Digital Content / Journalism Creative
ITV Masterclass
It's recommended that CV's are seen by others to spell check and get pointers. Having CV's personally tailored to each company is important because some companies want Cover Letters and others don't. Cover Letters are meant to introduce you, say why you want the role and briefly mention what you can bring to it. Different companies have application forms as well, but they can take a lot of time since you have to understand them and you have to be patient. In general applying for jobs can take time and it's important to not take rejection personally, you have to move on until the right role finds you
In interviews it's important to prepare, you have to do more than just research a company. You can go on social media and follow them to find out what's going on in the company. Another important thing to do is to understand the format: in person, group assessment or online. If you don't understand then you have to ask. You also have to provide examples, they don't always have to be work related and can be from college/school or just in life in general
BBC Masterclass
Part of journalism is having to put yourself out there even if you're not getting paid. In journalism sometimes you have to do things that seem out of the ordinary for a regular job. An important part of journalism is being empathetic as you have to get trust from the people you're interviewing. Having connections to different people is important for the same reason
Fixated contracts are usually taken by young people as they aren't stable jobs. A benefit of these contracts is that you're not tied down to one place and you can go to different companies still. A staff contract is very difficult to obtain in BBC. Local radio is also a good place a start because there are many different things that you can do
BBC News Masterclass
An extremely important part about journalism is that what you're saying is truthful and accurate. If this isn't done, even just once, it discredits everything you've put out. Another important part about journalism is being impartial and not letting personal biases influence your work. This is done so the news is accurate as possible and lets the audience come to a conclusion themselves. This is another reason why having accurate information that fairly represent both sides is also important, otherwise you risk talking about another point for too long and skewing the public to that point
When presenting a story, it's also good if it's explained in the most concise and understandable way possible. The way reporters do this is by asking themselves what's imperative to know to understand the story and what questions anyone in the audience would have about it
Second Year Interview
I had a sore throat while doing this interview, so my voice sounded a bit different. I was honest and said I wanted to improve in my practical skills as I still wasn't completely comfortable with any of it yet, this is why I was chosen to be a camera operator in the game show. For the most part I said I wanted to help my practical skills in general, I wasn't completely sure in what specific area. I was also honest in saying that I didn't completely know what to do after college other than having a vague idea of what industry I was interested in and wanting to do something that was behind the scenes
NCS Podcast (IAG)
NCS supports college students with CVs, applications, job searching, looking at other courses and Label Market
Information locally and nationally (where the jobs are), what jobs are thriving and which ones are not. For
university students they can look what which university you go to, what courses you take and how to write a
personal statement for example. Most of these are online resources
LMI shows if the job you're interested in exists, how much of them are there and if they're in the local area. There are two websites for this, there's one for people near Herefordshire. It has large organisations and includes schools, colleges and universities. It shows primary sectors and it goes in detail about each industry and organisations in them. For Bedfordshire theres Find Your Future, similar to the previous website. It also has a page that shows you the organisations that are currently advertising the most job roles. Currently the NHS is the one with the most jobs available. It also shows where jobs are being advertised as well
NCS Podcast (Branding, Networking and Concept to Creation)
This is about branding, networking and concept to creation. Branding can be logos, brands, fonts and even colours. It’s what identifies a brand and is normally visual. It’s also advertisements. In the video they play a Cadbury advert that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the chocolate itself. The reason they did this is because they wanted adverts that evoked happiness, this then subliminally gets them to think of Cadbury as happiness as well. This is still used all the time now, evoking emotions to connect with the audience
Branding is about identity. The three M’s for identity is mood, message and mantra. Hidden/subliminal adverts and referencing popular videos are very common for brands to do. It’s not just about selling a product but also about selling a concept or an idea. A lot of work and money goes into branding and marketing as its all about marketing a USP (unique selling point) and what you’re achieving with your product. For example Coca Cola is known for being red and Pepsi is known for being blue, “Share a Coke with [blank]” was a marketing strategy that worked really well as people would take photos with their friends name on the bottle or can
NCS Podcast (Sonic Workshops)
Sonic Workshop mostly works in the music industry, this is about growing a fanbase online. There's a lot of hidden preparation and work that goes into growing it. Its important to look at the competition and analysing what they're doing. Providing value is an important yet easily forgotten about issue as well, building trust is extremely important when establishing a fanbase. Three ways to provide value are to: utilize your talents and skills (Justin Bieber is an example of this, sharing your talent on social media), present a topic well (Anthony Fantono is an example, strong opinions and is entertaining) and with something you created (Lil Nas X is an example, capitalise on a big topic and post multiple things about one thing you created to "continue the conversation")
Three things to consider when growing your fanbase online is the planning, creation and sharing stages. Planning is more about looking inwards instead of at others, asking yourself questions to get more information and to possibly make your idea more creative. Its important to know what the content you're doing is before you actually start. Talking about whatever is popular isn't required either, you can instead talk about things you're personally interested in
