THE FIRST WEEK BACK
WEEK 1 - 02/10/21
The first week is always a scary one yet I feel somewhat glad that it has come around again. The break between first year and second year was so long and not much really happened. Well, I say not a lot: what I actually mean is that I watched around 180 films (most of them ones that I’d never seen before), caught up with loads of TV shows, and got COVID. That last one probably doesn’t sound the best and it didn’t feel great at all, but after a long first year and lots of going out events, it was sort of nice to be locked in a room to just watch films and TV all day and catch up with films and shows that are long overdue to be seen by me, so it was a nice feeling.
However, after I was free of COVID, I just kept watching films and shows and I continued to do this till the first day of the second year. It made me feel a bit useless as I wasn’t really doing anything. Yes, watching these would help me to understand the industry as the best bit of research is to watch TV, but it was so repetitive and I just wanted to be productive. Therefore, this first week back was filled with some joy.
Obviously there was some apprehension as well. As I hadn’t been to Uni in ages, I sort of forgot how it all worked and felt that getting back into the swing of things may prove tricky. What didn’t help was that I’d be going into media city three times a week in the early mornings as opposed to just going in one day a week last year because of COVID precautions. However, this was necessary as I’m paying for this. This is probably where my university experience properly starts as I can finally start to go in more and use more equipment/facilities.
The first week is always a scary one yet I feel somewhat glad that it has come around again. The break between first year and second year was so long and not much really happened. Well, I say not a lot: what I actually mean is that I watched around 180 films (most of them ones that I’d never seen before), caught up with loads of TV shows, and got COVID. That last one probably doesn’t sound the best and it didn’t feel great at all, but after a long first year and lots of going out events, it was sort of nice to be locked in a room to just watch films and TV all day and catch up with films and shows that are long overdue to be seen by me, so it was a nice feeling. However, after I was free of COVID, I just kept watching films and shows and I continued to do this till the first day of the second year. It made me feel a bit useless as I wasn’t really doing anything. Yes, watching these would help me to understand the industry as the best bit of research is to watch TV, but it was so repetitive and I just wanted to be productive. Therefore, this first week back was filled with some joy.
Obviously there was some apprehension as well. As I hadn’t been to Uni in ages, I sort of forgot how it all worked and felt that getting back into the swing of things may prove tricky. What didn’t help was that I’d be going into media city three times a week in the early mornings as opposed to just going in one day a week last year because of COVID precautions. However, this was necessary as I’m paying for this. This is probably where my university experience properly starts as I can finally start to go in more and use more equipment/facilities.
The modules that I’m studying for this semester are professional practice, editing, and scriptwriting. I’m currently writing this at the end of my first week so I’ve had one lesson each as well as an additional workshop on Friday for professional practice. Professional practice is about getting me into the industry and helping me to become more confident so I think it’s going to be a tricky and quite uncomfortable module for me as I’m not a very confident person, but in the long run, it’s going to be incredibly useful to me. The first lesson of this was basically an introductory lesson, but it did lay out the assessment brief. I’ve got to build up my online presence in the industry, and get a minimum of five days work experience. The latter does sound quite daunting but at the end of the day, this will be beneficial to making my way into the television industry.
The next module is scriptwriting. I’ve written scripts for a while now for short films and stop-motion animations so I was quite excited for this module. In the first lesson, we mainly just went over the assessment brief, and watched a short film so that we could talk about story and structure. Although it didn’t pertain too much to the actual writing of the script, it was still insightful and I’m expecting it to touch on that in the next few weeks which should be good. The assessment is to write the first five pages of a fifteen minute TV drama which sounds right up my alley so I’m really looking forward to that.
The final module is editing. I edit a lot in my spare time, although this is mainly for my YouTube channel. It’d be nice to do editing for professional clients that relate to the TV industry so hopefully this module will lead to those opportunities. The first lesson told us the assessment brief of creating two short TV trailers. One would be for a film and one for footage that we're given.
It’s the end of the first week and although it was a bit of a scary week, I'm glad to be back to finally doing some work again, and I’m excited to finally edit, write a script, and slowly make my way into the television industry which I've been wanting to do ever since 2010.
As I edit a lot, this is great news for me, although we have to use AVID which is industry standard editing software. I haven’t used it just yet but it looks incredibly tricky, especially when compared to Premiere pro, but I’m willing to learn how to use it to do some proper editing.
WHAT HAVE I BEEN WATCHING?
WEEK 2 - 07/10/21
As a television student, it’s important to constantly be watching the latest TV programmes, as well as shows that have already been released. Due to the extensive break between first and second year and the days that I have off at Uni, I have made sure to watch as much TV as I can to help with my understanding of how it’s made whilst making sure to keep up with the latest news and releases. I’ve watched a wide range of content so in this blog, I will be going over some of the highlights and talking about some of my favourite television shows as well.
The first show is an obvious one: Doctor Who. The show has kept with me since 2010 and it’s what got me interested in the industry. It was the behind the scenes ‘confidential’ episodes that really got me hooked on how TV is made. If I can make TV and inspire younger people like I was all those years ago, then that’d be amazing to me.
In my spare time, I’ve been watching episodes from 2005-present. The great thing about doing this is that I can see how far the show has come, now just in terms of the different actors and writers, but how it’s made and how it looks. Obviously the older stuff looks a bit cheaper and the camera quality isn’t anywhere near as good but it’s still charming. The aspect ratio changes, colour grading improves, ADR for some reason gets worse, and the visual effects have definitely improved.
