BBC Work Experience - Episode XI - 31st March, 2014

Alright; this was the first day on the Hub!

The Hub was definitely the one of the three areas that I understood the least about, due to the vague name ('camera', 'sound'...You know what they are and what they do). But I that helped me find it more intriguing than the other areas, in a way. This is the area where raw footage is logged and copied, it's where final cuts of news items are stored and it has access to the whole archive of BBC Leeds. Because of this, it's where people come to (or contact) to request clips or stock footage for items and such. The Hub is also responsible for recording outgoing broadcasts, which has to be set manually for each day.

This day was also a first in terms of  mentors too; I had two! The first was a fellow called Gavin; aside from doing 'behind the scenes' stuff like the hub, he also does a bit of reporting, which is very apt for him as he as a great, friendly personality. It really felt like I was learning the basic functionality of the hub fairly quickly and Gavin was keen to hear about what I wanted to do for a career in general; he happily shared advice (and in a really positive way too). Around the time before lunch, Tom (from sound) joined us too; he caught up with how I've been getting on and how I've been enjoying the experience and as well as Tom passing on more knowledge and encouragement, I was also able to share what I had learned!
   Unfortunately Gavin had to leave at lunchtime, so afterwards, my second supervisor was a lady called Helen; she has a senior position at the BBC but that doesn't mean she's looking down at others (it seems like she operates at everybody else's level, if that makes sense). She was really friendly and seemed interested in where I was in terms of experience. It was also around this time where there was a lot of periods with no urgent requests needed. Helen used some of this time to show me some more functionality of the hub, but I think I needed to ask for more practice with the computer systems to get familiar with layouts. I had encouragement and confidence built up from Gavin (and Tom), so I think that somehow meant I could relax a little bit. This was also the first time I had to come in at an earlier time than usual, so it must've felt like a longer day too!

But all in all, a great start to my time on the Hub...Hopefully it can keep going!

AM