Amy MacBeath

Last week I spent my third and final placement at the BBC in Inverness.  Having already crammed serious amounts of information into my head since New Year I arrived prepared to stuff in even more!  Being a Highlander my plan was to go to Broadcasting House up north so that I would be working in a familiar area and, if need be, be able to pronounce places!  The first couple days were spent writing, cutting and researching for the Highlands & Islands news bulletins and going out with the Reporting Scotland presenters to film packages.  The timing of Inverness Caledonian Thistle sacking their manager worked well for me as there was plenty to film – I narrowly escaped an appearance myself!  The best part was getting the chance to research, script, edit and voice my own piece for the morning bulletin – they actually aired it too!  I even noticed one of the scripts I wrote made the website. 

Thursday was spent in the features department researching for the BBC Radio Scotland ‘No Going Back’ programme…basically I called random people and asked for their memories and stories on the naval base and protester camp at Faslane, Argyll & Bute.

On my last day I worked with the Gaelic team on An La (the news for BBC Alba) – it was an interesting experience to say the least as everyone dipped in and out of Gaelic all day..I found myself smiling when they all laughed just so I looked as though I was in on whatever the joke may have been…could have been at me for all I know.  As the producer had handed over control to someone for the night I shadowed him and he gave me a very useful and much needed lesson in avid - I think all his work took him five times as long due to the fact that I had to press all the buttons. 

Overall I really enjoyed my week there and think I learned a lot, having a chance to put my begginer’s skills into practice….

…..I also hope that it will be the end of being asked which school I go to for a wee while!

So I finally got to see the Mighty Boosh Live last night at the SECC after years of never managing to make it to shows.  Despite the fact that this particular show has been on the go a while and I’m sure all the mistakes and jokes possible have already been made it was absolutely hilarious (apart from the really creepy fox which I really don’t like but have managed to avoid since I haven’t seen much of that series).  One thing I will say – at the risk of sounding well beyond my years – is that I couldn’t quite believe the number of parents who had taken their kids along to this show.  Now, I consider myself a well up to speed fan of the boosh comedy and am well aware of how rude..well pretty sick actually..the jokes get but I don’t think it would take a genius to know that what is produced for BBC3 is a very strictly edited version of their act.  I therefore was surprised at the naivity of the father sitting behind me with his arms folded commenting that “there isn’t all this swearing in the one you see on tv”…??!!!!  To which his son answered “but it’s funny so just shutup and enjoy it”.  What are kid’s becoming these days that they are allowed to go, no they are taken, to watch this type of obviously adult comedy but also to laugh along to the dirtiest of jokes with their mothers at their elbow.  Anyway, rant over because I really did enjoy the show and their off the wall style and was even sad enough to come home and watch my favourite episodes before bed. 

This week I spent three days down Pacific Quay at STV in their newsroom.  I wasn’t sure what to expect after only having experienced newspapers, magazines and a small amount of radio so I wasn’t entirely sure what I would be faced with.  Within ten minutes of being there and having literally taken my jacket off I found myself being interviewed on camera for the website – an experience I really wasn’t prepared for!  Less than an hour later I delightfully found myself being filmed again but luckily I was part of the editing of this and avoided online stardom this time. 

The newsroom itself was mixed in with the five thirty show and with the endless introductions it becomes very clear just how much work goes into producing these bulletins from news gathering to production.  The team were all very pleasant and patient with a beginner like myself and there was so much to take in in the small amount of time I was there – I gave it my best shot!  In the mornings I helped with John MacKay’s blog before grabbing the chance to go out most of the rest of the day to film anything from traffic accident, assault and abductions scenes to an extremely fat dog and comdian Karen Dunbar reciting Tam O’Shanter to me from a throne.  In three days I think I saw more of Glasgow than ever before.  It was also a good chance to watch the editing of the packages before watching the production process for the 6 o’clock news.  Seeing the finished process after observing the work that goes into it gave me a whole new insight into the world of broadcasting.

Last week I spent my days at the Press & Journal newspaper in Inverness.  Part of Dundee based DC Thomson who are fairing well in the current media climate, the paper is better known as being an Aberdonian product but I spent my week working on Inverness and Highland news.  Big advantage of going to a smaller (is this case a regional) paper is that you can get hands on and there’s never nothing to do.  Being of Invernesian origin I was able to contribute stories, contacts and ideas and managed to make myself useful when my old high school started to be demolished.  As well as the local articles, press release re-writes and NIBs I successfully produced a small series of features (four completed in time for print).  All in all a very enjoyable week getting a chance to see how focused and hard working the journalists were.  Plus I got lots of wee cuttings for my portfolio and even a block of cheese!

A (ever so slightly) belated happy new year to one and all!

I’m not sure if it’s more exciting or scary that 2009 will be the year of once more going out into the big bad world of work to seek employment – this time as a journalist.  With all the doom and gloom predictions only spurred on by most working reporters you meet, let’s hope that there is room out there in the crazy media sphere for a few more of us enthusiastic beginners!