I have had a fantastic week at ITV Meridian. The whole team were very friendly and helpful and I have learnt a lot from it. I have had a great overview of the range of roles a production specialist does. After my general introduction on Monday I started on Tuesday morning doing media traffic hub operations which involved ingesting tapes and playing them out and learning how to book out lines for the trucks. I then went on to see the lunch time bulletin PA and just how much preparation work in needed and logging before the programme, not just during! After lunch I saw how the weather forecast is recorded, edited and played out for the programme. For the evening programme I watched the Gallery Camera Operator controlling the camera set up and the lighting for various angles. On the Wednesday morning I had a go at recording the weather and editing it using Avid for the morning and lunchtime weather. It was very interesting to finally have a go with Avid – I found it very user friendly and picked a few of the short cuts quite quickly. During the lunchtime bulletin I watched the sound mixer. At first this seems like a very daunting role however after watching for a time I could see the logic behind all the controls and began to look forward to giving it a go! In the afternoon I was back on weathers and managed to record and cut the programme and evening weathers independently. For the evening programme I watched the autocue which was interesting to see how they time and follow a script also. The next day I had an overview of directing, the programmes involved, the key banks, the talk back systems and everything else! I then sat in with one of the editors and saw how he cuts together the stories for the programme or tidies up journalists cuts ready for viewing. This was a really interesting experience seeing how he picked up on different elements for correcting that he had gained from experience. I later watched sound for the programme which required a lot more concentration than the lunch bulletin! I spent my last learning how to do the archiving which appeared to be a relaxed role after seeing all the live production. Though there is a lot to remember I felt it quite an achievable role. For the lunchtime bulletin I had a go at gallery camera operation which was quite a buzz as it was live. There were not too many set ups to worry about and no physical camera moves but I did have to change lighting too. It was a great experience and look forward to doing a programme! In the afternoon I was back on weathers to try something a bit new as the weatherman was on location. So instead of the simple recording it was a case of recording him into the system and on to the graphics afterwards. For the evening programme I ped/camera operated on the studio floor which was great to get a different perspective on the show. Overall I had a great introductory week, I have learnt a great deal, meet my Fred Dineage who I used to watch on ‘How’ and can’t wait for the next shift!
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This week I have been in Doncaster with Equine Productions editing the daily reviews for the DBS Spring Sales. There has been a lot to capture and edit in a short space of time but with a great team, Sam and Ben, we’ve had a success few days. Below are the final reviews. This week I filmed two pub chats with Equine Productions about the upcoming Guineas races. It was a very relaxed shoot and the participating trainers were very natural on camera. It was great to once again work with Dave from my Olympic team. I then went on to edit them as two short pieces called ‘Round the Table’ – Below is the result! For the past few months I have been in charge of a project for Bournemouth University about BU Staff. The project was requested by Staff Development Manager Colleen Harding and as a result I am making a series of short interviews for the website with a wide range of Bournemouth University's staff to show what working at BU is like for prospective employees. After doing all the preproduction of putting together the schedule, risk assessment, booking locations and kit I was ready to film so for the past couple of weeks I have been filming two camera set up interviews with the help of final year Global Media student Alex Naqvi and Bryony Reed around various campus locations. Once again we had a great view of Bournemouth from the Executive Business centre which I couldn't help add to the production photos. I am now nearing the end of editing process and the interviews are looking really good. More to follow once the project is complete!
After the great success the Time Lapse Graffiti NSS Video I made for Bournemouth University (now on over 90,000 views!... A great achievement for a student survey) I was asked back by Corporate Communications Officer Toby Horner to make a video for the Student's Union to further promote the National Student Survey. The SU have jumped on board with all the recent Harlem Shake videos and I had the experience of filming and editing one of the strangest things that has come up in my career so far! The reaction has been fantastic as there is such a massive contrast of love/hate views on the Harlem Shake so it certainly helps to promote the NSS. Yesterday we had a small burst of snow so I did what every filmmaker would do and took my camera out. I got as far as my porch when I saw all our little garden birds enjoying a bit of lunch and decided to film them. I was only out for an hour but got a great range of birds coming in from our usual robin to the gorgeous gold finch. Having missed out on the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this year I thought this might make up for it. See what you think of our garden birds in Dorset enjoying the snow. This week I have been filming and editing the National Student Survey video for Bournemouth University with Red Balloon and Toby Honer form Corporate Communications. NeSSa the camel strikes again by having a graffiti mural painted on Talbot and Lansdown campuses. I have been filming with the help of Joe Jackson and Jamie Whitton the time lapse and close ups of the very talented graffiti artist Oli from Graffiti Kings who is bringing NeSSa to life. The National Student Survey is for final years to complete to let future students know what the course is like and whether the students on it were satisfied. It is a very important survey and hopefully this video will encourage students to fill it out! Check it out on the link below and the production stills. I have just had a very interesting and inspiring week filming Maurine McAllister and Philip Alford as they undertake their first Digital Destinations workshop which is about social marketing and networking. Sixty businesses are involved broken down into six different clusters and paired with final year students to work on digital marketing business plans. This has been fantastic for me as it has given me lots of social network ideas myself. The clusters include some really interesting businesses with a diverse range of ideas. It has helped me to realise that no matter how many social networks you are on you always need a strategy to help you engage with your target market. If you don’t have a strategy and plan you are just creating meaningless posts. The business and marketing side has been of a great benefit to me so though I’ve been filming I’ve managed to actually get a lot from the event. It also reinforced the power of viral videos which I love watching and will have to try and think of a few of my own! After the three days insightful filming I went on to edit together the sessions for research purposes.
I have just got back from a few fantastic days in Ireland with Equine Productions. The first day was spent flying to Dublin and off to GOFFs horse sales to film Tom Dascombe at the sales. The location was beautiful and the horses were incredible. After filming the sales and a few interviews we set off to the hotel to find it was a lucky luxury and I could soak my aching muscles in the hot tub for the next day! Bright and early we set off from Naas and headed to the stables to film Tom Dascombe’s very well behaved yearlings and I spent the afternoon editing the footage for his website. Ireland was a lovely place and I would love to go back and take a look around, the people were very friendly, the food was great and I made sure I left with a traditional Guinness! Check out some picture of the visit and the yearlings videos below. I have completed my most recent project. I have been working with Jennifer Kieser, my Zumba instructor, on a promotional video for her classes. We decided we wanted to do something a little different adding twixtor and colour effects to the video but the main focus was on the class itself and how professional yet so much fun they are. She is a fantastic instructor and I had a lot of fun making the video which I directed, filmed and edited. Here it is! |
Jessica WilkensMy work experiences and anything television related Archives
August 2013
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