The thing about being a television student, specifically looking at editing and scriptwriting, is that I can’t turn that off when I watch something. I will be looking at it from a television students perspective by constantly thinking about how it’s made, thinking about what lines in the script are too ‘on the nose’ or could be cut, and noticing dodgy ADR, editing or figuring out that what they filmed was probably done last minute due to how messy a scene is. However, it’s still a big part of my life and has been the driving force of my inspiration for getting into the industry.
The next show is Inside No. 9 which is a fairly recent addition to my favourite list of shows. I say recently, I started watching it in 2018 which was three years ago (that’s mad to think). Nevertheless, this show quickly became one of my favourite shows. It’s a horror anthology series by the minds of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and is always confined to one location (related to the number nine) with a small cast. I don’t know two many times I’ve rewatched each episode but it continues to entertain me.
This show is the perfect example of writing done well. As it’s always set in one location, these stories are really about the characters which unfortunately is some-what sidelined in some shows today. Therefore, this show has really helped me develop as a writer which plays into my scriptwriting module. I think this could over-take my love for Doctor Who at some point as they just keep getting better and better, and continue to inspire me.
Next up is a show called What We Do In The Shadows. This show is a mockumentary about vampires living in the modern day. If you think that sounds funny and strange then you’re right. This is one of the funniest, most bonkers, comedies that I’ve seen in such a long time. I originally saw the film first which, although funny, didn’t really make me laugh too much.. However, when the series was released, I was hooked. Not to mention, it also features one of my favourite actors: Matt Berry. Each episode is different and wonderful, featuring a plethora of ideas that I’ve never seen on TV before. It also features a great cast, including Mark Hamill, Benedict Wong, and Taika Waititi. I’ve also introduced this show to a few of my friends and they kept asking to watch more episodes so that’s definitely a good sign of how good it really is.
The final show that I’ve been watching is Sex Education on Netflix. This show is completely different to what I would usually watch as the title alone would probably make anyone question it. When I had COVID in May, I was sort of trapped in my room at my university accommodation so I had to fill my time by just watching films and TV. I saw it pop up on Netflix and it kept on popping up so one day, I just started watching it. I was a little apprehensive but as soon as I finished episode one, I instantly put the next episode on.
I finished both of the released series that week. It was that good! The characters and storylines really gripped me and the representation is off-the-charts: it’s putting most shows to shame). Sex is quite a delicate subject but this dealt with it incredibly well and was really informative at the same time. So, if you haven’t watched this show, do yourself a favour and binge all three series this week: you won’t regret it.
Some honourable mentions of shows that I’ve recently watched include The IT Crowd, Bad Education which are both comedy shows. They’re a harmless bit of fun and something that I could easily put on after a lecture. I definitely preferred The IT Crowd to Bad Education as I just found it a lot more funnier, and the leads in The IT Crowd are always going to be funnier than Jack Whitehall. As well as this, I also watched a one-off drama called ‘Help’ which was about nursing homes during COVID. It was incredibly harrowing and it felt really real. I even cried at it which is a definite sign that it’s good. Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham were superb in it and I just couldn't take my eyes off of it.
As for what I want to watch next, if I want to get into the TV industry, specifically working on dramas, then I will need to watch more dramas. Some that have piqued my interest are Peaky Blinders, Broadchurch, and Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes.
MY THREE BIG GOALS
WEEK 5 - 28/10/21
It’s now week five and we’ve been tasked to come up with three big goals for ourselves. The purpose of this is to set objectives that we can strive towards by early next year. These goals could either be personal goals, or goals to do with the module. I’ve chosen these to be relevant to the current module which should aid my journey into the industry.
The first goal that I chose was to get a placement as a runner on a television show. This is the goal that I’m most eager to achieve. The reason for this is because this will be what starts my journey into the television industry. Being a runner is the place to start so it’s a no-brainer to include it as one of my three big goals. The good thing about this goal is that it shouldn’t be too hard to achieve as I’m currently studying in Media City which is the hub of television. As well as that, if I have a good CV, showreel, and website, then I shouldn’t have too much to worry about. I think my main problem that I’m going to have with this goal is confidence which plays into one of my other goals. To get a job as a runner, I may have to do coffee chats or email people and both of those make me quite nervous. However, if I want to achieve this goal, then I will need to do those things.
The second goal that I chose was to get a part-time job during my time at university. University is quite grueling in terms of money. Buying food, going out ,paying rent, it’s just a bit too expensive and I haven’t really got the funds to balance all of that at the same time. Therefore, by getting a part-time job, I can earn a bit of extra money which will help me so much to pay for all of the above things. As well as this, as I’ve never had a paid job before, this will be a great experience and a necessity if I want to be prepared for working as a runner. The reason for this is because part-time jobs come with a load of skills, such as organisation, communication, and time-management. All of these skills will be incredibly useful for when I become a runner.
And finally, my last goal was to be more confident. When written down, it sounds a lot easier to do, but it’s really not something that can be activated when it needs to be. I struggle quite a bit with confidence. I often find socialising awkward, or don’t always know what to say. Being confident will be important for when I enter the industry, especially for communication as a big part of being a runner is to talk to people and connect with them to make your way up and to keep going in the industry. The professional practice module is sort of helping with my confidence but there’s still a long way to go. I can tell that this will be the hardest of the goals even though it’s the one that looks the easiest on paper. However, I will try my best and keep going.
The plan is to have completed all of these by March next year. The reason for this instead of May (when the module ends) is because it’d be nice to get to my birthday and have completed these objectives by the time I’m twenty as it’ll be incredibly rewarding, especially as all of my objectives are things that I should really have done and achieved before exiting my teenage years. Therefore, the aim is to work on these goals and hopefully, if all goes to plan, I will have reached them. The one that I’m most worried about is the confidence one as that takes time. You can’t just turn it on, but I’m hoping to at least improve by then.
