Diary:
07/11/2024
The brief has been delivered this morning. The brief is on media professionals, we have to find a media professional that has the role that we want in the future and produce a piece on their role, how they got the job, career progression and opportunities, aswell as attending a mock job interview. We started the morning by mind mapping different roles in different segments of the media. I focused on entertainment but we collaborated as a group. Then we chose three roles we would want to do and chose where, which built the foundations for research.
The three roles that I chose were:
Presenter/host/broadcaster (particularly in documentaries/TV programmes)
Influencer/content creator
Interviewer/reporter
Where:
MTV
Variety
Documentaries on streaming sites like Netflix, Prime, and TV like BBC, working with production companies
My own social media (freelance)
BBC
Channel 4
ITV
LadBible
Overview of the roles:
Presenter:
A presenter is someone who hosts television programs, documentaries or on radio. There are many different types of presenters like a television presenter, a talk show host or a sports commentator. https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/performing-arts/job-profile/tv-presenter Day-to-day tasks include hosting live or pre-recorded programmes, preparing scripts, rehearsing, working through a show's running order with the production team and interviewing guests. Routes to the role include a university degree, progression through work and apprenticeships. Presenter is not an entry role and is often earned through prior work as a journalist or other related roles. Most people are based in London when working in this role. Hours of work can be variable, its not a 9-5 role. https://uk.indeed.com/career/presenter/salaries Average base salary is £31,552 according to Indeed's research.
Influencer/Content creator:
This role can be self-employed or employed by a company full time. Average work day and salary is very variable on the type of employment and statistics of the creator. Common tasks of the role are creating content ideas, writing scripts, filming videos, editing, and working with clients. Influencers and content creators both operate on social media and the majority are self-employed but often work with clients whether that be brands or media companies. However some content creators can be employed by companies and often their role includes creating content in a wide of mediums, from social media posts, to writing blog posts. Influencers showcase their life and passions and influence their audience to make certain decisions, whether that be buying the latest products or to have a certain opinion on a topic, so brands and media companies can work with influencers to sway the public. https://www.adobe.com/express/learn/blog/content-creator
However a content creator is more focused on the actual content, writing, filming, and editing, and they build an audience through this. Both have an audience which is vital in the media industry. A lot of journalists have social media accounts and are influencers/content creators. Anyone can enter into this role because social media is easily accessible, but the key is to grow an audience who will engage with your posts and that will give you opportunities. To do that it takes a lot of time and a good strategy, and good quality content will create an audience that want to listen to you. https://uk.indeed.com/career/influencer/salaries The average salary of an influencer is £35,091 reported by Indeed. Influencers/content creators can be based anywhere as their work can often be done from home.
I chose these roles because they would give me the opportunity to be on screen which I have experience with and am confident in doing and can work through visual mediums (videos, pictures). I also think that the influencer/content creator role will be in more demand in the future, so will be a great opportunity. I'm very passionate about these roles but they are also something I'm skilled at and confident about.
I started finding individuals in these roles:
Louis Theroux https://www.louistheroux.com/
James May https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May
Zainab Jiwa https://www.zainabjiwa.com/media-kit
Lissie Mackintosh https://www.instagram.com/lissiemackintosh/?hl=en
Amelia Dimoldenberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Dimoldenberg
Olivia Marks- Howarth https://uk.linkedin.com/in/olivia-marks-152512128
Claire Rowden https://uk.linkedin.com/in/claire-rowden-750a2b161
I need to research the average work day, tasks they do, what they get paid, how they got to the role, career progression of each individual, and where they are based.
Louis Theroux:
Salary £200,000 - £204,999 2022/2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0w4xqlwr1ro
Louis Theroux in Tv Nation
Louis Theroux started out as a journalist in the United States with Metro Silicon Valley. He then worked as a correspondent on TV Nation. After that ended he signed a development deal with the BBC where he developed Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. From then he went on to present more documentaries for BBC, started an interview series and podcasts and books.
James May:
Salary: The Grand Tour, approx £7.2m per year
James May started out as a journalist, and during the early 1980s he was sub-editor Autocar magazine. After being fired from Autocar he transitioned into presenting on TV. He first presented Driven on Channel 4 in 1998. He was briefly co-presenter of the original Top Gear in 1999 but was fired in 2000. After the first season of the relaunched Top Gear in 2002, he was re-hired to present Top Gear which would skyrocket his career. Since he's done a range of programmes like James May's Toy Stories and Oz and James. After quitting Top Gear due to Clarkson's exit, the trio of presenters from Top Gear started a new show on Prime called The Grand Tour and this started May's partnership with Amazon Prime. His two most recent shows have been his travel show James May Our Man In... and his cooking show Oh Cook!, both which have been cancelled recently and saw James transition to Youtube.
