format development. Again, the session was interesting and hands on, and helped us understand just how crucial the format of a show is in terms of making it succeed.
The third session was focusing on how to come up with ideas for quiz shows, and again backed up Julie’s point from the second session on the importance of formatting. This session was held by a fellow Loiner, Ben Armstrong, who is an Associate Producer in development. He talked to us about how he managed to work his way into the television industry, which as a young male media student from Leeds, really inspired me and proved to me that there is no reason why I can’t make it myself!
All of the sessions were incredibly helpful and relevant to my course, and I’m grateful for the guest speakers taking the time to talk to us. In a few weeks time, my course mates and I will be taking a trip to Manchester to pitch some of our own quiz show proposals to a panel of commissioners including Caroline Roberts-Cherry; something I’m both nervous and exited for!
Filed under: TV Student | Leave a Comment
Tags: armstrong, bbc, ben, caroline, huddersfield, julie, kelling, leeds, manchester, media, quiz, quizshow, roberts-cherry, sessions, show, shows, student, television, TV, university
About me!
After being persuaded by my girlfriend to set up my own blog, I’ve finally joined wordpress!
So, although I currently have no viewers to this page, I still think its best to start with who I am! I’m a 20 year-old student with a passion for television. I am originally from Leeds, but live in Huddersfield during term-time. I study Television Production & Media at the University of Huddersfield, and am in my third and final year of study. Once I have completed my course, I aim to find employment in the television industry, but in the meantime I am keen to gain as much work experience as possible.
I first became interested in the world of media at 6th form, when I began studying A-level media studies. I soon found my feet when it came to creating videos, and after gaining full marks on a documentary based piece of coursework, I knew what it was I wanted to study further into at University.
After successfully completing my first year of University, I finally moved away from home and into University digs, a decision I am extremely proud of. Not only did it give me my independence, it helped me appreciate a lot of things; money, the importance of a job, the importance of a good degree, and none more so then my mums cooking!
Now nearing the end my University life, I am determined to push on with my studies, hopefully gain some good work experience, and really help myself set up a solid ground to build a successful career from.
Filed under: TV Student | 1 Comment
Tags: crumpton, huddersfield, matthew, media, production, student, television, TV, university
Search