MY LOVE OF DOCTOR WHO
WEEK 6 - 01/11/21
I aspire to get into the television industry, and that fascination with how television was made started in 2010 because of a show called Doctor Who. This show has grown up with me for most of my life and I've dedicated so much time to it. It wasn’t just the main show that got me interested in the industry. Instead, it was the accompanying show called ‘Doctor Who Confidential’ which detailed how each episode was made and as a kid (and still now) it fascinated me. The passion and creativity that goes into it just stood out to me, and ever since seeing it, I wanted to be a part of that and make something truly special.
The first episode of Doctor Who Flux just aired on TV and after a 10 month wait since it was last on, it certainly lived up to expectations. The current showrunner is Chris Chibnall who hasn’t had the best track record with the fans as they’re not too keen on his writing. However, the writing of this series has been exceptional so far and what’s even more exciting is that on my Twitter, Instagram, even in my house, people are really liking it and praising it so it’s wonderful to see.
The first episode of the series was broadcast on Halloween Night so I sat down to watch it with my house in full Spider-Man costume whilst everyone one else was in their costumes. I think the fact that everyone took an hour out of that night just to sit down and watch Doctor Who with me was really something special, and after it finished, they really liked it so that was a great feeling.
It’s really nice to have Doctor Who be such a big part of my life, especially during my time at Uni as I’m continuing to enjoy the thing that sparked my interest in the industry. I’ve enjoyed the opener to the series so much that I’ve watched the first episode at least 4 times which is unheard of (I’ve enjoyed it that much). One thing to note with Doctor Who nowadays is that I watch it slightly differently to how I usually do, and this is the same with every film or TV show that I watch. I have a YouTube channel where I make short films and edit lots of videos. I’ve also watched loads of behind the scenes videos on the making of shows and films. Finally, I’m currently studying scriptwriting and editing at university. When you combine all of these things, it’s hard to watch things now without analysing them, thinking about how they’re made, and spotting clunky dialogue or editing/VFX/ADR that doesn’t quite work. However, it does make watching things more educational for me now and plays right into the course that I’m currently studying.
Doctor Who is always going to be a big part of my life and to see it shine this year with so much positivity surrounding it is incredibly motivational to me. It’s really going to help drive my passion for the industry and I hope that for as long as I focus on the TV industry (and hopefully work in it), Doctor Who will always be there to inspire me.
CREATING A SHOWREEL
WEEK 7 - 11/11/21
Creating a showreel is a very useful tool for showcasing your skills to an employer in a brief and short video. A requirement of the professional practice module was to create a showreel, however, I’d already started on one before I knew that we had to complete one for it.
I’ve actually created a showreel before, two in fact. I really enjoy editing these as it’s always fun to look through all of the content that I’ve created and to pick out the best bits. Since my last showreel in 2019, I’ve created lots more content. This includes; stop-motion animations, short films, university work, client work, VFX, and much more. Therefore, I had a lot to choose from this time around.
I wanted to make this one a bit more personal so I decided to include some voice-over from myself, talking about who I am and what I can do. I made sure that the voice over was accompanied by me saying it to give it that personal touch. This also meant that people who watched it could understand who I was a bit more.
The piece of music that I chose was ‘My Type’ by Saint Motel. I decided to go with this song as it was quite catchy and drew attention to the showreel. More importantly for me though was that it had a clear and good beat. This meant that I could easily edit it to that and cut to the beat which I always find very satisfying. This would also show off my editing skills which is also a bonus. I made sure to include a wide range of my work so it didn’t become boring or repetitive. My only worry with the showreel is that I haven’t got much client work or university work to show off as I haven’t completed much in the way of that, but that’s mainly due to COVID preventing opportunities. I was also warned that a showreel shouldn’t just be a montage of what I've created but I’m sure that’s what a showreel is meant to be so hopefully mine should be alright.
Overall, I’m really happy with my showreel and it’s definitely the best one that I've made so far. It’s also really encouraging to see how much content I’ve made over the years and how much I’ve improved. I’m really happy with how it looks, with the neon text that I made using After Effects, the variety of content, the intro and outro that I filmed, and the editing which really pulls it all together. I’m hoping that this showreel alone will inform potential employers of my skill set which should hopefully secure me my first job as a runner in the television industry.
CHILDREN IN NEED
WEEK 8 - 20/11/21
I’ve never been to a live show before, and never really knew how to sign up for tickets to attend one, so when I managed to get tickets to see Children In Need live, it was amazing. It all started when I saw someone post an announcement on Instagram that Children In Need needed audience members on Friday the 19th of November. I actually got tickets to see Children In Need two years ago when it was based in London but I never got to go for certain reasons. Therefore, I jumped at the chance to go. It was a while till I got confirmation about tickets but it started off with bad news. I got an email saying that I wasn’t successful in getting tickets this time which was a little disheartening but I could still watch it on TV. However, the next day, I got an email with two tickets attached so that was a really nice surprise.
I’ve never been to a live show before, and never really knew how to sign up for tickets to attend one, so when I managed to get tickets to see Children In Need live, it was amazing. It all started when I saw someone post an announcement on Instagram that Children In Need needed audience members on Friday the 19th of November. I actually got tickets to see Children In Need two years ago when it was based in London but I never got to go for certain reasons. Therefore, I jumped at the chance to go. It was a while till I got confirmation about tickets but it started off with bad news. I got an email saying that I wasn’t successful in getting tickets this time which was a little disheartening but I could still watch it on TV. However, the next day, I got an email with two tickets attached so that was a really nice surprise.
