Awkward shoots, Live shows and Football matches...

Throughout second year I really aimed to establish my interests and talents within different project roles. I had always admired camera operators and their creativity so I decided to be a camera operator for a VT shoot, something I lacked experience and knowledge of. I was briefly aware of how to set up the Sony X70 so therefore was under the impression that I didn't need help. As you can most probably predict a horror story time coming up… I pressed a wrong button when setting up the camera. I wasn't aware of this mistake until we had filmed all day and were back in the editing suite uploading the footage. Awkwardness and tension filled the room as the footage was unusable and we had to reshoot the whole VT. Yes everyone does make mistakes and that’s a huge part of this journey, however from this nightmare shoot, I have learned to not feel ‘stupid’ to ask crew members questions. I feel at the time I didn't want to ask someone about the camera when I was supposed to be camera op, however one innocent query could’ve saved the whole shoot. When being a part of a crew you are a team, you're all in it together, something you sometimes have to learn through trial and error. Nevertheless from this mistake I now ask as many questions as I feel necessary, I also ask other crew members if they need any help as I know first hand how it feels to be out of your depth with not much help around. It is a mistake I'll make sure to never make again!

Working well under pressure has always been a skill of mine, which I have put into practice over the course of my TV journey. I was the floor manager for a live show called ‘Minute Madness.’ During rehearsals all was well until we went live... I delivered the countdown as normal, however when pointing to camera 3 one of the presenters began to talk to a completely different camera. To try and put an image into your imagination, there was now a live mid shot of both presenters straight on, however, presenter one was now facing the complete wrong way. I knew this was my role and therefore my responsibility. With this, I ensured I remained calm and walked to camera 3 while giving subtle hand movements to allow the presenter to know she was presenting to the wrong camera. This allowed time for the director to do a close up of presenter two, and while doing this, leaving enough time to allow presenter one to be in the correct position of the camera. I feel this is a good example of me staying calm in potentially stressful situations, something that will work to my advantage if i were to ever go into the live TV industry.

I constantly tell myself, dream big! If you dream big then you're always pushing yourself out of your comfort zones to achieve your goals. Now for some context.. I’ve always wanted to produce a project to truly push myself and create new achievements. With this in mind I decided to push myself out of those comfort zones and produce a real project. Our course had the amazing opportunity to create a video for a real life client. All projects prior to this were for the university units only, therefore you can imagine the pressure increased tremendously when we were creating something for a real company/client. Once we received the briefs I felt very passionate about making a funding video for Fleur de Lys, a local Football Club. I invest a lot of time in charity work therefore I know how hard it is to get funding when you really need it. With my passion for charities I felt somewhat connected to the project and wanted to make something that was going to help people in need. For that reason I decided to ‘take a leap of faith’ if you will, and put myself forward to produce the whole project.

This is where I first established my love for producing! I enjoyed every aspect of the task, I had a great relationship with the client which made my job that bit easier. I ensured everyone in my crew was happy at all times which made each stage of production run very smoothly. Me and my crew were over the moon with the final video and so was the client, the main purpose of the task. One thing that I would say that I learnt from being a producer for the first time was that if you put your mind to something you can achieve, I was so apprehensive about being the producer as its a heightened responsibility but my experience was so enjoyable that it has caused me to look into that career path post graduation.