13 May Workbook – Emma Parker
Week 1
The first week back I had an interview for an Amazon marketing job which made me miss the first half of the lesson, but I came straight back to class afterwards to listen to the introduction to the module. I was looking forward to another semester and to being taught by Vanessa who was the tutor for my project.
In the afternoon, half of the year group split up and I was in the half that stayed to have voice training with Vanessa. It was really interesting to listen to different people and how they speak and how they can improve. I have always had trouble with my voice so it was nice to be taught by a professional who knows what they’re talking about. It was difficult to have everyone listening to my voice, so I preferred it when we was split into groups. We all made our own scripts for a story Vanessa gave us, which really helped with knowing how to write a headline quickly and efficiently.
On Thursdays class, we had a quick recap into how the newsroom and production desk worked after such a long break off. It was really refreshing to go back to something I knew about, but very different in the fact we had to produce both a live news day and a radio show in one day. As we have always split these into different days, I thought it could be quite difficult but this wasn’t the case. For the live news day we used old video content which made the day run smoother as it’s usually the most time consuming. I helped with gathering stories and researching anything the presenters could talk about. I couldn’t take up an important presenting or production desk role because I had to leave in the afternoon due to an internship interview. We went live a little bit late but still managed to produce a news worthy and watchable show.
Week 2
I started off this week with voice training with Vanessa in my other pair Safiyah. Again, I was looking forward to trying to improve something I have always had trouble with. By listening to my voice back I learnt that I speak really soft and quiet which meant I had to speak up with a clear throat. I also got taught to sit up with a straight back to get my voice out loud and clear at its best ability. It was interesting to play around with speeding my voice up and down and seeing the full capacity of what my voice can bring to reading a news piece and how much of a difference it can make. Vanessa taught me how your voice can make a news bulletin sound a lot more interesting just by playing around with speed and depths.
During the week and the workshop with Rebecca, we focused on feature writing. We had a quick recap on the fact you can add yourself into the story, make it opinionated and make it longer than the normal news article. As last week we found out what we would need to give in for our assessment in May, I already was considering doing a feature for my interactive piece. It was nice to tell the class about my favourite feature writers (mainly those who write about beauty and fashion) and to be introduced to some of the classes favourites.
Thursdays class we started off the day with a live discussion panel show which we was fun as it was very controversial – something we’ve never done before. Me, Safiyah, Leanne and Delina decided to choose the topic of body positivity and whether Instagram influencers are damaging to young girls. The presenters went into the news room with a script in inception but when me and Delina were asked the questions we didn’t have a script as we wanted it to be natural and free-flowing like most news chat shows. We all had different opinions which I think really helped our segment, especially as we all had a chance to speak.
Week 3
As I went to voice training the previous week, I didn’t have to go to class and therefore spent the beginning of the week researching what competition I wanted to choose for my assessment. I was stuck between wanting to write a news feature or producing an audio piece, so I was researching which competitions had those entries. I came across the BJTC awards, the SPA awards, the IRN awards and the New Media Writing Prize. I noticed on the class schedule Rebecca was doing a workshop schedule so I waited till Wednesday to try figure out what I wanted to do and whether Rebecca had anymore suggestions.
During the workshop, we were shown previous winners of different competitions which was really interesting to see the wide range of topics people talk about. Rebecca gave us a list of different competitions and their requirements, but some of them were video entries which I knew I definitely didn’t want to do. Learning from my previous experiences, I don’t like producing them and know they are not my best work. Rebecca showed us an interesting video entry that won, which inspired me to do something I care about. I went home and narrowed down the options I had and needed to decide whether I wanted to produce an audio or feature.
Thursdays lesson I really enjoyed as we were introduced to audiograms. I have seen them all over different social medias and thought they were interesting, so I was really excited to learn how to make them. Michael showed us the website called headliner which made the process quite easy. I decided to practice with a light hearted topic of why to travel to New York because I had travelled there in January and loved it. I used free stock images to stick to the media laws and it turned out actually looking really professional and fun. This lesson actually made me want to use audiograms in my dissertation project, which was an absolute bonus for me.
