In the first steps of radio days, the role assigned to me was that of a producer. It was my obligation to assign stories to the reporters, chase clips for the deadline and overlook the programme in the studio. At this point I was only beginning to understand the process of producing news for a radio bulletin and many things were very new to me. It was only later when I was assigned the role of an editor that the greater responsibility made me try harder and learn what was needed in order to not let the team down and make them feel unsure of overall job we were doing.
In the meantime, I was working on a story about a Bournemouth mum who organized schools accross Dorset to raise money for the victims of Haiti, as well as a story on a report that over 100,000 children in the South West are living in severe poverty, deprived of the basic essentials such as warm clothes and food.
So as a producer, I ended up being more of a journalist, as it was more familiar and I therefore felt more useful. The group was efficient enough
and I jumped in mostly when sources were meant to be found for the clips that enhance the quality of news.
Presenter - Hayley Mullins
Editor - Tierney Smith
Producer - Adam Parker
Autocue - Emma Wilson
Lower 3rds and Red Button Pusher - Roscoe Young,
Reporters - Ekta Valecha, Tarana Inamdar, Katarina Petrovic
Presenters- Emma Wilson, Adam Parker
Editor- Hayley Mullins
Autocue - Tarana Inamdar
Reporters- Roscoe Young, Tierney Smith, Ekta Valecha, Katarina Petrovic. > iNews 3rd Feb 2010 from Adam Parker on Vimeo.
The TV package for which I used footage previously recorded by a mammj student during our first TV exercise at the beginning of the course, did not turn out to be better than I expected, as I have been turned down for the interview only half hour prior to broadcasting. So I had to use what I knew was available, since I already had the story written down, and the footage belonged to the property of one of our group members.
It was an unlucky day, luckily for us not assessed, and we had a great opportunity to learn from our biggest mistakes, or misfortunes, of Television which do await in the real world. I realized that luck was on our side in this case even though it seemed the opposite, as the precious realization of the endless amounts of errors that could occur on TV was actually more valuable that an easy, clean day.
During the convergence weeks, which consisted of working in a TV newsgroup, radio newsgroup and online, I found that the best learning experience happened to me on this the non-assessed as-assessed week. Weather it is because of the heightened pressure or the group I was in, I felt most productive and involved as much as any other team member.
So as in theatre for example, the team work in TV is crucial for producing a news bulletin that meets all the basic requirements, to begin with. This group lead by Roscoe Young as the editor, was efficient and pleasant to work in, as everyone put in their effort without imposing it on others. I believe this equality in approaching your task, and the absence of egos makes working in a group an enjoyable experience which is then hermetically reflected on the final project – in this case news bulletin.
As it is very limited in its duration, a TV news bulletin should be precise, accurate and straight to the point, without excess, elaborative text. The presenter’s introduction can be used to open the subject with the information which will then not be repeated in the TV package that follows.
As the viewer receives the audio and visual information in the TV package, in again, a limited duration, I found that it is important to use the few minutes available as best as possible, by having an informative and concise but articulate cue linked with the further comments by the person being interviewed, so that the information flows passing the “cue” on from one shot to another. In other words, there is no place for repetition, and one idea should be followed through given both sides of a story, if possible.
Back to the newsroom, my story for that day’s news bulletin was to find a local angle on the French passing the law about the face veil ban. I interviewed a member of Bournemouth Islamic community centre, a woman who also teaches Islam and is an English person converted to Islam. I have previously contacted the chairman of the Islamic Society and was given a written statement by their spokesman. It was quite a controversial and sensationalist statement, so I tried my best to have them allow me to capture this on camera. They were very helpful, though I wasn’t able to film the man whose written statement I got, as he had previous problems with his identity being exposed, but the Islamic turned woman was more than happy to speak for the camera.
(a shorter version is included in the news bulletin)
It was, I thought, a good and articulate statement, argued with her good background knowledge. However, l later realized that it would have been more news worthy have I found a woman who has been brought up from her childhood in traditional Islamic conditions. I found the two English converts to be perhaps a little too passionate and therefore lacked a standpoint which would more accurately represent the one of the Islamic women.
