09/03/17

I am in group c, along with Lucy, Abbi, Clare, Simon, Eliza, Matt and Molly. We have sorted out our roles and I have made a Google Drive folder we can all work in. I was thinking about wanting to be the editor, however I don’t feel like I would be suitable for that role as I don’t feel I have good leadership skills and confidence to be in charge. I did think about wanting to present in the studio, however Eliza and Simon were keen to present, so I decided to think about the other roles.

I am the outside broadcast presenter and I am looking forward to doing something I haven’t done before. I do feel like this role is out of my comfort zone but I wanted to try something new that I am not as confident with to try and build my experience and confidence.

I feel like our group have got a decent start in planning the show and we are organised. We have already decided on a range of stories and the treatment for those stories. For the OB we are basing it around Easter and chocolate. I am planning to go to a chocolate shop in London to find out the reason for the link between chocolate and Easter. This will also include chocolate tasting and possibly an expert to talk about the history of chocolate Easter.

16/03/17

Myself, Lucy, Clare, Abbi, Simon and Adam met today to go through the stories and treatments of stories in more detail. As a group we have been throwing more ideas around for stories and detailing the ideas we definitely want to go with. We had thought of 8 stories and we pitched them to Matthew. I noted down the feedback he was giving us so we could take it in to consideration when we next meet up as a group. Overall, we are happy with what we have done so far.

23/03/17

This day I was unavailable during the morning as I was attending a funeral. However, I got to class during the afternoon to try and help as much as I could for a practice OB. I found out that our OB producer, Adam and OB teams from other groups had gone to the Westminster bridge to do an OB about the recent terror attacks. I wish I had been there as I really want and need to practice before the real show as much as possible. However, from listening to it back at Harrow, Adam and the other teams did a good job.

We sat down as a group to decide who was doing what story. I obviously want to do all I can to help and contribute to the group, so I wanted to make the ‘5 second rule’ package, however Lucy decided Simon was to do that package and I was left with the subject I wanted to do the least, which was on exam stress. I said to the group I was not confident with this and that I would like some help with it if possible.

30/03/17

We had a group meeting a couple of days ago to go over what was done and what needed to be done. I helped Matt with his Westminster tours piece, by finding a guy named Andrew who conducted free secrets of Westminster tours, and emailed him for an interview. I have no yet had a reply and I cannot find any other contact details.

On this day we tried a run through for the OB. Myself and Adam headed down the Harrow to practice as if we were at the Southbank. It’s important that I mention we have changed our OB subject to the Garden Bridge Project. This is because the Easter themed subject was not worthy enough of having an OB treatment (i.e. the plan we had could easily be done in the studio too) However, when trying to connect from Harrow to the studio, we realised the tieline had no credit left so we were unable to conduct an OB. We headed back to uni and did a phone interview instead, which was better than nothing. This was also important practice for me because there ended up being an issue with the phone lines and I couldn’t hear Simon properly, so I had to listen very carefully.

06/04/17

Pilot show day. I had a hospital appointment so I didn’t arrive until about half 11, which didn’t matter too much as we were the last show at 4pm, so I still had plenty of time. I have been very unwell from the beginning this week, something which is out of my control and I will most likely be unwell for the next couple of weeks. I think it showed the OB for the pilot show as I was just reading from my notes. I was also getting really stressed out as the tieline was not connecting and we had to do another phone interview, which has worried me for the real show. I am worried because I have responsibilities within the group. As well as being the OB presenter, I am in charge of our segment on exam stress, which will involve recording phone calls with parents and finding a psychologist to come in as a live guest. We do have back up plans in case this is unable to go the way we want to.

Later in this week I managed to record interviews with three parents on exam stress and it will be tough to edit them as they are long phone calls! I have said to the group I may need help with my piece.

The good thing about this week is that I have been able to find an activist that can meet with me and OB producer, Adam on the day of our live show and be interviewed about the Garden Bridge Project. The activist seems very keen to talk, I have been keeping in contact with her to ensure she will still be willing to be interviewed.

11/04/17

2 days before the real assessed show. I’m starting to recover from being unwell, however this has caused me to fall behind on all aspects of my work. I feel like I have been letting the group down as I have not been able to complete many tasks. I still haven’t been able to find a psychologist to be a live guest so we have had to start taking a new angle on that part of the show. Tomorrow I need to edit the parent phone calls to make a montage. Myself and Lucy spent the afternoon contacting psychologists and other academics who would be able to answer questions on stress, I managed to get a phone interview with a psychologist as that was all they could do, Lucy helped me by speaking on the phone to the psychologist and asking the questions we came up with, I will be editing this interview tomorrow.

I feel like I have a lot of tasks to complete, compared to some other members. I am also focusing on the OB scripts and questions (including backups), which Simon and Lucy were helping me with today. Fingers crossed the OB goes smoothly on the day as that is what I am mostly preparing for.

I’m really disappointed that I haven’t been able to find a psychologist to come in as a live guest, but I really struggled last week in general, so I hope the group will understand.

14/04/17

A couple of days ago we decided to only use the stress item as a back up if needed. So today and yesterday I spent time editing parent phone calls and the phone interview with a psychologist. Lucy decided it was best I focus on the OB. I spent the morning going over scripts and ensuring I could read them in my natural tone. This morning an interview with the executive director for the Garden Bridge Trust was secured. Simon kindly did the interview. This means we managed to get the responses of Dame Margaret Hodge’s recent report, the other side being the live guest meeting me at the Southbank. After going over scripts (including back up scripts) and doing a rough run through a few hours beforehand, myself and Adam headed down to the Southbank with the tieline to prepare for the show. All day I was feeling really confident with how the show was going to go.

We arrived at the Southbank and found a decent spot not to far away from where the bridge would be built. We managed to get connection and stay connected, until moments we were set to go on air…

We had briefed our guest, who seemed keen to answer my questions, and we chatted as if we had met before. I also ensured she had listened to the clip of the executive director before we went live. However, we couldn’t get the signal back. We ended up moving a couple of times and moments before we went on air, we managed to find a signal and connect to the studio back at Harrow. I believe there was a communication issue while I was presenting the OB back at the studios, which meant Adam got told for OB to wrap up when apparently our time had been extended. I’m not entirely sure what the problem was but if we were to do again, communication would have to be looked at.

Conclusion

Overall, I believe the majority of our group worked really well together, that being some more than others. I enjoyed being a part of the OB team and getting to listen to content other people had made. I believed I worked hard, despite having other things going on outside of university. I eventually managed to pick up the phone and call people, rather than just sending an email and contacting people on Twitter. I am really happy I managed to find Jen Mosley as our guest for the OB, because she was really good, turned up on time on the day and was genuinely interested in the Garden Bridge Project (thinking it shouldn’t go ahead). I did feel that sometimes some members of the group made me feel like I wasn’t trying hard enough, which made it difficult to enjoy the making of the show, however I still tried my best and I am happy with what I have achieved.