!! IMPORTANT NOTICE !!
From these weeks I had been given an internship which meant I had to miss Monday and Wednesday lessons. I asked my boss if I could still go to my Thursday lessons as I didn’t want to miss an important full day in class each week, which she said was okay. I also checked this was okay with course director LJ.
Week 4
Alongside my internship, I was starting to narrow down my options for the competitions as I decided I wanted to write a feature rather than produce audio. I think throughout my 3 years I have learnt that I like to write features the most and probably what I’m best at. I have always loved the idea of incorporating opinions into journalism and making it more of a chatty piece and less formal. I came across the SPA awards and decided it would be a brilliant competition to enter. This award was for longer, magazine style pieces, about a specific area or focus. I felt a lot more enthusiastic about my assessment as I had finally found out what competition I wanted and the entry requirements.
Already having a good week due to finding a competition I wanted to enter, LJ and Michael decided to take us on our first trip outside on university. I was looking forward to spending the day with friends I have made for life at university and have a tiny break from my internship and university work. We did a Cheshire Cat hunt in London which meant we had to split up in teams. I was in a group with Safiyah, Leanne, Remeka and Delina and we become extremely competitive. It was such good fun to find places over London we didn’t even know existed, eventually finding the cat and finishing off the day having a drink with our teachers.
Week 5
This Monday my internship gave people the Monday off so I came into university for my voice training. Again, I paired up with Safiyah whilst also in the news room with Charlie and Liam. I started off by being in front of the autocue about Brexit whilst Safiyah was given a mini script to read. I was very ill this day and it really showed whilst we was watching them back. I lacked energy, my voice was very congested and I was very monotone. When we swapped roles and I had learnt how I had come across on camera, I tried to read the script with more enthusiasm but it was difficult when I couldn’t breathe properly. I found it easier to speak without a script at the end because it was more natural and free flowing. After we had finished, we swapped roles with the other pair and I was on the production desk helping Liam and Charlie. I felt much more at ease and more helpful behind the camera rather than in front of it.
Every day when I got home from my internship I began to research what I wanted to write my news feature on. I wanted it to be something I actually cared about as I feel like it is important when being a journalist. Of course I understand to be a journalist you sometimes have to write about stuff you don’t care about, but given the chance I would prefer it to be about something I know about and care about. I began to brainstorm and thought of many ideas including mental health for university students, Instagram influencers damaging self-esteem and the Essex stereotype. As the proposal was next week, I decided to research into every area and decide which one would be best to do a project about.
Thursdays lesson was all about mobile journalism and it was interesting to see how effective your phone can be in your work life as well as your private life. We were shown different productions of news all made by mobile footage or mobile audio which still seemed really professional. We were asked to make a news package about something within the university on our phones because we wanted to go out live the same day. Me, Safiyah and Remeka chose the subject of the student elections as it was voting week in university and thought it was really fitting. We decided to hunt down the people who are up for election and the people working to try get people to vote and ask them why they think it’s so important to vote. We got some good interviews with good information but came across a difficulty when we listened to them afterwards. Music in the background was playing in most recordings and was extremely loud and it also meant some copyright issues we would have to deal with. Resultingly, we cut most of the interviews out which didn’t leave us with much but was still helpful for the live show.
Week 6
As this was the week I decided to do my news feature on Essex stereotyping, I started to do a lot of research on the topic and make a list of people I could interview for it. The subject was very close to home so I thought it would be perfect fit. I thought that my other options of mental health for university students and Instagram influencers had been covered quite a lot by different journalists over the years and I wanted to something quite unique and not done before. As I’m from Essex myself, I have experienced the stereotype and know a lot about why people think that of us so I could use my own knowledge as well as other research.
I thought of incorporating lip fillers and the Essex look into my news feature as I thought it was another really interesting angle. I then made a list of people I intended to interview including a person who has been victim to the stereotype, a beautician and a person who has got lip fillers. I have learnt over the last 3 years that despite being a news feature and the journalist being allowed to be opinionated, you must be fair and balance the story with the other side. That’s why I thought if I could find some interviewees that matched those descriptions it could make my piece really fair.
