Broadcast Dreams

Filming at the Hoopsfix All-Star Classic 2018 (courtesy of JS Sport Photography ) On July 19th, it will have been exactly a year since I began my self-employed placement year as TotallyMedia . I remember being incredibly nervous yet hopeful of what I could achieve over the course of 12 months, and particularly conscientious of ensuring I made the most of the experience. However, it’s safe to say this has been such a brilliant opportunity and I’ve gained so much more than I imagined I would. In all honesty, the self-employed route wasn’t my first choice. In the year running up to my placement, I visited BBC South, BBC Radio Northampton, ITV Meridian, IMG Studios, NBCUniversal, Disney, Hot Vox and the RTS Futures Careers Fair in London as part of my placement search. Obviously, as mentioned in my first blog , I was unsuccessful with my applications. However, after I'd chosen to go self-employed and my initial business proposal was approved, I began to understand the scale o

Courtesy of Emmanuel Pampuri Since the start of the year, one of my biggest aims for TotallyMedia was to purchase a higher-quality camera. As for any videographer, this is an extremely exciting prospect. It offers me the chance to access new features or recording settings that will consequently enhance the overall 'look' of the finished product. However, while that may sound like an easy task to accomplish, finding the right camera at a reasonable price with desirable specifications has proven to be fairly challenging to say the least. Back in January, I applied for funding in order to upgrade my current equipment. With up to £3000 available for start-up businesses, I had my eye on a Sony PXW-X70 camera as well as other items. No matter who I spoke to on my university course, all the lecturers seemed to recommend the X70 due to its recording capabilities and price. Fortunately, after submitting my application, I was invited to pitch to the nest team explaining my business

On Sunday 28th January, Arena Birmingham hosted the prestigious British Basketball League Cup Finals. The event was sold out and broadcast live on the BBC Red Button and FreeSports, making it the biggest-ever audience for a BBL Cup Final. After applying for and receiving media accreditation, I was fortunate enough to be court-side capturing some of the best moments from the day. For the record, this was my first time going to see a BBL match. Up to this point, I had only ever watched the games on my computer whilst logging the best plays for the weekly top 10 highlight videos. Therefore, the prospect of going to see one in person had always excited me. When the opportunity arose to film for Hoopsfix at the BBL Cup Finals, I knew it would be an awesome experience both as a basketball fan and a television and broadcasting student. After an hour-long car journey, I arrived at the venue with little knowledge of what to expect. Navigating my way to the media room took some directin

As of writing this post, it has been around 3 months since I set off down the road of self-employment and started my own video production company, TotallyMedia. Looking back, I am already beginning to see the progression I have made within this time as a business and as an individual. However, it could be argued that a significant amount of development that has been made was actually the result of one pivotal decision that drastically reshaped the face of the company. The concept of ‘TotallyMedia’ can be traced all the way back to 2011. At the age of 14, I enjoyed recording and editing home videos on my laptop and would pretend that I was running my own television studio titled Totally Random Productions . Eventually in 2013, having set up my own YouTube channel, TotallyTVUK  (for whatever reason, the channel name ‘Totally Random Productions’ was unavailable), I was able to explore the possibilities of publishing and sharing my content online. For the next 3 years, I attempted t

At long last, I am very excited to discuss a fairly major milestone in my placement year. Since my last post, I have been extremely busy working on my first project as TotallyMedia with the basketball development programme, Ball Up Sports, and on the whole, it was a great success. I first came across Ball Up Sports right back in January through a family connection (further proving the statement that it's not what you know, but who you know). I was asked if I'd be interested in filming one of their training sessions as, at the time, they were looking for a video specialist. While I was excited at the prospect of filming basketball session (for those that don't know, I am a basketball enthusiast), I remember not really knowing what I was getting myself into and being knee-deep in university work. However, I didn't want to miss this opportunity to practice filming and apply what I'd been learning on my course. Therefore, I travelled to Surrey the following day wi

Back at the start of the year, I was busy searching for potential work placements with various broadcasting companies. Any student will tell you that it can be quite a challenging task. Thankfully, the Royal Television Society sought to make life easier for broadcast enthusiasts across the country by hosting their very own careers fair. Here are my thoughts... I came across the RTS Futures Careers Fair online and became very interested when an advertisement stated that the BBC would be at the event (along with other big names in television). The fair took place from 10-7pm and hosted a range of companies and organisations. For example, I met representatives from BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4, Warner Bros., Lime Pictures, Blast Films, ENVY and Viacom just to name a few. The aim of the event was to allow those interested in a career in television the chance to meet with industry professionals and gain an insight into what it takes to get a job. This included a specialist CV clinic,

Hello there and welcome to 'Broadcast Dreams,' a blog which aims to document my journey as a university student with a desire to work in the broadcasting industry to (hopefully) a career in either television or radio. As we move into the summer of 2017, I have finished my second year at university studying Television and Broadcasting, a very challenging yet incredibly exciting experience to say the least. Thanks to my course and enthusiastic lecturers, I got the opportunity to build upon my existing knowledge from my first year, as well as develop my skills in script writing, video editing, sound recording and floor managing. However, alongside all of my university and personal projects, I have also been preparing for my next big challenge - a work placement year. The production crew behind one of this years' live shows on CCI TV - PortsWOOF Like other universities, my course offers the chance to undertake a year-long placement between the second and third y