DIGITAL NEWS PRODUCTION: ITV Meridian Newsroom Open Day

A couple of months ago, I received an email, that enquired students to attend and open day at the ITV Meridian Studios, that was run by ITV and BBC. Below I've attached  a screenshot of the email:

So after sending my CV to Mr Savvides, I was delighted when I received a reply from him a few days later, inviting me to join him and the rest of the team, today (16th Oct.) at the ITV Meridian Studios in Whitely, for CDN newsrooms opening. 

Today, I had an absolutely amazing day, with lots to talk about. First of all, once we arrived at the studios, we were welcomed with coffee, tea and cookies and were given a mini speech on the coverage of the channel. We were also given a mini tour of the whole workplace/newsroom area and studio: the gallery, the editing lab, etc. We also got a chance to see how everything and everyone works in the gallery whilst the taping of the 6pm programme was being recorded.

Gallery

We were then divided into groups, to work in various areas of the newsroom, that they had set for us to do. My group and I first were set to do a "field" interview, meaning an out-of-studio kind of interview where we were each given a different role to adapt, in each take. For the first take, I was the interviewee and I had to talk about what it was like to move to a totally different country and culture, than the one I grew up in.

 Then, I took the role of being the camera operator, which I absolutely loved, since I knew exactly what to do, how to use the camera, and didn't need any assistance on how to use it, but listened to the professional camera op's tips and advice on framing, etc, anyway. And for the next take I controlled the sound, which again I didn't have any problems with. We then moved on to the gallery area, where the people in each of the groups had to work individually, and take a role in the gallery, which was absolutely amazing. With the guidance of each professional person in there, we each took a role: My first role was being the studio camera operator, and I had to control which camera was to be shown on the the main screen, and was given headphones to control the cameras with the the orders that the director would give me. I then went in to the sound lab, where I was  just shown what the sound operator's job is. I then took the initiative to control the sound, which the professional sound op. was surprised and very happy I did so, as none of the people before me did so and instead, watched him do his job. To be honest due to the fact that the sound operator has to control everything in a very short period of time, I found it quite challenging and if I ever got a chance to get some experience in this sector I would absolutely be willing to do so. 

I then moved on to present with the well- known newsreader, Fred Dinenage, who's been a presenter for many years. Though I didn't really know who he was up to today,  I was absolutely honoured to be sitting right next to him and presenting the news. He's such an amazing person who although makes you nervous due to the fact that you don't know what to expect him to be like at first, he just sits down with you and just jokes around with you like you've been friends for years.

Selfie with
Fred Dinenage

Though I was still really nervous whilst I was reading off the auto-cue and messed up most of it, when the take was finished, Fred asked me if I was interested in pursuing a career in presenting/news-reading cause he thought that I would be absolutely great for this job and with a few rehearsals and training I would be suitable to have a career in this sector. After listening to his kind words, I then moved to the weather studio, where I soon found out that there wasn't a script on an auto-cue to read off but instead, there was just a green screen and the auto-cue machine that only had the map of the UK. 
This was, in my opinion, one of the most challenging jobs in the whole newsroom as you had to improvise whatever you wanted to say, meaning that you could just blurt out anything. Yes, absolutely anything. 
We were given a few guidelines as what we could say but I didn't really feel comfortable when doing so. 

Finally, I realised that a weather woman's/man's job isn't as easy as it looks like on television. You could watch my very awkward presentation of the weather, below, as well as my news-reading presentation. And yes, I was absolutely shaking and veeery nervous (as you could see).

Group Photo 

Gift Bag Contents

Overall, I had an absolutely amazing day today. Throughout the day, I was constantly watching how everyone worked in the newsroom which made me realise that I would actually like to pursue a career in television in the future. Also it opened my eyes a bit at how quickly everything has to be carried out and how problems, such as packages/ videos not being handed in on time, could affect a whole channel, but is handled efficiently and very quickly. 

I thank everyone at the ITV Meridian studios  and the CDN programme, for this eye-opening experience and I would absolutely be thrilled to joint their team and work at these studios, one day.

Robin Britton sent me a tweet saying the above.
and in greek, wishing everyone
in Kent a great day.

Thanks for reading.

Yours,

I.

VIDEO: