The First Day.

So today, Thursday the 24th of November 2011 was my very first experience in the world of Bournemouth University's BUstation and with no sleep the night before (and to be perfectly honest) I had no enthusiasm for whatever the day would bring.

When I arrived I had absolutely no idea what my role was for the day; obviously I knew I was here to gain new knowledge and experiences but in what arena of the media industry? We were then informed that we were going to construct our own 15 minute show live for 'Lunchbox' (1 to 1:15). I literally felt like I had been thrown into the darkness without a light; I was flabbergasted!

Trevor proceeded to inform us what a 'live' show should consist of; a news-storyboard in which we could drag programmes either already produced or our own created today in which would be broadcasted live. We were then given a list to what was happening around the University which consisted of sport events, guest speakers and dance groups. Still feeling unsure of how I was to approach this assignment I kept quiet waiting for someone else to instruct me.

It was suggested that it would be a great chance and opportunity to interview the Chair of the University's Board Sue Sutherland; we began to think about possible inciteful questions to ask. Feeling a bit better now with a bit of guidance we all pitched possible questions to ask her including asking about whom she is and what her job entails and where she saw the University in the next ten years and what they had accomplished as part of the Board.

Time quickly slipped away and we dashed to the lecture theatre in hopes of interviewing Sue before her lecture. She was a lovely lady and it was really interesting to hear her replies which were very informative. She was also very helpful at the end by answering my question I had about placement.

It was 11 am and we had completed one of our missions but we needed to head back to BUstation in order to have our interview edited and re-film the interviewer asking Sue the questions. We also needed something else to fit into our slot.

Fortunately a recently formed society 'Table Tennis' and its President, Oli, was hanging around in the Atrium; we quickly popped over and asked whether they would be available for a live chat and he agreed. We had our show formed all we needed to do now was inform audiences via facebook.com and construct a script for our presenter Steve (who graciously agreed to come in for us.)

We also assigned roles to fully visualise the show and mine was the sound director; I was in complete control of the introducing and exiting the sounds of the VT and the microphones: it was my job to literally to determine when I silenced and heighten the appropriate sounds for each part of the show in order to give a flow and consistency to it. By this point I was really enjoying myself and have gained a new skill but, in all honestly, it is not something I see myself doing in the future. I cannot stand the idea of sitting on my bum all day watching the screen for my cues.

I feel we produced a very well constructed show in which everyone helped in, but not is not to say we did not have our share of trouble; Oli our main person to interview was late and the show was about to begin in 2 minutes, but Will (a person who has had a lot of experience in the media industry) came to our rescue and gave an insight into how and why he got into the media world.

So yes a very interesting first day! Now for bed because tomorrow is to be my second day at BUstation and I have been up for nearly 36 hours and I feel absolutely shattered and want to be in a much better mood for tomorrow’s new experiences I will encounter.


Laterz :)