Back in the studio, I was assigned to run the Tricaster. It was my first time, and Guy was very patient. I chose the layout which seemed most “real TV”-like and was shown how to use it. However, as we began as live, the program crashed because someone from the previous group has changed the settings, as explained by Guy. So we ended up having a very basic background which was the actual footage of our packages, and I had to concentrate on synchronizing when the presenter should be on screen, and when she should disappear into the background of the footage. All in all it looked like an 80’s kids channel news bulletin, but we all had a good sense of humour in this situation.
In TV the unexpected errors are always present waiting to appear, and one should be alert and quick thinking, as well as able to let go of one idea and let it shape shift into the best possible option within the two seconds available for decision making.
Fortunately, or it had nothing to do with fortune, but good team work, we were in the studio on time and I realize the grave importance this accuracy contributes when producing TV. It is LIVE that makes all the difference as with any other media, and there is no room for improvisation – only for a quick change in a course of direction that will stay on the general idea, but pull one out the problem (or at least make it seem less obvious for the viewers).
Our presenter Rubina Dewan was very professional and impartial to the information she was reading, yet charming and engaged.
It was convergence week’s radio day and I was given my first role as an editor of the two news bulletins. The bulletins were to be made for a made up Talbot FM in South East Dorset, targeted at the younger audiences of the age 16-30.
I asked the editor of a radio bulletin from the day before what advice they could give me, and the main one was to get as many stories done before the first news bulletin, as we would have only one hour in between the two.
I had a look at the stories for that day and as it was a slow week and most of the stories have already been taken by the morning’s group, we struggled to find new stories that were newsworthy. I spent a considerable amount of time on research and hunt for stories. In professional circumstances we would not have this much time for research, however, I believe my group made up for it in our efficiency and speed of getting the stories once they were assigned to them.
We did not have much luck with the breaking news for the first bulletin, so even though it is a local I believe that our fictitious young audiences should have an insight into the information which would cover information from general knowledge. I would include world news as a compulsory one story for that day’s bulletin.
I covered this story and was given a lead by my radio tutor which was to contact a lecturer from the University who was working on a topic that concerned South African film. The lecturer has introduced me to a SA student whom I interviewed and was given information about existence of a South African society in Bournemouth. I phoned their secretary and recorder her reflection on this day in SA. A friend from course who was covering the same story for TV bulletin has given me information about a South African lecturer on campus, whom I also contacted and interviewed. I edited the clips and used the one from the SA society’s Secretary for the first bulletin’s news, and kept the other comments for possible “reminder” update in the second bulletin, in case we were short of stories.
The group of us five worked really well and synchronized. Everyone was very efficient and professional, so I had time to cover the Mandela story even though other editors advised me to dedicate most of the time to overlooking the process.
By the first bulleting, more than half of our stories had audio clips, which I was very pleased about, but I left some of the stories which were not breaking news for our second bulletin, knowing that in the hour in between we would need time to get more stories, or at least updates of the previous ones.
However, during the first bulletin, while we were being given feedback, our tutor pointed out the breaking news on TV about the death of fashion designer Alexander McQueen. This was breaking news, and as I knew a fashion design student at the Arts University, I immediately called her and got a comment for the story. The student was of relevance, as A. McQueen was idol to many of them, himself being a student who was discovered on one of the student fashion shows.
In the meantime, the rest of the group was busy gathering few more stories in the 45 minutes that we had, and with impressive speed they managed to complete all new stories for the second news bulletin. As great and exciting this was, and gave us the wonderful adrenaline input that this line of work can offer, it was a little dangerous, as our news presenter had been given the final script only minutes be3fore the beginning of the bulletin. What we should have done was to have the speaker with the existing stories waiting in the studio with time to prepare for what was given to him/her by then, so that he/she will be focused and prepared for any unexpected errors. But we were lucky there too as our presenter though stressed, was very professional and concentrated, and made no mistakes even though faced with the unknown script.
It may sound like only praising that day’s work, but I had the rare experience of proper team work, when even though everyone was working in their own paste, we trusted each other and communicated well, with the result of two well produced news bulletins.
(Unfortunatelly, the news bulletin has been taken off the system as it has been more than a month since the broadcast)
Theatre Director. MA Multimedia Journalism prudent at Bournemouth University '10. From Belgrade, Serbia, currently in the Queen's Country.
http://kpetrovic.wordpress.com/cv/
So as a producer, I ended up being more of a journalist, as it was more familiar and I therefore felt more useful. The group was efficient enough 
