12 May Workbook – Safiyah Bennington
WORKBOOK
Week one
Monday – I was not in this class as I had an internship interview.
Wednesday – The class did vocal training with Vanessa. This taught us how to speak clearly and confidently, she also showed me how I can use the skills that I know from singing when speaking. I learnt how to keep listeners interested by not sounding bored or too monotone.
Thursday – In this class we had a refresher on how to use all of the equipment for TV and radio. I decided that I needed to familiarize myself with the sound desk in the news room. It was helpful to get to test everything out without the pressures of a live show. To practice, James and Nicola discussed the day’s newspaper headlines while I controlled the desk. My camera work skills and confidence got a lot better with the help of Matt.
Week 2
Monday – This was one of my favourite classes. I had a vocal coaching session with my lecturer. This consisted of reading serious and light hearted news stories that were read back and critiqued. By listening back to my voice, it enabled me to see how I can change the way in which I speak and also sound interesting.
Wednesday – In this class, the class discussed who our most liked feature writers were and individually chose our favourite features. We were then asked to present our features and speak about the topic, structure and length. I enjoyed presenting my piece as it wasn’t as political as the rest of the class – mine was about plastic surgery in ear lobes.
Thursday – I was not in this class as I had a hospital appointment.
Week 3
Monday – The rest of the students who didn’t have their voice coaching in the prior week had their turn.
Wednesday – The class had to have a look at the competitions/awards that were available for us to enter, we then discussed what we had found.
Thursday – We had to create audiograms and the new ways of getting news e.g. Snapchat. For this class, I worked with Francisca. Fran didn’t want to record her voice so I did the voice over and she edited the content. This was good as we each did the parts that we felt better at.
Week 4
Monday – In this class, I worked with Emma and Remeka to practice mobile journalism. This class consisted of going into the university foyer and canteen and asking students what questions they have for the universities board. My group managed to collate the most questions on camera and Vanessa was very happy about it. I was in charge of recording the mini interviews on my IPhone and editing all of the questions together in Premiere.
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I started an internship and Tuesdays weren’t compulsory.
Thursday – We went on a trip with the whole class, Michael and LJ. It was a fun ‘Hunt for the Cheshire Cat’ which was based around London, predominantly on South Bank. We then all came together at the final stop and had a drink together.
Week 5
Monday – In this class, I was in a group with Liam and Emma. We were put in front of the autocue and taught how to read a news story from it naturally. For this news story, we covered Brexit and created an ‘out of studio’ conversation behind the person on the sofa and the person pretending to be outside of the Houses of Parliament. If I were to do this again then I would make sure that I read my story notes so that it looked like I knew what I was talking about and I would have more casual conversation with the person on the sofa at the time
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I started an internship and Tuesdays weren’t compulsory.
Thursday – I was not in this class as I had an interview for my dissertation.
Week 6
Monday – In this class, we were learning about reporting live events, Michael covered particularly looking at parliamentary stories. Unfortunately, due to medical reasons, I had to leave early. I would have liked to stay though as we were also prepping for the International Womens Day show which was lead by Isla.
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I started an internship and Tuesdays weren’t compulsory.
Thursday – I was not in this class as I had an interview for my dissertation.
Week 7
Monday – In this class, we were allowed to put together a show of our choice, this was fun because usually the topics we cover are already set out. We were practicing multiple camera shots and so Remeka and I had a debate about the Tristan Thompson cheating scandal alongside James Middleton steering the conversation. I feel that this went well as Remeka and I discussed the points that we were going to make before the show which meant there were no awkward silences. We sent images and video footage to Alice as she was in charge of visuals and she did a really good job to make sure that it worked well with the conversation being had.
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I started an internship and Tuesdays weren’t compulsory.
Thursday – Jennie Godslave from CCskills came in for this class to talk about possible job opportunities available for the students.
Week 8
Monday – In this class, we had an assessed news day. I volunteered myself to be the bulletins reporter. Thankfully, I was given a bulletins team which allowed us to discuss what should be included in the segment and how long it should last. Besides the fact that my autocue wasn’t working in the beginning of my segment the show ran smoothly once it switched on. We had problems with the lighting working with my skin tone and very contrasting behind me but with the help of Theo and Francisca, we were able to fix this. I feel that this went well overall.
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I started an internship and Tuesdays weren’t compulsory.
Thursday – In this class, Michal Lament from a music YouTube page came in and explained what ‘Below the Surface’ was. It was interesting for me because many of the visitors that had come into class were conventional, political journalists, so it was nice to see a different sector.
Week 9
Monday – I was unwell and therefore not in this class.
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I started an internship and Tuesdays weren’t compulsory.
Thursday – A man named John Lubbock came from Wikimedia and taught us about Wikipedia generally. The presentation was interesting but I don’t feel that it needed to be as long as it was. After the presentation, the class was told to find a person on Wikipedia and find facts to write on the site. Personally, I felt that it wasn’t something that I needed to learn and felt like a time filler.
Week 10
Monday – As it wasn’t on the timetable, I showed up for this class at 10am to help out but there was no one there. I didn’t know that we were going straight to the ‘Below The Surface’ show and due to the short notice planning of the show, I was unable to go as I had work.
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I was away doing an internship, this was discussed with my course director, LJ, which excused me from.
Thursday – I had a hospital appointment and was therefore not in class.
Week 11
Monday – I was not in this class as I was away doing an internship, this was discussed with my course director, LJ, which excused me from.
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I was away doing an internship, this was discussed with my course director, LJ, which excused me from.
Thursday – This class was the symposium, an assessed presentation. I had to present my final project (which was on body positivity and social media) to the course board, my class and the second year class. I’d like to think this went successfully as I was within the time limit, spoke confidently and didn’t have any hiccups. I enjoyed seeing the other students projects and listening to their reasoning for choosing their topics.
Week 12
Monday – Bank holiday.
Wednesday – I was not in this class as I was away doing an internship, this was discussed with my course director, LJ, which excused me.
Thursday – I was not in this class as I was away doing an internship, this was discussed with my course director, LJ, which excused me from.
(I have followed Moodle to help refresh my memory on what happened each week. If the dates are incorrect, this is due to the information that the site has provided.)
