By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
As the second
anniversary passes which signalled the end of my education life and the finale
to my journalism degree at the University of Northampton, I have decided to
share my own personal experiences from my three years at UoN. This includes a
look into how good the University is in general, a critical assessment of the
video projects I produced and what happened after graduation.
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| Books played their part in the final major project in third year |
Whilst there were many
assignments I did in my time at the University of Northampton, some were better
than others. That includes video work which took on a bigger role as the years
progressed. For the first time in the public eye and with the help of my YouTube
account, here is some of the video work I did throughout the three years as I
assess the strengths and weaknesses of each piece.
I am working on a video
showreel which will go online both on YouTube and on Viewing Perspectives later
in the summer.
The Credit Crunch – Filmed February
2010
Group: Simon Wright, Emily Shears, Miles
Aitkenhead
This was the
first video project I was involved with which was a short exercise project in
first year, mainly in how to use the video cameras, film an interview and edit
it into a sharp news piece. There were no prizes for this and that was rather
thankful.
At college, I
was so frightened of the practical equipment; I didn’t even want to switch a
video camera on for fear of breaking it! Luckily that was something I didn’t
worry about at University.
I was paired
up with Emily and Miles and we basically had to film each other, and interview
one another on how the credit crunch had affected students’ lifestyle at
University, basically (their own life).
It’s far from
a classic and I look better in another piece a few months
later, but it was a start and I do believe that the clear errors in this
film had been eradicated in the next two years.
Strengths: Clearly spoken throughout, honest
answers in the questions and clear Astons.
Weaknesses: Lack of weather conditions
consistency, jumpy camera shots and the size of the picture frame.
Northampton Lift Tower – Filmed April
2010
Group: Simon Wright, Tamika Short, Rochelle
Lye, Todd Murphy
The first
year TV assignment involved a trip to the iconic Northampton Lift Tower, which
is regularly seen over the skyline whenever you approach the town. There had
been talk on it reopening to the public as a tourist attraction after it had
been shutdown 13 years earlier.
Another
student took control of the presenting duties and I resorted to doing the
editing work, which was one of my best technical skills. I didn’t think it was
a bad piece but there was most definitely room for improvement.
There were
some excellent and useful interviews but heavy wind noise and a huge cut on the
final cue of the presenter’s closing speech was not great – especially when
there was little I could do about this in the editing suite.
Strengths: Good interview subjects, mix of
interviews, some solid editing transitions.
Weaknesses: Presenter not in the centre of the
shot, cut on the presenter’s closing speech, Wind noise, a far too long
introduction.
Vision Products Opening – Filmed
January 2011
Group: Me
This was a
very interesting project which turned out to be my unexpected TV piece in
second year. A notification about this appeared on the student dashboard a week
before the official opening of the Precision Manufacturing plant in Brackmills,
but as it was offered to the Monday workshop group (I was in the Tuesday
group), it looked like a non-starter for myself.
However when
only one person volunteered to cover this, I decided this was a great
opportunity and not one I should turn down. However when the second person
didn’t show on the day, it was left to me to do camera work, the interview and
the editing all by myself. Not easy but just about manageable.
Vision
Products had decided to open their plant up in Northampton rather than move
abroad to provide jobs for locals in a difficult economic climate at the time.
I went on the day when it was officially opened and it was an interesting
morning with the head of marketing solutions, Pete French and the workforce.
I was
generally happy with this – there were big improvements to first year video
work and put me in good stead for the final year major project. Of course,
there were weaknesses as expected but for a one-man job, it came out rather
well.
Strengths: Decent cutaways, strong narration,
excellent interview with the boss
Weaknesses: Solo job made it trickier, another
interview would have been ideal, doing the introduction on site in Brackmills
rather than in an editing room at University.
Local Libraries under Threat – Filmed
February 2011
Group: Simon Wright,
Tamika Short
With some
doubt over whether I could use the Vision Products piece, I decided to do a
back-up in reserve which featured the threat of closures of local libraries
within Northampton.