As I’ve never booked tickets by myself or attended a show without my family, I felt quite nervous as I wondered if I’d get lost or I’d get something wrong. However, I tried to put all of that behind me as not only would it be a lot of fun, but it’d also give me an insight into how a show like that was made. The day came and everything was ready. Getting into Dock 10 didn’t take too long but COVID checks were heavily present which made me a bit apprehensive but at the end of the day, it was for all of our safety. Once in the waiting room, we were given a sticker sheet with stickers of pudsey, as well as stickers with a BBC Number on it so they could easily call us into the studio one group at a time.
Walking into the Children In Need studio was a really great experience. It was a bit smaller than I imagined but seeing all of the camera equipment and crew was fascinating. I think that was one of my favourite parts about the night. The hosts of the show got there early and were incredibly nice. It’s really nice to know that they’re nice in real life as well. Mel Giedroyc and Graham Norton were particularly nice. Just being in the same room as all of these famous people alone was enough to make the night special. Before the show started, the audience was introduced to a guy who would keep our energy going throughout the show, and he’d tell us when to laugh and clap, although we were laughing and clapping anyway.
What was really interesting is that when you watch it on TV and it cuts to the clips between the host sections, you don't see the behind the scenes process. When the clips went up on our end, lots of the crew rushed out to move cameras, set up the stage, and let the presenters know what to do, so that was a great insight into how the industry works. One highlight was seeing the Mastermind section set up as they were testing the lighting for it during the break which was fascinating to watch.
Overall, the experience was so much fun. I’m eager to attend a lot more live shows now, not only to be entertained and be part of the audience, but to see how everything works behind the scenes, as this will help me to understand the industry just that little bit more. If I did have one small problem with the night, it was that instead of the musical acts and other acts being present on the stage, they were just pre-recorded and shown on a screen so we didn’t get to see them in person. When watching it on TV, you’d think that they were really there as they’ve edited it very cleverly (it fooled my mum as she thought I saw Ed Sheeran when I was there), but that wasn’t the case at all. However, that was the only problem that I have. The rest of the night was just so awe-inspiring and it’s something that I’d definitely love to do again.
THE ACADEMIC YEAR SO FAR...
WEEK 8 - 22/11/21
The modules that I've been studying are Professional Practice, Scriptwriting, and Editing. In this blog, I will be going over my thoughts on how I’m getting on with them. The first of which is professional practice. This module is mainly about learning about myself, creating an online presence, and preparing myself for the industry, whilst also encouraging work experience. It’s week 8 now and I feel like I haven’t done too much. I don’t think that’s down to the teaching: I’m just a bit nervous about entering the industry even though I’m excited to get into it. I think it’s this that’s holding me back from getting everything done.
The lectures help to set me on tasks for each week but I usually tend to focus on the other two modules which I need to fix, especially in the next few weeks. I’m happy with some of the things that this module has taught me, such as how to make a good CV, how to properly use a Linked In account, and how to create an appealing showreel and online presence. A particular highlight of the module has been the guest hour slots in the lectures in which people from the industry join the lecture to talk about their experiences in TV whilst giving useful pointers as to how to get on in the industry. Overall, I think this module is helping me, but I just need to get myself in gear and properly work through everything that needs to be done to get me ready for the television industry.
The next module is scriptwriting. I’ve written a lot of scripts in the past, mainly for stop-motion animations on my YouTube channel but I always felt that there was something lacking from them, so when I saw that scriptwriting was a module that I could sign up for, I jumped at the chance. I’ve really been enjoying this module. Although some lessons can be a bit slow, they have all helped me as a writer. The assessment for the module is to write a story that lasts 15 minutes but only write the first five pages for the assessment. I’m really happy about the story that I’ve created. Although it’s quite a dark story in terms of the themes of love and grief, I thought it’d really challenge me as a writer. Inside No. 9 is a big inspiration of mine so I used that as inspiration for the story. So far, the development of that story is going really well, to the extent that I’ll probably end up writing the whole script and not just the first five pages as I really want to test myself. I’m currently working on dialogue and characters, but the actual writing of the script is right around the corner so I’m really looking forward to starting on that.
The final module is editing. Like with scriptwriting, I’ve edited a lot, mainly for YouTube, which include short films, trailers, discussion videos, and stop-motion animation. Therefore, when I saw that editing was a module that I could take, I jumped at it. The assessment for the module is to create two TV trailers: one is a trailer for footage that we've been given the choice to choose from, and the other is a TV spot for a film. I love editing trailers so this was great for me.
I think the only downside is that instead of being able to use Adobe Premiere Pro, which I’m really comfortable with, we had to learn and use Avid which is incredibly difficult to use. It’s week 8 and I still haven’t entirely gotten to grips with it. In fact, last week's lesson had me doing a lot of my editing all over again because some of it had been corrupted. So using Avid has been a bit of a hindrance to my enjoyment of the module. However, Avid is industry standard so learning it now instead of later will help me a lot. It’s got to the point in the module where we’ve got to start editing the trailers so I’m quite looking forward to getting those done. I’m going to edit them in Adobe Premiere first so I have a rough plan instead of going into Avid completely from scratch which should hopefully help me a lot.
Overall, eight weeks in and although there are some nitpicks and flaws, I’m enjoying the second year of Uni. I’m learning a lot more skills in editing and scriptwriting, whilst also learning more about myself in professional practice. This is where the hard work really begins though, so in the next few weeks, I will persevere and try to do everything to the best of my ability, and hopefully it should be a lot of fun.
