I am back at the the training base of Winchester News Online and after the first couple week's of a refresher course into both the reporting and technical aspects of being a video journalist, which we had been lacking last year, it was time and ready for the first dummy edition of WINOL. With a semester of reporting in my back pocket, it was refreshing to be back reporting, but it a more important role of Chief Reporter and Political Editor. This means that I am the "fireman" of WINOL, which means that if there are any breaking news events in Winchester and the surrounding areas, I will be assigned to this story as I do not have one designated patch.
I also have that freedom to research and carry out my own political stories, as after a semester of being Local Government reporters, I felt it was time to take my political reporting to the next level and move onto from reporting on local council issues to national parliamentary issues, including interviewing the local MP's across Hampshire and hopefully within the Coalition cabinet as the week's progress.
Within the first two week's, I was able to establish my first two news stories and I will not dwell on the 2nd until next week. So my first story for our "dummy edition" focused on the ongoing debate of supermarkets building within traditional market towns and the stance of one local Hampshire MP who is trying to allows communities to have more freedom on choosing if they want supermarkets to be built in their local community.
I went to Westminster on the first Tuesday back to interview Conservative MP for Meon Valley; George Hollingbery. The interview with Mr Hollingbery went very well as he provided my with a number of very good grabs and with his background being a member of the Select Committee for Communities and Local Government is made the interview easier. This was helped with relaxed atmosphere, which is key when interviewing important figures such as MP's, therefore you need to treat them as any other person and not become nervous or overwhelmed.
This was the groundwork finished and now I had to find balance for my story and tried to contact Sainsburys who were building a store within Bishop's Waltham; A "exceptional town" as described by George Hollingbery, which is within his constituency. They were very helpful, but I was unable to secure an interview as they did not want to comment for the entire supermarket trade on a national issue.
They did back me onto the BRC (British Retail Consortium) who again could not provide anyone for an interview because the Business Director was on holiday, but they were kinda enough to provide a statement from him. Now I know that we strive not use statements on WINOL, but I felt and was agreed by my News Editor, I had tried all relevant channels and this was now in "exceptional circumstances."
Now we move onto this week and I missed Monday's debrief in order to reinterview Caroline Ford from CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) Hampshire who lived close to Bishops Waltham to get her views on how these new supermarkets builds would affect the local economy and trade. The initial problem with the original interview was the sounds quality, but this time the interview was washed out and this was just the beginning of the technical problems.
I was able to gain all of my gv's across Monday and Tuesday and then felt that I had gained enough shots to establish and make a very effective story. This is where my problems began though because we have decided to start filming WINOL in 16'9, instead of 4'3 to bring ourselves up to industry standards and make the overall visual quality of the broadcast easier on the eye (I will not deny I have had to squint when I have full-screened WINOL last semester on YouTube).
This meant that I had to change the initial camera settings before filming, but when it came to editing it seems that I had not done this for some of my filming and made an initial problem with editing on Final Cut. What I did not also realise it that I had left a gap in the tape, which meant that the timecode would be completely out of sync, Which meant It took longer to edit and having to swap between using the tape deck and the camera.
After hours of stress, I was able to put the story together and many thanks to Henry for helping me with editing, which I will still admit is a weakness I need to possibly get more training on in order to make sure I meet the deadline, which I did unfortunately miss and in a real news room that would mean the story would have been spiked.
I will not go into my story into too much details, but will bullet point what I felt where the strengths and weaknesses in my piece:
Strength
* My voice- I have been working on my voice over the Christmas break and after feedback from fellows Journo's It seem that I have made my voice stronger, but at the same time taken myself out of the story to make my view more unbiased.
* Gv's: I felt this is where my weakness was last semester as I did not have any interesting GV's that stood out and were memorable. Even though this sentiment was the same this week, I was able to put a sequence together and felt my shots were stronger than at the end of last semester.
Weaknesses
Interviews/framing: My framing again this week was not as well framed as it could of been. My interview with George Hollingbery should have been framed more left, then centre-left. But, I feel this was recovered by the backdrop as it was in a relevant location to the story. My second interview with Caroline Ford should not of been broadcast. We should always strive to make every story 10/10 and the washed out interview did disappoint me, but I will strive to ensure I do not let any of my stories look average or second-best.
Editing: I again need to realise that editing can sometimes take longer and when you change to different settings, you should strive to take a bit longer to edit and ask for help if needed. I feel another couple of training sessions on Final Cut will help me in the long run.
I will not dwell on the bulletin overall for now and I will make more notes after tomorrow's debrief. I am looking forward to my story next week as I have got the interview and the GV's, it just needs to be edited and checked to ensure that every angle is covered to make sure there is key balance. On and upwards to next week and also my first chance to present Sportsweek (It only took a semester of badgering)!
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