I went with
colleague and close friend Tamika to do some filming outside St. James’
Library, which was one of the libraries that had been under risk of being
shutdown in cost-cutting measures by the council.
I remember
the days we went were cold, wet and miserable and filming next to a gun shop
was slightly disturbing! Generally, it wasn’t an awful piece but I preferred
the earlier camera TV report I had already done due a lack of consistency with
voiceovers and a struggle with cutaway shots as we didn’t get permission to
sadly film inside St. James’ Library.
Strengths: Point of the story was made, good
main interview piece to camera
Weaknesses: Stumbling voiceovers, lack of decent
cutaways due to filming restrictions, look too small in the pieces to camera.
Parking Problems Documentary – Filmed
April 2011
Group: Tamika Short, Simon Wright, Chris Ola,
Parris O’Sullivan
The
documentary for Film Style & Technique was put together in the first four
months of 2011 and this is as far as I’m concerned, the best TV project I did
in the three years of studying at the University of Northampton.
Paired up
with Tamika again and fellow journalism students Chris and Parris, our aim was
to create a five-minute documentary on an issue around University. I don’t
quite know how we ended up doing something on car parking prices and lack of
spacing around both campuses but it turned into an intriguing documentary.
There was a
slow start but we got a fantastic amount of interviews (largely down to
contacts of Chris and Parris), leaving Tamika and me to work on the editing,
camera work and paperwork elements.
The final
result was a balanced documentary that highlighted the problems and expressed
students concerns but also allowed a University staff member to respond to the issues
raised. I don’t think it could have gone any better. It was a great team and I
found a real buzz in putting this together.
Strengths: Variety of interviews, good use of
music, balanced piece with no 100% bias, decent cutaways.
Weaknesses: Some audio levels of the voiceovers
weren’t fully equalised, microphone cables evident in occasional interviews.
The Current Affairs Radio Show –
Recorded April 2012
Group: Lauren Bowen, Miles Aitkenhead, Simon
Wright
In terms of
audio work, the best piece which came in third and final year. I never really
enjoyed studying radio but creating a radio show was an interesting aspect. It
was another one of those modules where the theory wasn’t exactly thrilling but
the practical side was much better.
As
individuals, we had to produce two features for a 30-minute radio show. One was
feature length of approximately five minutes and another was a short, sharp two-minute
piece at best.
Our lecturer
then paired us into groups of three. I worked with Lauren and Miles on this and
we immediately gelled as a group and were well organised in putting this
together. The Current Affairs Show features pieces on Human Trafficking, Racism
in Football, Film and Music Reviews, the building of a University Technical College
and a feature on the fallout of the 2011 UK riots after the shooting of Mark
Duggan in Tottenham.
The final
result was a polished, strong piece of current affairs programming.
Strengths: Working in such a strong group, a
wide range of topics, strong links into pieces, adverts to break the programme
up.
Weaknesses: None
Modern Technology – Filmed May 2012
Group: Simon Wright
And so to the
final piece of video work and this was my final project of the three years at
the University of Northampton. I chose to look at the advancements in modern
technology and picked three aspects of the new enforcements on our everyday lives;
eBooks, the MP3 music revolution and smartphones.
I got an
excellent response to an online survey I created, came up with some strong
interviews with varying opinions, and by doing the piece by myself with only
requests for a few people to be involved in some cutaway shots – I did a
professional and clean job of this 10-minute feature.
I wouldn’t
change much on this if I did it again. Maybe work on hiding microphone wiring
and positioning the camera better to centralise my interview subjects but I think
this was a fitting end to my three-year degree.
Strengths: Wide variety of interviews, no heavy
music reliance, doing online surveys and social media interaction, strong
introduction and title sequence.
Weaknesses: Some static cutaways, a couple of
interviews weren’t centralised enough, microphone wiring use.
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