CREATING A CV
WEEK 9 - 25/11/21
A CV is one of the most important elements of getting into the industry. It contains who you are as a person, what you can do, and if you’re suitable for a certain job, and it has to do that on just a single page. I haven’t really made a proper CV before as the work that I’ve completed is voluntary work for the British Heart Foundation as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Therefore, creating a CV is a new but important experience for me.
I started creating a CV during the end of the first year of university and that featured the bare basics but I never completed it and left it to sit till October this year. The professional practice module that I’m currently studying wants a finished CV as part of the assessment so this was when I properly started to think about creating one. I took the version from last year and finished it off, yet again with just the bare basics. I wasn’t too happy with it but it would do for now. Luckily I attended a workshop on CV’s shortly after that which allowed me to gain some tips for how to make mine better. The tips were extensive so I got to work on improving mine. One of the main aspects that I wanted to change was how it looked. My first version just used a basic Word template which didn’t stand out at all. I had a look on Word for other templates that could work but none of them did the trick for me. Therefore, I decided to create future versions of my CV in Photoshop. I did this so that I could easily create whatever layout that I wanted with a wider selection of fonts as well.
I started creating a CV during the end of the first year of university and that featured the bare basics but I never completed it and left it to sit till October this year. The professional practice module that I’m currently studying wants a finished CV as part of the assessment so this was when I properly started to think about creating one. I took the version from last year and finished it off, yet again with just the bare basics. I wasn’t too happy with it but it would do for now. Luckily I attended a workshop on CV’s shortly after that which allowed me to gain some tips for how to make mine better. The tips were extensive so I got to work on improving mine. One of the main aspects that I wanted to change was how it looked. My first version just used a basic Word template which didn’t stand out at all. I had a look on Word for other templates that could work but none of them did the trick for me. Therefore, I decided to create future versions of my CV in Photoshop. I did this so that I could easily create whatever layout that I wanted with a wider selection of fonts as well.
So, the second version of the CV was a lot more interesting in design. I looked at some examples of CV’s before attempting this one and the better ones seemed to only consist of one colour so it doesn’t seem too messy. Therefore, I went with a blue colour scheme. This version consisted of a much more concise and professional profile which described me as a person a lot better. I also described each of the student production experiences that I had so far instead of just listing them as bullet points in the previous version. Additionally, I added all of my updated social media links with some eye-catching logos, sorted out the dates of things so that they were listed as newest to oldest rather than oldest to newest. Finally, I added a section on certificates that could be relevant.
There was still work that needed to be done though. After looking at more CV examples I decided to change some more elements. The first thing that I got rid of was the blue border as it took up space and detracted from the rest of the CV. I then added descriptions to the ‘other experience’ section as opposed to just bullet points of the titles. This just gives the employer more of an idea of what I can do. I also shortened the space between each line of text so that I could spread out each section. This would make it easier to read. As well as this, I added the Duke of Edinburgh to my certification section, and moved that section to align with the education section: this made it look a lot neater than before. Finally, I altered my profile a bit more so that it sounded more professional and sold me as a person a lot more. I decided to submit this to the Facebook Runners Page so that I could get some feedback from industry professionals and improve my CV.
I kept putting this off as I was a little apprehensive as to the criticism that I’d receive. However, the feedback that I did receive was incredibly helpful and pointed out some things that I never would’ve seen, such as some spelling mistakes and missing punctuation. Some things that I never would’ve thought of without the feedback are: Make the job title bigger than your name as that’s what they want to know about, list that you've worked with pre-production paperwork before, and be more specific as to what sort of runner you want to be. Therefore, I altered my CV to fit the feedback and created a final draft that I’m incredibly happy with.
The process of making a CV has been incredibly tedious, especially as I’ve had to fit in almost 7 years of experience into a single page, but overall, I’m incredibly happy with the final result and this should really help me in the future of getting into the industry.
BUILDING CONFIDENCE
WEEK 9 - 27/11/21
Confidence is a big thing for me, and is a big part of actually making my way into the television industry. I’m not the most confident person so the idea of being almost halfway through my University life is incredibly worrying, especially as I feel that I’m nowhere near ready to get a role in the television industry. However, the Professional Practice module is slowly helping me to come out of my shell by completing a variety of activities.
The first activity was a test coffee chat in a professional practice workshop. A coffee chat is when you talk to someone in an industry, usually in person, and they ask you about who you are, what you know about the role that you’d like to apply for, and why you’d be suitable for a job. It’s basically a more relaxed version of an interview and is a great way of getting industry contacts. When I found out that we were doing a test exercise of these in class with other students, I almost didn’t go in as the thought of being interviewed, even by a student, made me feel quite nervous. However, my flatmates said that it’d help me a lot, as did the email that announced the coffee chat so I decided to go. Although it made me a bit uncomfortable, it did teach me lots about how to talk and act at a coffee chat and what to say which was very helpful. This has helped me in making me a lot less worried about coffee chats that could happen in the future.
The next task wasn’t actually asked of me but I decided to do it anyway, and that was submitting my CV to the Facebook Runners page. Although I’ve already spoken about this in a previous blog post, it took me weeks to finally upload it as I was worried about the criticism that I’d receive, especially as I’ve seen how blunt they can be in the past. However, I knew at the end of the day that they knew what they were talking about and this would drastically improve my CV. After finally uploading it and receiving kind but useful feedback, it felt like a great weight was lifted off of my shoulders. This had really helped me confidence wise as it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I imagined in my head. I think this taught me that if I just do it and stop worrying about it weeks in advance, then I can get things done.
