The Bath Chronicle: Work Experience
Day 1 - Friday 13th March 2015
The first thing Me, Sophie, Callum and Dan did was go to The Bath Chronicle head office. My first thoughts when I walked into their office was "Very Nice!". It's a very modern up-to-date building and is a very calm and relaxed working environment. We met Alex Brown who is the 'Head of Content' of The Bath Chronicle; this is a job that involves looking over the final articles and then decides whether or not they go into their newspaper or on their website.
He introduced himself to us and exchanged our contact details such as email to contact us for news reports, videos and so on. He then took us on a tour around their office and explained what different sections of the office was and what they are in charge of such as Editor and Sub-Editors, people in charge of advertisement etc... He also asked what areas we prefer in terms of video, writing and also briefly briefed us on a filming job which I will talk about below.
(Cake bake)
Day 2 - Monday 16th March 2015
Just like everyday at the Chronicle we first went for a briefing with Alex, in that briefing he told us that they were really short of staff that day due to a report they were attending and some people were ill. So we had to help them out, we spent around 3 hours in their head office on their computer systems adding in sports results for the sports section of the newspaper, it was a fairly simple task but at the same time we had to be 100% focused because if there was 1 point different in football or hockey, there would be trouble with fans complaining at the chronicle. It may sound like a quick job but it was actually a long task due to the amount of focuses needed.
Day 3 - Tuesday 17th March 2015
Today we had to film a politician who was Dominic Tristram who is a Prospective Green MP for Bath. That was the most important thing of the day for us because this video was to be released on The Bath Chronicles website and many, many people would be viewing it, so it had to be to a very high standard. We all worked together to make this video happen, we all took our own roles - making sure we had the correct questions and set up the interview space correctly. I took the role of camera operator and ensured that I had the correct framing for 2 cameras and that the lighting was good, also baring in mind safety in all of this too, so I had to ensure that all cables were secure and under the lights so it would drag the light and not pull it over.
Afterwards we had to film some vox pops asking people if they knew if there was anything to do in Bath for youth/students. We filmed our first vox pop which lasted 10 seconds and then we got approached by a man who told us we were not allowed to film in SouthGate because it was private property and that we needed a permit, I understand if we had a massive broadcast camera and a major crew but we were just there with a DSLR and a microphone on top, not exactly going to effect anyone but fair enough - I apologised to him and told him we were not aware of that and moved on.
Day 4 - Wednesday 18th March 2015
Today was quite possibly the worst day for us, everything went wrong. This was because we had too much to focus on; we had to film 3 more politicians within an hour of each other and that was bad enough to ensure all was going to go smoothly, but the day before we were booked out on a job early in the morning to film some children sing a song to a German town paired with Bath.
We collected our equipment from College and then travelled up to the school for 9am which was a 10 minute walk from Bath College. When we arrived all of the children we practising for the video, I went in with the other people I have been working with all week and set up the camera, tripod and sound equipment, I then went to put the battery in the camera and it was the wrong battery for the camera, it was the battery for the DSLR's. I made the mistake of not checking our equipment before we left for the job. It was one of the most awkward experiences I've ever had on a film job before. Thankfully the Head teacher understood and we rang Alex to explain the situation to him, he collected the battery for us and delivered it.
We filmed what the client wanted and then left them very happy. We came back to the college and backed-up our footage. I backed-up everything I saw on the card from the Job, I made sure the card was formatted beforehand so everything on that card was from this Job.
We then went on to film the politicians which was very successful. But then it came to early afternoon when I started to edit our videos from the day, I edited them in order but I discovered that some of the footage from the school had either not been transferred or had corrupted somehow, because the job was free it doesn't make it so bad, but it's still a really bad situation to be in and it was the most important footage we filmed too - the Mayor of Bath. We informed Alex instantly and he told us not to worry and leave it with him, and that was the last we heard of the matter.
Day 5 Thursday 19th March 2015
Today was a fairly straight forward day for us, everything was coming to an end and we had to tie loose ends up and finish videos to make sure they were perfect for release on The Bath Chronicle website. We then debriefed with Alex and he told us that he was very impressed with our attitude and the work we have produced this week.
Reflection upon work experience at The Bath Chronicle:
How did you feel about the opportunity to work with the Chronicle? Scared, excited, anxious?
If I am totally honest, I wasn't at all scared, excited or anxious or anything like that. I was not looking forward to working with them at all. I couldn't think of anything worse than sitting in an office format for most of the day in a room which did get hot at times. I'm a person who likes to be active and on the move to see different things.
2. How did you find assignments throughout the week? Easy, hard? Anything you struggled with but overcame?
My only assignments throughout the week were making videos and filming interviews. Video/Filming is my biggest passion and is something I want to pursue as a career so it was a fairly easy week (other than some of the hiccups stated above).
How did your work develop through the week? Explain the steps you took for at least one article.
I'll be honest, I only wrote one article and that was at the beginning of the week. How I went about this, was finding the website of the host of the event I was writing about to get some background information, I then reworded the press-release and added in any information I found out on this website. I wouldn't strictly say my work developed throughout the week, because it was just 1 or 2 videos each day and I got used to that very quickly, I would say it certainly helped me improve my timing and accuracy to deadlines though.
Have you done something that you didn’t think you could? Approached strangers, used the phone to investigate an issue, convinced someone to give you information etc.
One thing I didn't think I'd do was film strangers strangers and ask them to answer some questions on camera. I'm not very good or confident when it comes down to this so it was very awkward for me, even though I was behind the camera.
How have you conducted yourself through the week? Have you been professional?
Throughout the week I always conducted myself in a professional manor, I always made sure I was giving eye contact and speaking clearly to clients and to people in charge at the chronicle, I also made sure I was dressed appropriately to show I was serious and gave off good impressions.
Explain your experience of working for the print industry. What was it like to be involved with the newspaper? How did it feel to be a part of the newsroom and news gathering?
Honestly, I didn't like it, I didn't actually feel involved in the newspaper, I felt at time we were given jobs that nobody else wanted to do and that we were their last resort - I understand that we were only on work experience, but if you're going to have people for work experience, at least give them the real experience and not a feeling of being a last resort.
Which of the following list do you feel that you have developed through your work experience, choose a few and comment on them. These can be very small steps or large leaps - it all matters!
Team work - Throughout the week we all worked as a team with different roles to bring the final product together.
Communication - Throughout the week all of us at the chronicle communicated, when there was a problem and we had to contact our 'boss' we did.
Problem solving - There were a few problems throughout the week (which I've mentioned above) which we had to solve very quickly.
Adaptability - I had to be able to adapt to certain situations quickly and think fast and sharply.