A few sample questions to ask yourself are: what is your story, what do you want to be known for, where do I want to be in 5 years time, what should be consistent as you continue, what is your ideal fan like, how will you impact their lives, who is your competition and what makes you different from them? Its a good idea to also do this for your competition as well
11:14
The Rebel Guide to The Legal Stuff
There are many different structures for businesses, but the most popular ones are being a Ltd (Limited Company) or a Sole Trader. When choosing a structure there are a few changing factors depending on which one you choose such as: the level of liability, tax & national insurance payments, who will need to know your business exists, records & accounts you're allowed to keep and the ways your business can get money are just a few. There are also other questions to ask yourself such as: will you work alone or with a team, do you want to have a small business or a massive company, would you be willing to have long meetings with HMRC, would you be willing to do paperwork and administration, do you like fundraising and do you prefer making your own decisions or working as a team with other people
Sole Traders (aka Self-Employed) are the most simple. You don't have to pay any fees when starting and there isn't much paperwork either other than having records of your business income and expenses. As you are the business you get to decide how the business is run and keep all profit. You will still have a personal allowance though as you have to account for tax, there's also National Insurance to pay. To do this you'll have to register for tax with HMRC and finish an annual tax return form every so often. If you're in debt you will be held accountable for this, though this is unlikely as long as you don't borrow money
Limited Companies:
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Have to register with Companies House and fill in paperwork including the company name, address and details of at least one director and one shareholder
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After completing that you'll receive four papers: Memorandum of Association (agreement to create your company), Statement of Capital (company shares and the rights they have), Articles of Association (rules for how the company will be run) and a Certificate of Incorporation (company number & date that it was created, shows that your company legally exists)
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Will register for Corporation Tax afterwards
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Any problems and liabilities are "limited" to the company instead of people having personal responsibility
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Business partnership must have a "nominated" partner for whoever will be responsible for managing tax returns and keeping important business records
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Community Interest Companies trade with community benefit in mind instead of personal profit like Limited Companies do
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Social Enterprises count as a business model than a legal structure
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Charities are a much different business structure as they get to have a few things other structures don't, such as: tax relief from the HMRC, not having to pay VAT and automatic public recognition as a charity
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The more basic the business structure, the less paperwork
Jack. (Year unknown) The Rebel Guide to The Legal Stuff. Available at: https://therebelschool.com/the-rebel-guide-to-legal/. Accessed at: 11.05.22
Setting Up a Business
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Sole traders are the simplest but will require you to manage your finances
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Limited Companies have separate finances but more paperwork, reporting and management priorities
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Partnerships require all parties to manage debts and accounting
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There are different rules depending on what your business is like depending on many factors such as: selling or buying goods online or abroad, working from home or in an office (this may mean you'll have to pay business rates), insurances and licensing
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Businesses have to account for their employees, such as their: running payroll, their National Insurance (which will have to be paid for, there are also allowances to pay less for this) and providing workplace pensions to any staff that can claim it
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Taking on people (freelancers or agency workers for example) also requires the business to cover them, such as for health and safety
Government. (Year unknown) Set up a business. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/set-up-business. Accessed at: 11.05.22
Real Talk
When it was being recorded, I was the live editor for the some of the musicians being interviewed
Lynsey Moore
Since costume designers are on set the whole time, they have long working hours. For Lynsey getting work experience really helped with her career, especially social media was less popular at the time. She worked for theatres and short TV films during her time in education. Networking is important for costume designers and for all jobs in general, in her words "we all employ each other on recommendation". Having ease of transport (driving a car) was very beneficial for her as the job requires her to have to move around quickly, some places to the middle of nowhere. Costume designers have to create costumes for everyone on set, including the background characters. Costume designers often use concept art and moodboards for their costumes, although some costume designers have illustrators for them instead
Toby Friedner
Friedner is a senior journalist working in a local radio station. Radio stations can do many different things, from stories and interviews to visiting colleges and doing talks in front of others. Friedner has been a reporter, producer and a presenter during his 25 years in local BBC radio. Media is very competitive to get into but a way to stand out is to be really professional, approaching a media company while already knowing what the company does and possibly having a personal experience with it is beneficial. Knowing the name of the person who will interview you and whoever is the head of the company you're applying for is also good. There's a work experience opportunity in the BBC that runs three times a year (June, October, end of January & lasts up to 10 days) or an apprenticeship in a variety of different things such as journalism, technology, production, software or set design and many more. BBC aims to have 1000 apprentices over the next 5 years. There are also options to have a degree or post-graduate while doing an apprenticeship in the BBC
30 Hour Gap
