Our last professional studies lecture was a keynote speak with Emily Dicks, who has achieved so much in her career, whether it be as a producer or a presenter, with the BBC or an independent company and she did this all through hard work. Emily has had a strong work effort since the moment she tried to break into the business, one of the main ways she has done this is by working as much as she can and wherever she can. This is a good ethos to have as it shows how much effort you must put in each and every day to be successful and even when you make it too the top you must try everything to stay there.
Through Emily's theory on trying to get as much work experience as possible, I have realised how important it will be to get a placement or even volunteer at a radio station, if I want to break into the industry. Even on the Radio Academy (2013) website it states how important it is to get experience 'If you want to work in radio, work experience is one of the most valuable things you can do. It will give you the opportunity to experience what it is like to work in radio and what roles are available, and most importantly, it will give you opportunity to meet people', in this quote it also mentions the importance of meeting people, this is also something that Emily picked up on, how important it is to make contacts in the industry, whether it be to get a recommendation for a job. trust in the studio or an interview with someone.
I felt I learnt a lot from Emily Dicks and she was an interesting person to listen to and get advise from. This was very relevant to me as I feel I would prefer to be a producer and I think Emily sparked my interest even more in that aspect of the profession.
References
The Radio Academy, 2013, The Radio Academy Knowledge Bank, http://www.radioacademy.org/knowledge-bank/getting-in/work-experience/
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Professional Studies Day One:- Confidence
On our first day of our Professional Studies lectures we had an intensive day where we would have keynote lectures, which were subject specific, and then would have a question and answer section with with all the keynote speakers and end the day with a lecture from a podcaster named Helen Zaltzman. But the speech that I would like to reflect on was the first speech we had that introduced to studying professionals, this lecture was taught by Trevor Hearing and one thing that stuck out to me when it comes to this lecture was the theme of confidence.
Confidence is a quality that you will need to break into media work but it is something that not everyone has, which is why a lot of people prefer sticking to producing, but that doesn't mean you wont need it even if you are just a producer 'On other occasions you'll have to speak to a group where you can see 'the whites of their eyes' - half a dozen at an ideas meeting' (Stewart, p13, 2006). So as you can see confidence is a very important skill to have when going into any media job and one that, if showcased right, could make you look like a better candidate for any job you are applying for.
Confidence is something that when reflecting on myself I know I don't have a lot of, but while listening to this lecture I realise this is something I can work to improve on and something that I feel I need to have to better my chances in a future career, it is something that I know is important and a weakness of mine so I will aim to improve it
Reference
Stewart, P, 2006, Essential Radio Skills, London, A and C Black Publishers Limited
Confidence is a quality that you will need to break into media work but it is something that not everyone has, which is why a lot of people prefer sticking to producing, but that doesn't mean you wont need it even if you are just a producer 'On other occasions you'll have to speak to a group where you can see 'the whites of their eyes' - half a dozen at an ideas meeting' (Stewart, p13, 2006). So as you can see confidence is a very important skill to have when going into any media job and one that, if showcased right, could make you look like a better candidate for any job you are applying for.
Confidence is something that when reflecting on myself I know I don't have a lot of, but while listening to this lecture I realise this is something I can work to improve on and something that I feel I need to have to better my chances in a future career, it is something that I know is important and a weakness of mine so I will aim to improve it
Reference
Stewart, P, 2006, Essential Radio Skills, London, A and C Black Publishers Limited
Compliance
Our next professional studies lecture was on the 11th November 2013 and the theme of this lecture was compliance. Compliance is an important part of our business as it keeps the audience who don't want to listen to a certain topic or conversation unharmed and also keeps radio stations and presenters from getting sued, fired or banned from the industry. It is important to protect the listener and keep them coming back so if you broadcast something that might offend a large section of the audience, you will not have the ability to do that.
One of the best ways to make sure you don't get in trouble, when it refers to regulation and compliance, is it too look over you final work and make sure there is nothing that is not within the guidelines of which you are working towards, this is also stated in the roles and responsibility section of the BBC guidelines 'It is a fundamental requirement of the compulsory compliance process that all pre-recorded content must be watched or listened to in full by the producer and a senior editorial figure prior to broadcast.' (BBC Editorial Guidelines, 2013). Knowing the fact that the BBC have a whole section in their guidelines about looking over your shows how important it is and is something that I will do with all my work to make sure that it is within the boundaries of certain issues.
Compliance is an issue that I feel is one of the most over-looked but most important part of media in general, as it protects everyone from young to old and rich to poor, so I feel it is important for us as producers to make sure that we take care of our work when it comes to compliance and make sure it reaches its full potential and not taken down because of a certain compliance guideline.
References
BBC Editorial Guidelines, 2013, Editorial Compliance, http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-using-roles-responsibilities/#editorial-compliance
One of the best ways to make sure you don't get in trouble, when it refers to regulation and compliance, is it too look over you final work and make sure there is nothing that is not within the guidelines of which you are working towards, this is also stated in the roles and responsibility section of the BBC guidelines 'It is a fundamental requirement of the compulsory compliance process that all pre-recorded content must be watched or listened to in full by the producer and a senior editorial figure prior to broadcast.' (BBC Editorial Guidelines, 2013). Knowing the fact that the BBC have a whole section in their guidelines about looking over your shows how important it is and is something that I will do with all my work to make sure that it is within the boundaries of certain issues.
Compliance is an issue that I feel is one of the most over-looked but most important part of media in general, as it protects everyone from young to old and rich to poor, so I feel it is important for us as producers to make sure that we take care of our work when it comes to compliance and make sure it reaches its full potential and not taken down because of a certain compliance guideline.
References
BBC Editorial Guidelines, 2013, Editorial Compliance, http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-using-roles-responsibilities/#editorial-compliance
Monday, 9 December 2013
Pitching Ideas and Time Managment
On Wednesday 23rd of October, we had a lecture that revolved around the theme of pitching ideas and during this lecture we were taught the importance of selling your idea and being able to produce it. This would be important in our careers as selling an idea will be a big part of our role as producers. This lecture also focused on how to come up and make the most out ideas, we were taught how to be creative with our ideas and useful places that we could take inspiration to help our ideas form.
One of the most interesting points raised in this lecture was the use of time, when it comes to making radio features it is important to remember how much time you are given and what is the best way for you to use that time. 'To create a five-minute package about crime, which deals with the subject in a meaningful way, it has to be narrowed down considerably to an aspect within a sub-topic of a topic connected with it' (Starkey, p38, 2004), it is important to remember when thinking of an idea for a short-form piece to not make it too broad, also with a long- form feature it is important to keep the idea from becoming too narrow.
As radio is very creative and idea driven it is very important to learn these key skills for our future careers and make them a part of every project we become involved with, time management especially as most of the time with will have short deadlines in which to create our products and this is why I felt this theme of our lecture to be important
Reference
Starkey, G, 2004, Radio in Context, Palgrave MacMillan, New York
One of the most interesting points raised in this lecture was the use of time, when it comes to making radio features it is important to remember how much time you are given and what is the best way for you to use that time. 'To create a five-minute package about crime, which deals with the subject in a meaningful way, it has to be narrowed down considerably to an aspect within a sub-topic of a topic connected with it' (Starkey, p38, 2004), it is important to remember when thinking of an idea for a short-form piece to not make it too broad, also with a long- form feature it is important to keep the idea from becoming too narrow.
As radio is very creative and idea driven it is very important to learn these key skills for our future careers and make them a part of every project we become involved with, time management especially as most of the time with will have short deadlines in which to create our products and this is why I felt this theme of our lecture to be important
Reference
Starkey, G, 2004, Radio in Context, Palgrave MacMillan, New York
Sunday, 8 December 2013
The Digital Age
On the 2nd of October 2013 I had my professional studies day and I found the day very enlightening, I was able to learn quite a lot and the one thing that really resonated with me was Martyn Lee, who came to talk to us from Absolute Radio, discussing how media is changing.
When Martyn talked about how media is changing, the point he was making that was most interesting to me was how the digital age is changing radio, one of the main ways this is happening is the rise of the internet, 'In the Digital Age, traditional radio broadcasters have to reassess their presence in the media industry and their relationship with an evolving audience.' (Wright, Won, Trott, 2013) as this quote explains the internet is starting to evolve the media industry, including radio, whether it be by changing audience interactions, through social media websites, the rise of podcasts or how a radio show is made available to its audience, with more and more people listening to radio online, by mobile devices and by tablets. this has caused a big change in the business as seen by how cross-platform radio has become, by making content available online and on television and is also shown by how most radio stations have switched from FM broadcasts to DAB digital radio broadcasts.
The digital age is something that everyone in the industry must be aware of and try and evolve with the business, and for a radio student trying to get into the business, like myself, we must plan ahead for how to break into radio, for example it has made me realise that I should start my podcast that I have been meaning to do as it is a great tool to show what I can do production wise, be able to build a fan-base and help me practise to do work professionally.
I believe that the digital age is something that is good for me breaking into the business and something I can use to my advantage, it may be a trasition that some in the industry would be worried about but I can only see it as a good thing for the radio business as a whole.
References
Wright, C, Won, J, Trott, V, Date Accessed 2013, Radio in the Digital Age, http://radiointhedigitalage.weebly.com/
When Martyn talked about how media is changing, the point he was making that was most interesting to me was how the digital age is changing radio, one of the main ways this is happening is the rise of the internet, 'In the Digital Age, traditional radio broadcasters have to reassess their presence in the media industry and their relationship with an evolving audience.' (Wright, Won, Trott, 2013) as this quote explains the internet is starting to evolve the media industry, including radio, whether it be by changing audience interactions, through social media websites, the rise of podcasts or how a radio show is made available to its audience, with more and more people listening to radio online, by mobile devices and by tablets. this has caused a big change in the business as seen by how cross-platform radio has become, by making content available online and on television and is also shown by how most radio stations have switched from FM broadcasts to DAB digital radio broadcasts.
The digital age is something that everyone in the industry must be aware of and try and evolve with the business, and for a radio student trying to get into the business, like myself, we must plan ahead for how to break into radio, for example it has made me realise that I should start my podcast that I have been meaning to do as it is a great tool to show what I can do production wise, be able to build a fan-base and help me practise to do work professionally.
I believe that the digital age is something that is good for me breaking into the business and something I can use to my advantage, it may be a trasition that some in the industry would be worried about but I can only see it as a good thing for the radio business as a whole.
References
Wright, C, Won, J, Trott, V, Date Accessed 2013, Radio in the Digital Age, http://radiointhedigitalage.weebly.com/
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