Editorial log – Lukas Gerve

15 May Editorial log – Lukas Gerve

Week 1 (week beginning 29th of January):

• Monday – Whole degree meeting outlining potential placements available and introduction to the training that was carried out over the next two weeks. We also received our production groups for the upcoming semester, and began to discuss the topics we covered.
• Tuesday – Newsroom training in presenting and production, where I briefly practiced presenting in front of the camera as well practicing working the mixing desk, since I would be running the show at one point as director later in the semester. We also had a short mock show in preparation. Furthermore, we had our production roles assigned for the upcoming shows.
• Friday – Radio training – we had a refresh on the studio desk and presenting skills. We also practiced ordering stories in order of importance for a mock running order, and deciding whether they would benefit the most from vox pops or an expert interview. As part of our presenting skills, we also ensured that we knew how to pronounce difficult and unfamiliar names.

 

Week 2 (week beginning 5th of February):

• Monday – We got into our production groups and began thinking of ideas for the upcoming week’s show. My team (Rhea, Hannah and Najma) decided to do a package on what is fake news, mostly focusing on what the public’s knowledge was of the concept.
• Tuesday – More practice with Inception – we each had to write a 300 word story centered around the topic of fake news.
• Friday – Our team edited the footage that we had shot the previous day for our VT. As our VT was already done at this point, we received some feedback on how to improve it before Tuesday’s show. We also had further training on Inception and creating running orders.

 

Week 3 (week beginning 12th of February):

• Monday – watching completed VTs ahead of the live show and compiling our content together. Our team also began brainstorming ideas for the following week’s show on the Winter Olympics.
• Tuesday – As social media editor, I ran the Twitter and Instagram accounts for the duration of the news day, keeping them updated with posts and images from our preparation. Also, I worked closely with the social media presenter (Rhea) in selecting the stories for the social media segment in the live broadcast. During the show itself, I had to fill in for the missing autocue operator.
• Friday – Continued to run the social media accounts during the radio show, ensuring that I was updating them roughly every half an hour as the news bulletins went out. I also ensured that I got images of our presenters in the studio, as a behind the scenes look at the show.

 

Week 4 (week beginning 19th of February):

• Monday – we reviewed Tuesday’s show, focusing on what we could improve this week. I assisted my team in editing our package for this week after the lesson, ensuring that it was completed well before the show.
• Tuesday – continued work as the social media editor, selecting stories for the social media presenter to feature on air. As the show was centered around the Winter Olympics, I of course had to ensure that all the stories chosen were relevant to our show. I also continued updating the social media accounts, as I did during the previous week.
• Friday – as the previous week, I updated the Twitter page as our half-hourly news bulletins went out, as well as capturing images during the day. I also had free time to help out with other odd jobs around the newsroom.

 

Week 5 (week beginning 26th of February):

• Monday – as the shows moved to semi-weekly, we were allocated our stories for the upcoming show on local news in Southwark. Our group were producing court reports from a local court as an audio piece.
• Tuesday – a mock show for prospective students; however, it was cancelled
• Friday – further research into local courts, as well as allocating roles within our group for the audio piece.

 

Week 6 (week beginning 5th of March):

• Monday – our group went to Inner London Crown Court to gather information on the ongoing cases there. We each attended a different court and took notes on the trials we saw in preparation to record. We also got a start on our script for the final piece.
• Tuesday – live show day. As bulletins presenter, I worked with the bulletins editor and slightly rewrote the initial bulletins they had written so that I could read them out fluently on air, as well as sourcing some relevant images for the segment.
• Friday – on this radio show, I was both the bulletins editor and presenter. I had to choose stories, write a short script for each one, and continue to do so every half hour. As part of editing, I also reordered, removed and updated the stories as the day went on. Finally, I chose what I thought were the top stories of the day to read out on the live show at 3pm. Before the show, I helped with scripting and the layout of our final audio piece for Rhea to record the voiceover for.

 

Week 7 (week beginning 12th of March):

• This week was mostly preparation for our topic for the following week – homelessness. On Monday, it was decided that my and my VT group would focus on the #dosomethingfornothing campaign. During this week, we mostly focused on our respective final projects, and mostly communicated via our group chat. As part of our preparation, we attempted to contact Joshua Coombes, who started the #dosomethingfornothing campaign via Linkedin but unfortunately, we didn’t hear anything back. We also tried contacting other people related to the cause through email but were unsuccessful. As the week ended, we tried coming up with new ideas, as it seemed like our original concept was not going to pan out.

 

Week 8 (week beginning 19th of March):

• Monday – unfortunately, our original VT was not completed in time for the show, so we had to switch to an on-the-day report for the live show day.
• Tuesday – our team went out to get some vox pops on how students help out the homeless. While the rest of our team edited the footage together, I worked on my role for the show as director, setting up the cameras and shots, adjusting the props, layout of the studio and lighting. I was also in charge of keeping us in time for a run-through ahead of the final show. Despite some slight mishaps in the final show, I believe I did well as a director for my first time. Hannah managed to find a possible interviewee (Ceri Sunu) on Linkedin who was willing to do a Skype interview during our live show, but unfortunately, we were not able to get through to her during the live broadcast.
• Friday – the radio show was cancelled, as the deadline for final projects was on the same day.

 

Week 9 (week beginning 16th of April):

• It was decided that we would have the choice of topic for our final show, and so our team began to workshop various ideas. We researched various food markets around London for a possible VT. At the end of the week, our group split off and joined other teams, as this was the final show.

 

Week 10 (week beginning 23rd of April):

• I changed groups and started working with other members of my class and began planning for potential ideas, checking for possible events we could cover, such as the Underbelly festival going on at the South Bank. We filmed footage in preparation for next week. I also attended a one-to-one session regarding CVs and careers with one of our lecturers.

 

Week 11 (week beginning 30th of April):

• During the liveshow this week, I did not have a specific role, helping out with various tasks throughout the day, such as moving cameras around and setting up shots for the director. However, by the end, our autocue operator had gotten caught up with editing, so I stepped in during the practice run, and stayed on in the role for the full show as well. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend our final radio show on Friday, due to a doctor’s appointment.

 

Week 12 (week beginning 7th of May):

• We attended the whole course meeting, discussing possible internship opportunities for after we leave the course and prepared our final submissions for this module. To ensure that I had the best quality content to submit for our final assignment, I joined another group to film a VT on the Underbelly festival at the South Bank. Myself, Georgia, Jason, Jordan and Hannah filmed and edited the piece this week. Even though I already had other options to submit, I wanted to ensure that I produced the best content that I could.