The final thing that helped my confidence which came as a bit of a surprise to me, was applying for a role as a runner. I’ve been looking through the Facebook Runner group for a while now, constantly checking to see if there are any runner opportunities based in Media City. I casually checked last night, not expecting to find anything but right at the top was an opportunity to be a runner for a show called ‘The Dengineers’ for CBBC.
As we need a minimum of five days work experience and I wanted to do some runner jobs anyway, it seemed like a no-brainer to submit my CV to it. However, I felt nervous about doing this. It does sound silly but I’ve never applied for a job before so this was a new experience for me. I’m still slightly apprehensive about entering the industry, but if I don’t make a start now then I’ll never get into it, so I decided to just apply and put that nervousness behind me. Once I’d submitted my CV, I was incredibly happy with myself as this was my first step in becoming a runner and making my way into the television industry.
Although all of these may sound small, to me these were big things and they’ve really helped to build on my confidence. Over the next few months, I want to keep challenging myself with small personal challenges like those mentioned above, and keep on building on my confidence. In the end, this should hopefully prepare me for the work ahead.
CONNECTING WITH THE INDUSTRY
WEEK 10 - 02/12/21
A big part of going into the industry and getting work experience opportunities is by making contacts and networking. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been using a variety of methods to connect with the world, whilst also learning about the current television industry. In this blog , I will be detailing how I’ve been connecting with the industry.
The first method that I’ve been using is Linked In. Linked In has been heavily recommended to me time and time again so I made sure to create an account there. The main purpose of Linked In is to network and inf people in the industry. It’s also a useful way of finding out people who work under specific roles in TV as well as finding their emails easily. As it stands, I currently have 136 connections which I'm incredibly proud of. It was a bit of a slow start when I created the account but as soon as the first people connected, it started to rise at a much quicker pace as the friends of those people would also know of my account. I’ve connected with a wide variety of people, from producers, to editors, to runners. To my luck, most of these are based in Media City so if they do have work experience opportunities for me, then these opportunities will be right around the corner. It’s great connecting with people but it’s also really insightful to follow their accounts and see what they’re working on, as well as being informed on the latest news of the industry. It has, and continues to be, a very useful resource and has probably been one of the biggest helps for my continuing journey into the television industry.
The next method that I've used to connect with the industry more is the Facebook Runners page. I actually heard about the group before the second year started so it wasn’t until it was mentioned again in professional practice that I joined it. The Facebook group features a bunch of industry professionals as well as the fact that jobs and runner experiences are constantly posted in the group. Unfortunately, quite a few of the opportunities either require a driver's license, require runner experience already, or aren’t based in the Manchester area. Therefore, it’s probably not as useful as some other resources, but when a Manchester based opportunity does come up, I instantly jump at it. For example, an opportunity to be a runner on ‘The Dengineers’ for CBBC came up recently and as soon as I saw it, I submitted my CV. I haven’t heard back from them yet but fingers crossed something comes of that.
To specifically just learn more about the industry, I’ve done a wide range of things, from simple changes to my laptop, to reading up on different sites. Below is a brief list of the resources that I’ve used. The first thing I did, based on advice from a professional practice lecture, was changing my browser homepage to the google news entertainment page. Therefore, everytime I open google it shows me the latest industry news. This is incredibly helpful as it has taught me a lot about the current climate. As well as this, I’ve also been invited to a Facebook group for runners in Manchester with no experience which has a wide variety of opportunities. I’ve followed the BBC Get In page on Instagram, taken a look at Broadcast Now and continued to watch my favourite shows to learn about current TV whilst also looking at the credits for people I could contact.
And finally, emails! I must admit that I haven’t contacted too many people using this method out of fear/lack of confidence, but this is the most direct form of contact and will definitely forward my progress at a much quicker pace. In the near future, I definitely want to start using this method a lot more, whilst also building my confidence at the same time.
At the end of the day, all of these are helping me to connect with the industry more, whether that be through actually connecting with people, or just finding out the latest news in the television industry. Using these methods has been incredibly insightful and helpful and I’m sure they will continue to be for as long as I use them.
THE PROGRESS OF MY THREE BIG GOALS
WEEK 10 - 03/12/21
It’s now week ten and the time is going by so quickly. This blog will be detailing where I’m up to with my three big goals that I set out to achieve back in week 5. This blog post will be a little shorter than the others as it’s annoying to say that not the most progress has been made on these.
My first goal was to get a placement as a runner in the television industry. At this point in time, I haven’t completed that yet. However, I am looking for jobs that relate to this. For instance, the other week I applied for a runner role on a CBBC show called The Dengineers. I found this in the Facebook Runners group and as soon as I saw it, I instantly sent them my CV. I haven’t heard back from them yet but it’s still progress for me. I think one of the things holding me back at the moment is that I still haven’t completed some parts of the professional practice module that would greatly benefit my journey into the industry. Therefore, I really do need to get on to this. So, what do I need to do? I need to start contacting and emailing more people as this will be the best way to secure a runner role.
My second goal was to get a part-time job. I haven’t really been able to look for a job if I’m honest as the workload for professional practice, scriptwriting, editing, and just general living is really piling up. I think the best thing to do would be to apply for a job after Christmas as there would be little point in doing it now if I’m going home for Christmas. I think what I’m really hoping is that I get a paid job in the industry instead as that’s where I want to be but that hasn’t happened yet so I really need to start looking for jobs.
My final goal was to become more confident. Since week 5, I’ve done a few activities in professional practice such as coffee chats, and I’ve also attended the Children In Need Live show. These may sound like small things but they’ve really helped me. Another thing that is really helping is my scriptwriting class which encourages us to share our work out loud and read our scripts. Although this made me very uncomfortable at first, I’m slowly getting more and more usd to it. There's still a long way to go in terms of my confidence but I’m getting there and I know I can continue to get better.