Thursday I was unfortunately really ill so I couldn’t make it to class.
Week 7
Continuing the research into my news feature, I came across the #IAmAnEssexGirl campaign on the internet which I was really pleased about. I thought it could really help my article and support some of the statements I would be making about the stereotype. I noticed a lot of the campaigners thought that TOWIE was to blame for the stereotyping and I thought it would be brilliant to narrow my piece down to how TOWIE adds fuel to the stereotype. It was a complete new angle for my piece and I decided to stick to it. I reached out to a few of the women involved with the campaign for an interview and one of the women, Nancy Daniels, actually gave me an interview Tuesday evening after my internship. I was really happy with her insightful interview but still continued to search for more because my dissertation project taught me not to rely on one person.
Thursdays lesson I thought was cancelled due to our projects being due, so I did not attend the class. I spent the day working solely on my project trying to get it the best it could be. However, I learnt that from all the work I was doing this day, the most important lesson learned is to proof read! Also, to check for any legal issues such as defamation.
Week 8
We started off the week with an assessed live news day which I thoroughly enjoyed. I got paired up with Leanne who was a pleasure to work with, and although being given a news story neither of us particularly cared about we still gave it our best shot. We had to report on a free organ recital at Southwark Cathedral near Borough Market. We started to research facts about both the cathedral and the organs so I was able to write a script before we went. The organs were set to play at 1pm so we left with plenty of time to get there and be early because it’s an important attribute as a journalist. We started filming a lot of GV’s of both outside and inside the cathedral, especially getting shots of the organs as it was what the piece was about. When the organs began to play, I used a reporting app on my phone to record a length of the recital for us to use for our package. When we thought we had enough footage, we made our way back so we can start editing immediately. We didn’t actually realise till watching them back that our hands were shaky and it ruined most of our shots, but Leanne tried her best with editing the shots on Premiere Pro. We decided to use a voice over instead of an opening PTC so I began to write a different script for our piece and go and record it in the radio studio for the best quality. When coming back into the news room, I transferred the recordings on to Leanne’s laptop and then heard Francisca (the director) desperately needing someone to do the autocue so I volunteered. I went to the computer and tried to load the script but unfortunately it didn’t work. I started playing around with the software and inception trying to get it to load and it finally appeared. I learnt it was important to stay calm if a problem occurs. The live show went really well and we managed to pull it off.
Thursday this week we started off the class with a guest speaker from “Below the Surface”. He gave an insightful talk about a project of his coming up but unfortunately I wasn’t that interested. However, after he had left, Michael told us we would be learning about podcasts. I have always loved podcasts and listen to them in my spare time so I loved learning about how they was made and behind the scenes action. We started to listen to different ones in class and have discussions about them and see what worked well and what didn’t. It was then our turn to create our own podcasts and we started brainstorming ideas of what to do it about. We decided to do it about getting into the industry and how unfair unpaid internships are, but as I had an interview for my interactive project I had to leave and didn’t actually get to record myself into the podcast.
I left to go and meet Lucia Leone, a beautician and trainee nurse because it was the only time she could do. I gained a really long and thorough interview and was extremely pleased with it, even if I didn’t get to be a part of the podcast. This interview made me think about making her a main case study because of the depth she went into and her knowledge about “the Essex look” and lip fillers.
Week 9
At the start of this week, I gained another interview with Maria Smith. She is a very important interviewee for my piece as she was actually victim to the Essex stereotyping. Whilst her interview was short, she did give me important details I could include in my piece. She proved how TOWIE is part of the reason why she has been stereotyped and backed up my story. She also gave me an anecdote about a job interview which was really shocking which I thought would be brilliant for my news feature and it swayed my decision to use her as my first interviewee in the piece.
Thursdays lesson we had a visit by John Lubbock from Wikimedia who began to tell us about Wikipedia and how it works. He also showed us how to edit entries on Wikipedia and what can happen when people release false information. After he finished his speech, he then asked us to make our own account and start editing entries about people we didn’t know about. It is always fun to listen to new people coming into the class even if you aren’t interested in what they have to say, but I didn’t enjoy editing the entries.
