Last year I was made aware that the second year of the Journalism course would revolve around Winol however I didn't quite anticipate how much. Since restarting in September Winol has pretty much dominated my life. During the week i'm editing packages and at the weekend i'm filming them, not that I haven't enjoyed it. The way the second year of the course is structured is to essentially gain on the job experience as Winol represents a realistic newsroom environment therefore further our skills as Journalists. Everything feels real about the experience most notably on Wednesday when the bulletin is due to air. Around 1 o' clock the atmosphere changes from relatively relaxed to a full throttle all systems go battlefield as everyones trying to make the three o clock deadline.
The role I undertook this semester was as a Winol sports reporter as Winol cover the local sports teams including; AFC Totton, Winchester FC and The Basingstoke Bison. Originally I was asked to film the Bison, an ice hockey team. For me this was my introduction to the sport as it was something i'd never really followed. The first week I set off and was slightly hindered by the fact that the public to the Planet Ice Arena left a lot to be desired, nonetheless I turned up and recorded the game and put together my first package for the bulletin. In hindsight i'm not particularly happy with the highlights I put together as I underestimated the intensity of the sport and thus my camera work was sloppy. As football has been the main sport I have been weaned on the speed of an Ice Hockey game came as a bit of a culture shock and when the highlights were posted on Youtube they got some negative reviews however from this mishap I know knew what it was I had to improve on and had a slightly better idea of how the game was played, so naturally I was eager to redeem myself the next weekend.
The following weekend I returned to the Planet Ice Arena looking forward to game but also at having the opportunity to make up for my mistakes. The game was equally as intense but as I'd managed to get there with time to set up properly I had the camera and tripod moving much more freely which enabled me to get better shots. When I came back to edit the package I was a lot more contented with the footage I had to work with as I had picked up all the goals as well getting shots of the fans and establishing shots. The package I made on the second week was probably my favourite of the semester as I also managed a solid voice over. The trouble i've had this semester was not with the writing of the script as I enjoyed writing the humorous pun filled commentary it was just that I couldn't make myself sound excited enough. The majority of the voice overs i've done have sounded pretty monotonous which has been very frustrating but this week for whatever reason I managed to sound like I was actually enjoying myself. After the second package I felt a lot more comfortable covering The Bison and found myself adopting Ice Hockey as a second sport. The main factor of me enjoying the Ice Hockey was the buzz in the arena the games are exciting enough but the DJ and the upbeat fans make it a highly enjoyable experience.
I spent the next few weeks filming the Ice Hockey but as my packages were usually finished by Monday I found myself offering to help out other people on the Sports Team. Me and Harvey went down to film an interview with the manager of Winchesters Women's team, as Harvey was presenting the package I was the cameraman which I still enjoyed and it also gave me an idea of the sort of things others were providing for the bulletin. I also suggested at the weekly meeting that we should capitalise on the fact that I had a housemate who was part of the Universities Polo Team which we could use as a feature. It was agreed that Emma would front the package as she had prior horse riding experience and I would assist her in filming the interview. For both of us it was a new experience as neither of us had used a lot of the equipment including the radio microphones but we managed to pull it together and when Emma had finished the package it came out looking very good. After helping Emma I then went onto help Harvey out with an interview he had with QPR scout Kevin Braybrook this made me realise that I wanted to try out an interview of my own. I felt confident that I would be able to conduct myself accordingly in an interview situation and also that i'd like to broaden my experiences in the first semester of Winol.
After realising that I wanted to expand from the Ice Hockey highlights I brought up a story idea I had that I knew was quite ambitious but still attainable, the Portsmouth Supporters Trust. I felt that it ticked all the boxes for Sports Week story as it was a local story that was also being
covered on a national level. I was hoping to use contacts I had within the club to both interview and help me film in and around the stadium which turned out to be very successful. As my dad used to be involved with the supporters club a few years ago I knew that I would be able to get reasonably decent interviews but when I managed to get ex Pompey player Vince Hilaire for an interview it instantly gave my package more credibility. I had the idea that it would be good to interview John PFC Westwood as he is regarded as the most recognisable fan in the world and as the story was about the fans it fitted. After a lot of hunting around I did manage to get in contact with him and he was more than willing to give his thoughts on the Supporters Trust. I had hoped to do another interview with someone from the supporters trust but they were difficult to get in contact with and when I did manage to get in contact with the spokesman I was already back in Winchester so I had to settle for a statement. Once I put the package together I was incredibly pleased with the outcome my pieces to camera came out well considering I had to use a gun mic and as I was given exclusive access to Fratton Park I got some excellent shots and managed to do one of my pieces to camera on the pitch. One of the things I would have changed if I had more time was the statement as the white text over a still of the pitch didn't look quite as good as I had liked. Fortunately both the interviewees had some interesting stuff to stay which gave the VT a nice fluidity and hopefully would have kept the viewer engaged throughout.
Aside from the weekly bulletin I have also been part of a couple of other projects put on by the Winol team. The first was when Winchester were selected to host the BJTC awards which gave us a chance to showcase our professionalism. Everyone was eager to impress not only because it gave Winchester the opportunity to gain a stronghold as the best student journalists in the country but also as there were a lot of audience members who were big names in the industry most notably Sir Alistair Stewart. I was asked to man one of the cameras which would mostly be holding a tight shot on Alistair as he hosted the awards. The day was a complete success as everything ran smoothly despite some quite shaky rehearsals.
Another event I was asked to help with, once again manning a camera, was Winol's coverage of the American elections. The event was another success as both of the 2 hours seemed to run smoothly enough the only issue was the skype connection. This was understandable as the conversation was being held from opposite sides of the globe. In terms of working on these projects I didn't hold down major roles but it was still nice to be part of such big projects both of which were pre-eminent for student journalism.
As far as the whole bulletin is concerned I think it was evident that we struggled to produce a decent standard of bulletin in the first few weeks, but I don't feel that it took us long to find our feet at all. By the third bulletin peoples packages were looking more professional, the sound was coming out better and people looked more comfortable in front of the camera. Also the content of the stories gradually began to improve as the semester went on. Next semester I would like to have a go at presenting the bulletin as I thought that everyone else did a good job and fancied having a go myself. I know the features team have been focusing on the website more so than the bulletin and some of the features could have easily been picked up by national institutions. Lee's Hitler's neighbour feature for example strikes me as the type of thing that you'd see as a documentary on the BBC or ITV. Also the Paul Blackburn interview, I personally felt quite privileged to have been able to hear his story first hand. It was a powerful and shocking talk but his story will undoubtedly be broadcast at some point, if it hasn't already.
I was keen to dabble in some Radio this year, which I managed to do in the form of two Sports Week radio shows. The shows were an hour at an time which I thought would be difficult to talk about sport for but as soon as I sat down in the booth the time flew by. Radio is something I would like to keep doing next semester as I did enjoy both the shows so hopefully I will be able to carry on with this.
Without the aid and support of the third years it will be a tough task taking over Winol. I know I personally relied quite a lot on our sports editor Henry this year but I think as a unit our second year team is strong. We have people that will be able to slot in to the editorial roles that i'm sure will be able to do a good job. I just hope that by the time the new second years take on the
challenge of Winol I will be as much of a useful source of help as the third years were to me.
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