It’s important to remember that these don’t have to be achieved until next March. Saying that, I want to make some progress so it’s not all piled up on top of me come next year. The next steps are to start applying for jobs after Christmas, email industry professionals for work experience opportunities, and just get out of my comfort zone more.
BALANCING MY WORKLOAD
WEEK 10 - 04/12/21
University is very stressful, especially this time of year when deadlines are looming for all of your modules. For me, I’ve got deadlines for scriptwriting, editing, and professional practice. Two of these are within the next few weeks.With this much work, it can seem daunting, but I’ve found a few ways to make it easier and less constraining. In this blog post, I will be going over what methods I use to balance my work.
The first of which is to create a checklist in the notes on my phone. This may seem like a given, but some people don’t even do this. It’s a great way of knowing exactly what you need to do. In my case, I create a different checklist for each day so if something isn’t finished that day, then it can be carried over to the next. I also include time slots for each task so I can evenly distribute work and get as much stuff done in the day as possible. It’s important to include breaks as well so you’re not tiring yourself out. I’ve added a tick box system to mine which is very satisfying to fill in. This makes it even more appealing to complete tasks for the day. The only problem I have with this is that sometimes I don’t stick to the time slots as I either complete something quicker than I expected and go on a break that’s a bit too long, or I run over and have less time on the next task. However, creating a checklist really helps.
My next method for balancing the workload is to do one thing for each module each day. It’s all well and good completing a load of professional practice work in one day but that leaves your other modules behind, which isn’t great considering one of those modules is due earlier than professional practice. Therefore, what I do is I make sure to do one thing for every one of my modules each day. For example, one day I could write the first five pages of my script for scriptwriting, write a blog post for my website, and start to create a rough cut of my film trailer on Adobe Premiere for the editing module. It also separates the type of work that you’re doing so it doesn’t get boring or repetitive. I think this method is really useful as it really helps to balance each module whilst finding a new way to do work which makes it less daunting and repetitive.
So those are the two methods that I use. These will be particularly important for the next two weeks to prepare for my deadlines. However, I’m confident that by using these methods, I can complete my work on time, to a good standard, and also have fun with it at the same time by spreading each module out.
MY THOUGHTS ON DOCTOR WHO SO FAR...
WEEK 11 - 05/12/21
Today is the fifth of December and at the time of writing this, the finale of this series of Doctor Who is just 2 and a half hours away and I am incredibly excited. From previous blog posts and the content of my portfolio, you can probably tell that I’m a big Doctor Who fan. It was this show that property got me interested in the television industry. In this blog post, I will be discussing my thoughts on the series, not just from a story standpoint, but from a production standpoint as well and what I think of this as a television student.
To begin, there’s obviously going to be a lot of bias as I like most things that are Doctor Who related. Even then though, I can safely say that this has been one of the greatest series of Doctor Who so far. To start, Jodie Whittaker has improved so much as the Doctor and has had some standout performances this series. It’s really great to see her cement herself as a Doctor now, and it’s certainly a great series to go out on for her. Mandip Gill continues to shine as Yaz, and the introduction of John Bishop as Dan Lewis was a bit of genius casting. The whole cast really brings so much joy to the screen and it’s inspiring to watch.
I’ve really enjoyed seeing returning monsters like the sontarans, weeping angels, and cybermen as they’re all some of the greats. They have all done so well in this series and seeing as they’re all going to be in the finale, I am beyond excited. Storywise, this is definitely Chibnall’s best series as showrunner. Each episode is intertwined so well with multiple plot points, characters, even time periods, being juggled all at the same time. I’m really hoping that he can pull off an amazing finale and round everything up in just an hour.
But that’s my thoughts on the story and characters. What do I think of it production-wise? Well it’s really important to state that this series was made during the worst bit of the pandemic. The series was originally going to be 10 episodes long but due to COVID restrictions, making that just wasn’t possible so they changed it to a six episode series which was all one story, similar to a lot of the TV series today. It’s astonishing to watch it and think about how they coped during it as it’s the best Doctor Who has ever looked. It also features scenes with lots of characters (armies sometimes) and some amazing sets. To accomplish all of this in the heart of the pandemic is just incredibly inspiring and has been a great motivator.
It also shows that when under-pressure, people do better work as this series has been so much better than the previous two. As briefly mentioned, the visuals are also striking and incredibly ambitious. This is the best that the show has looked in it’s entire 58 year history, with directors Jamie Magnus Stone and Azhur Saleem doing a brilliant job in bringing the characters, monsters, locations, and stories to life. I’m so proud that one of my favourite shows is thriving so much.
So overall, I’ve really been enjoying this series of Doctor Who and I’m so glad that the series that started my passion for the television industry is still going strong to this day. The finale is now only 2 hours and 8 minutes away and I am beyond excited. Fingers crossed it ends with a bang!
MAKING MORE CONTACTS
WEEK 11 - 08/12/21
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been contacting more and more people. I’m close to 20 people at the moment but I still need to connect with more people. To make these contacts, I’ve mainly used Linked In which allows me to find industry professionals, find their email, and see what their role in television is which is incredibly useful. I sent out quite a few messages using Linked In, however, not too many people replied to me or gave me useful information.
When contacting people, I made sure not to copy and paste a standard message. Instead, I personalized each one so it’d show how passionate I was about the industry and about their work. For example, I contacted the assistant producer who worked on this year's BBC Children In Need. As I was part of the audience for that in the studio, I decided to include that and mentioned how seeing the behind the scenes of it all was really inspiring. He got back to me with a really nice message. Despite not giving me any work experience opportunities he did point me in the right direction and gave me lots of useful tips.
As well as this, Linked In also gave me the opportunity to set up a zoom call with an industry professional. I messaged an assistant producer who had a guest spot in one of the professional practice lectures. I found him to be a great source of info in that lecture so I found him on Linked In, asked if he knew of any work experience opportunities or had any pointers/tips, and he said that he’d be happy to do a zoom call with me. Honestly, this was one of the highlights of the module as it was incredibly in-depth, and gave me true stories of the industry which was a real eye-opener. Something interesting that I took away from this is Linked In is about making connections, but it’s not great for finding work experience opportunities. He said that I’d be better off emailing people and also gave me some email addresses for talent executives in the companies that he’s worked for.
So, I decided to start emailing people. I must admit that I did feel quite apprehensive when doing it, but once it was done I was very proud of myself. I emailed three people and two of those people have got back to me. I won’t post pictures of them here due to privacy, but their responses were really insightful. One said that they were impressed by my passion and gave me a link and email to contact the company directly. The other said that they didn’t have any work experience opportunities available but would love to do a zoom call with me after New Years which, if it’s anything like the zoom call that I had with the executive producer would be very useful to me.
FINAL BLOG OF THE YEAR
WEEK 12 - 13/12/21
It’s now the end of December and I’m really proud of the progress that I’ve made in this module. Although I haven’t secured work experience yet or got a job as a runner, I’ve still completed a variety of tasks that will enable me to enter the industry with more confidence and knowledge. For instance, I was able to create a professional CV and showreel which are necessities if I want to make a good impression without the need of a lengthy email. I’d never created a proper CV before so the workshops on this were exceptional and incredibly helpful. Additionally, although I’ve created showreels in the past, this module taught me how to edit one properly with the right content, music, and information.
One of the main things that I’m glad that I took away from this is the website. When I was first tasked to create a website, I was dreading it as a lot of my college years was just creating and adding to a website. However, once I started work on my new website, it was so fun. I could finally create a home for all of the content that I’ve created over the years that isn’t just YouTube. It also gave me skills on website development which is useful. I think that one of the best bits about creating my website was writing blog posts. I’ve never written blogs before so this was a new experience, but it really helped me to reflect on my progress so far, see what I’m doing well at, and see how I could improve in the future. As this was done roughly on a weekly basis, it allowed me to easily track my progress.
Speaking of weekly progress, I created a weekly self-journal which was a great method of reflection, which also allowed me to plan out each week, consisting of what I was going to do, when I was going to do, and each step to those plans. It was often a lengthy process, but it genuinely helped me to reflect on my progress and kick myself when I hadn’t completed something that I meant to that week.
This module focused a lot on emailing and messaging people in the industry. As someone who isn’t very confident, this did make me quite nervous as I’m not really keen on emailing people that I don’t know as it is. I will admit that finding people to contact and sending them the right message with the right tone and information was tricky, but I ended up messaging lots of people. Most of these were on Linked In but I also ended up emailing a few people which was a useful experience that I needed. Although not every contact got back to me or gave me useful information, this was still a very useful task and one that I will carry forward with me.
I didn’t just contact people to connect with the industry though. An important part about getting into the industry is understanding it first. To do this, I firstly set my google homepage to the google news page for entertainment. This meant that whenever I opened google, I would get the latest TV news which allowed me to keep up to date with the current world of television. I also made sure to join a few Facebook groups. The first of which was the ‘People in TV: Runners’ Facebook group which provided lots of opportunities, although unfortunately most of these were based outside of Manchester. Additionally, I joined Broadcast Now to get the latest news about television which was also really useful. Finally, the best research for TV is to watch TV, so I’ve made sure to watch and rewatch a wide range of TV: old and new shows alike. For instance, I’ve watched Doctor Who, Inside No. 9, What We Do in the Shadows, Sex Education, Help, Broadchurch, Squid Game, and so much more.
One aspect of this module that was really useful was the three big goals. By setting myself three objectives, I had something to focus on and strive towards. My three goals were getting a placement as a runner in TV, getting a part-time job, and being more confident. I’m definitely getting more confident but there’s still a way to go. I’m not too close to getting a part-time job as I’ve mainly been focusing on my professional practice journey. Finally, I think I’ve made the most progress with getting a work placement as a runner in television. Although I haven’t had my first experience yet, I’ve made lots of progress such as contacting people on Linked In, going on a Zoom call with an industry professional to talk about how I could become a runner, and emailing people. Overall, I haven’t completed these goals just yet but I’m still happy with the progress that I’ve made with them and they’re definitely a great method for spurring me on.
To conclude, this module has allowed me to really grow as a person. I’m still not the most confident but Professional Practice has absolutely made me more confident and prepared me for the industry more than any other module that I’ve studied. I’ve learnt so many new skills, contacted lots of new people, and learnt more about the industry that I want to enter which is the main aspect for me.
So, what’s next? Well, I will continue to stay in contact with the industry professionals that I’ve spoken to so far, as well as making sure to contact more people to widen my scope of the industry. I will continue to update my website and CV if anything changes, or I get any work experience. As well as this, I will maintain my social media presence by posting on Linked In and my professional Twitter account at a consistent rate so that I can continue to connect with the industry more and keep up with the latest TV news. I will also make sure to keep trying to achieve my three big goals which are get a work placement as a TV runner, get a part-time job, and be more confident. However, the main thing for me is to secure that work experience that I need. This is where the work really begins, and I am beyond excited to start that journey.