Week 10
This week I gathered my last interview I would use with Zoe Rudgley. She is a young adult from Essex who within the last year has had her lips filled twice. I think she will be a really good balance in my news feature as her opinion is that TOWIE isn’t to blame and people have their own minds. She told me that these people didn’t influence her and she decided to get her lips done due to her own insecurities. I think this interview will be really important to my piece by remaining balanced and fair and showing two sides to the story. I also got an interview with another girl who had undergone surgery but I wasn’t happy with her interview and decided not to use her. I have learnt that despite not using someone in your news piece, it’s never a waste of time to get a back-up.
Thursdays class we were introduced to smart speakers which was interesting to learn about especially as I have one in my house. I learned new skills and tricks I can ask Alexa and thought of innovate questions to ask her. We was later joined by Conservative MP Chris Skidmore so I spent some time researching him and his beliefs. He gave a quick Q+A with the middle table and then left. Michael continued the lesson by giving us current news stories which we might not know about. It was then our job to pick out points we could ask Alexa in a bid to see how useful Alexa can be within news journalism.
!! IMPORTANT NOTICE !!
I finished my internship at the end of the Easter holidays so was able to attend both Monday and Thursday classes again.
Week 11
This week was probably the most worrying and nerve-wracking week of all my time at university. As the symposium was approaching, my nerves were kicking in because I absolutely hated public speaking. When attending Mondays lesson, we went over the marking criteria’s for our upcoming assessments. I felt calm about my news feature and workbook as I knew I had been working on it all along, which is different to how I use to feel when I was always last minute. We then had a talk from a freelancer which was really interesting as it’s a route I’ve never considered but could now look into. I know it was helpful for some of my class mates who are definitely wanting the freelance route. She told us to gain lots of contacts which our teachers have taught us all along, which reinforced to me how important it is. When she finished, the symposium was yet again leering on my mind. After hearing how LJ wants us to do it, I went home and created a PowerPoint that I could present to the class on Thursday.
When Thursday arrived, I came prepared with a PowerPoint and knowing what I wanted to say. As I was more than half way down the list to present, I couldn’t rest easy until it was my turn. When it was finally my turn to present, I tried to calm myself and present the best of my ability. I remained eye contact with the audience which actually helped me as people were nodding back at me when I presented my ideas. My PowerPoint consisted of the motivation for my project, the case studies/experts, the elements, an analysis and my lessons learnt. All were important factors that I thought should be told to the second years. Alongside the PowerPoint I spoke about different factors, I showed the layout of my article and played one of my short two minute audiograms. It felt good that I could tell the second years some of my wisdom and warn them away from making the same mistakes that I did. It was important to me that I was completely honest as I wanted to help the second years produce some amazing projects like the rest of my class mates. It was so fun listening to everyone else’s projects and hearing their different motivations, and it made me feel proud of the work we’ve produced.
Week 12
Despite this week starting with a bank holiday, I spent the day working on my interactive piece. I had already gathered all of my interviews because in the past I have learned to not leave everything to the last minute. Over the Easter holidays I had done most of the writing so this week was just a case of going over everything, finishing sentences and double checking. One difficulty I come across was choosing what pieces of the interviews I wanted to use as I kept changing my mind. Most of the interviews I got had a lot of different quotes I could use but I couldn’t narrow it down. I didn’t want to use too many quotes as I think a few quotes to back up what you’re saying is better when you’re a journalist. However, I think I chose the best quotes and was really happy with my wide range of interviewees.
I think that my piece went really well and I am pleased with the way it worked out. It was so much better being organised and planning ahead, rather than leaving it to last minute like I have done in the past. I feel like I’ve accomplished a well written and informative news piece whilst also being light hearted at the same time. As the requirements was to write just a news feature, I feel like I’ve met them completely and are happy with the supporting images and social medias.
Regarding the end of year live show, I haven’t been assigned a role yet but I am looking forward to be a part of producing a show celebrating all of our hard work over these past years. I can’t wait to put all my effort into whatever role and do it just one last time as a university student before my career.