Zainab Jiwa:
Zainab Jiwa is a presenter within the film, tv and fashion field, with a love for pop-culture among many other things. She has mixed-niches and her social media is a home of that. Her content aims to be relatable, inspiring and entertaining as she shares her love and knowledge. She has presented on the red carpet at the BAFTA Film awards, aswell as for many other things. She interviews celebrities and posts it on her YouTube.
Lissie Mackintosh:
Lissie Mackintosh is an F1 presenter, content creator and podcast host. In 2021 she posted on Tiktok about F1 and gained traction. https://www.femalesinmotorsport.com/post/lissie-mackintosh-on-labels-the-role-of-content-creators-and-talking-about-f1
She amassed a following creating content and had several drivers feature in her posts. She then transitioned into presenting in F1.
Amelia Dimonldenberg:
Amelia Dimoldenberg, best known for her webseries 'Chicken Shop Date' where she interviews celebrities in a chicken shop with her sarcastic awkward sense of humour. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Dimoldenberg. She studied a BA in Fashion Communication and in 2018 she presented the Channel 4 documentary Meet the Markles.
Olivia Marks-Howarth:
Olivia Marks-Howarth is a celebrity interviewer for film and Tv. She was previously a video journalist at Made Television and Thats TV. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/olivia-marks-152512128 Now she is a senior entertainment reporter and content producer at Bauer Media. She has covered junkets, premieres and award shows, and has interviewed many big stars such as Angelina Jolie, Emma Thompson and Steven Spielberg.
Claire Rowden:
Claire Rowden is a a celebrity interviewer for MTV UK movies. At junkets and premieres she has interviewed celebrities like Pedro Pascal, Ryan Gosling and Cillian Murphy amongst many others.
11/11/2024:
Today is the start of pre-production. This week I have to identify and contact the target of my project to create a profile of. I also need to start planning the structure of the piece. I am going to make a podcast where I can go into detail about the subject and can also include an interview if I am able to get one. The podcast should be approximately 15 minutes long. I need to research and talk about the average work day of the role, average salary, where people in this role are based, how they got the role and career progression. To pick my subject I should consider accessibility. I wanted to be able to get in contact with my subject for a possible interview. I also want to consider someone who will have a similar route to the job and career progression to what I want. I've chosen to go with Zainab Jiwa as my subject because she is a presenter and a content creator with a significant social media following. What she has achieved through her years of work is really impressive and is what I wish to achieve, so I will do a profile on her. She has hosted the BAFTAs and premieres, done press junket interviews and has collaborated with many different brands. She also has similar interests to me.
I need to start researching about her, using her social media sites, LinkedIn, website and other profiles or interviews about her. I need to contact her as soon as possible so that I have a better chance of getting an interview, so I will write out a quick message to send her in hopes of getting an interview.
Hello, Zainab
I am Rachel, a training journalist and aspiring presenter from Nottingham College.
I am contacting you in hopes of arranging an interview about you career, how you got there, what you do day-to-day, what being a presenter is like and more!
Thank you for your time, I hope to hear from you soon.
Kindest regards,
Rachel.
Secondary Research:
Links:
13/11/2024:
I contacted Zainab Jiwa on Instagram using the paragraph I had planned before. I will wait a few days for a response and if I don't recieve one I will contact her another way and contact my plan Bs.
14/11/2024:
Today I need to research more thoroughly and start creating a script for my podcast. I need to plan my podcast, when I will film it and how I will film it aswell as preparing questions for an interview. What I am doing is a profile about Zainab Jiwa a presenter in film and TV who has interviewed many celebrities, hosted at the BAFTAs and creates content . I want to figure out what she does day-to-day, her average salary, where she is based, how she got to where she is and what the future prospects of the job are. I haven't recieved a response yet from Zainab but I will wait a few days and then contact my Plan Bs who are Olivia Marks-Howarth and Claire Rowden, both celebrity journalists, they aren't presenters but they interview celebrities and have a smaller following so may be easier to get in contact with, however I will persevere with my target interviewee. To plan my podcast I am using the planning tools I have used before, these two tables of talking points so I know what I will address at which point of the podcast and a fact sheet where I can put all my research into, and it will help me write a script. This podcast will be short, so the three segments will only be about 5 minutes long each, the intro and outro might be shorter and the interview segment will be longer. I need to think about time management when planning the podcast as I want to explain things well but I also want the podcast to be short and engaging. I will record the podcast on Tuesday.
Podcast planning:
TALKING POINTS
SEGMENT | BROAD TOPIC: | SPECIFIC TALKING POINTS: |
1 | Intro | Presenting, what is it, what does the career entail, why do I want to do it? |
2 | Zainab Jiwa (or other professional) interview | How she got her career, what her career entails, what is the future of her career |
3 | Outro | What do I need to do to achieve my goals, advice from professionals |
FACT SHEET
SEGMENT | TOPIC | RELEVANT FACTS, FIGURES AND QUOTES |
1 | Intro |
|
2 | Zainab Jiwa (or other professional) interview |
|
3 | Outro |
I have a microphone at home, the Razor Seiren Mini which I have used to record podcasts and interviews before. I will try to find a software to record podcasts. However I could use Zoom because I have used it before and it saves audio and video, and I can edit the audio using Adobe Audition.
Questions:
What is an average day like for you in your career?
How did you get into presenting and interviewing celebrities?
What are your tips for creating content?
What advice would you give to people who want to start creating content about their passions and achieve the success you have?
What is your average salary?
I'm going to research a bit more about content creation as Zainab is a content creator/influencer and that has helped her become a presenter and work with brands, as the content she made got her exposure and followers which gave her more opportunities.
Influencer:
A social media influencer is anyone with a significant follower count, who creates content whether that be Tiktok posts, Instagram posts, blogs, Youtube ect. They can establish credibility within their niche and community of fans that regularly engage with their content. This is why brands may choose to work with them but they also have a lot of power on social media and can influence the opinions of their audience.
I spent some time watching the content Zainab had produced, the interviews with celebrities she had posted on her YouTube channel. This allowed me to understand how she worked.
17/11/2024:
I contacted Claire Rowden on Instagram. She is a journalist for MTV, she interviews celebrities at press junkets and premieres and has talked to celebrities like Pedro Pascal, Ryan Gosling and Cillian Murphy.
18/11/2024:
I'm not going to write a script as I will use my talking points to help me record, however I will script the intro. I researched a bit to help me script the intro and give me ideas.
Intro: Hello everyone, I am Rachel and today we are going to profile an incredible content creator and presenter who is breaking barriers constantly, Zainab Jiwa! From giving you rundowns of the latest Tv shows of each month, to interviewing the biggest celebrities on red carpets and at junkets. So lets take a look at the inspiring Zainab Jiwa, how she got to where she is and what her job as a presenter is like.
I did a SWOT Matrix to evaluate my project so far.
SWOT MATRIX:
STRENGTHS + | WEAKNESSES – |
Lots of research, good knowledge | Reached out to a well-known person, may not get an interview with them |
OPPORTUNITIES + | THREATS – |
Can reach out to people using social media | Not getting an interview- media professionals are busy and it can be hard to get in contact with them. |
I can also find music and sounds to use when editing the podcast.
20/11/2024:
I contacted Zainab again but this time on e-mail. I found her email via her linktree which is on her Instagram.
21/11/2024:
I'm going to do an article instead of a podcast and if I get an interview I will embed it as a YouTube video. I think this would be a better choice as I need to learn how to format an article and use Adobe InDesign. I also think it would be better to do a podcast for the final task of B1 as it would show of my hosting skills. The planning I did for the podcast is still very useful as I can will it to help me plan out the structure of my article. It also means I can start writing as soon as possible and don't have to wait.
25/11/2024:
I contacted 6 more presenters. I'm trying to get an interview so that I can do the profile on my interviewee, but if I can't I will do the profile on Zainab Jiwa just with no interview, and use my secondary research as the foundation. Editing into a magazine article format using Adobe InDesign shouldn't take long so I have a few days to write the profile and then get it edited, and because I don't have an interview to write about yet I will use my time to research InDesign and learn how to use it.
Adobe InDesign:
https://www.smu.edu/-/media/site/oit/adminsys/adobe-handouts/indesign/indesign-beginner-handout.ashx
Contacted:
26/11/2024:
I got a response from Jemma Mccarthy. I have arranged an interview at 11.30am on Tuesday 3rd December. Its going to be tight for time so I will have to make preparations. I will start doing research about Jemma and start writing the profile, but I will also do a profile on Zainab Jiwa using the research I have already done.
27/11/2024:
I'm going to do some research on Jemma Mccarthy to help me prepare for the interview.
Jemma Mccarthy:
Presenter
Gen Z and Pop Culture
Featured on TMZ, BBC Radio London, UniLad, LadBible and numerous online news sources
Voice of Channel 4 and E4
Has interviewed a wider range of personalities like Imelda Staunton
Has over 15,000 followers, 20 million views and millions of likes across her social media platforms
She has also been a red carpet presenter
Producing and presenting a her own mini documentaries released in Summer of 2024
Radio Presenter East Herts
Journalism EPQ and studied in school
Westside Radio Presenter
Freelance content producer
Freelance Presenter and reporter for clients like LADBible, Unilever, The Hook, Tiktok, Bauer Media, Teenage Cancer Trust and Media Spotlight UK
27/11/2024:
I got a reply from Samaira iqbal. She is happy to do an interview so I need to book one with her when she is available.
28/11/2024:
I'm going to do a podcast instead of an article as I have interviews booked so I can make it an interview podcast.
I'm doing research on Samaira iqbal.
Samaira iqbal:
Presenter and reporter representing the South Asian, Muslim and CODA communities
She has worked with BAFTA and Sky
Sky Kids Presenter featuired on 'Game Changers', a Sky Kids news show about sports
Featured o FYI, investigated and interviewed the creators of a new BSL app
BAFTA Young Presenter 2021: Interviewed celebrities like Dame Judi Dench, Jesse Lingard and more at BAFTA events like red carpets, posted on BAFTA Kids and Teens Youtube Channel
Raise deaf awareness and teach BSL to celebrities
Interviewed Big Zuu, collaboration between BAFTA and Place2Be for Children's Mental health week, about the importance of 'Connection'
Planning the podcast:
I have two interviews and I would like to do a podcast with it. I would like to make them part of a series that I could start about people in the media, film and tv industry. This will help me for going onto higher education in the future but my two interviewees would fit in greatly. I am also finding it hard to start an article and I may not be able to start it until I have done the interviewees, which may take more time to finish and edit than doing the podcast.
Questions:
How did you get into presenting and interviewing celebrities?
Jemma- What is an average work day like for you?
What is your average salary?
What advice could you give to young people who want to do what you do?
What is it like when you are interviewing big name celebrities, what do you do to prepare?
What is it like producing and presenting in your own mini documentaries?
What has been your favourite role in the media, is it presenting?
What would your dream job or project be?
What is it like working for different clients such as LADBible or TikTok?
What is the highlight of your career so far?
Explain how you got to where you are now. How did you become a presenter?
Samaira-
What is an average work day like for you?
What advice would you give to young people who want to follow their dream of becoming a presenter?
What was the process of BAFTAs Young Presenter program, and what did you get from the experience?
What is it like when you are interviewing big name celebrities, what do you do to prepare?
What are your career goals for the next five years and onwards?
What would your dream job or project be?
What is the highlight of your career so far?
Intro:
Hi and welcome to (podcast name). I am your host Rachel and today we have a very exciting guest with us to discuss... (name of guest, then list a few things about them)
Here is the talk I had with them:
(play the interview)
At the end do an outro, explaining what was learnt.
For our very first episode today, we have a double interview. I talked to two very inspiring women in the media industry about being presenters, how they got there, what its like interviewing some famous faces and what advice they could give to those who want to do the same. This is...
I followed up with Samaria, asking if she was available next Tuesday, so that I could possibly do the two interviews then. I will wait for a response and if I don't get one by Saturday I will follow-up once more.
2/12/2024:
I haven't recieved a response from Samaira so I will just prepare for my interview tomorrow. To prepare for the interview I need to set up my mic and lighting equipment and test it on my laptop. I need to try to answer all these questions in the interview:
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?
3/12/2024:
The interview had to be changed to Wednesday so it gives me a little less time to edit, but more time to prepare.
4/12/2024:
I conducted the interview. It went well and I have got the audio recorded. I need to film and intro and outro aswell.
Intro:
Hello and welcome to Lets Talk. I am your host Rachel and today I talked to Presenter Jemma Mccarthy about her career, social media and topics that gen z would love to know about. Here's how it went!
Outro:
Well that was a great talk. I learnt a lot about her life as a presenter and got some great advice on how to succeed in this industry. Who will I talk to next, only time will tell?
I used Zoom to record the interview and used a webcam. I had my Razer Seiren Mini plugged in however the quality sounded better without using it through zoom.
Now that its all recorded I need to start editing. I will use Microsoft Clipchamp to make cuts and edit it into a final piece and then use Adobe Audition to edit the audio and improve the quality.
I edited the audio that I had using ClipChamp. I added the best intro and outro of all my attempts together with the interview and then exported it so that I can edit it on Adobe Audition. I did multiple takes of the intro and outro to get the best quality take to use for the final piece. I also uploaded all footage from the zoom interview and the intro and outro into my OneDrive in case I needed it when editing. I used Zoom to record the intro and outro aswell which kept the quality consistent with the interview. I compared between mic and no mic for recording the intro and outro, comparing the quality of audio and how it sounded with the interview audio when edited together.
5/12/2024:
I started editing on Adobe Audition. I made some cuts and changed the compression to broadcast. This sound make it sound clearer and have more professional sound quality.
I added music at the start and end, and tries to adjust the volume so it wasn't too loud compared to the rest of the audio.
The total duration is about 14 minutes 47 seconds.
8/12/2024:
Final product: I posted the podcast to Spotify using Spotify for Podcasters.
The podcast is available on my Podcast page of the website.
Reflection:
The project was an improvement from the first project of B1. I got an interview and I feel more confident with the work I have done. Researching professionals has taught me a lot about the industry and talking to Jemma Mccarthy has given me knowledge of how to work towards a career in media as a presenter. The interview was very insightful and I have made a new contact that I can use in the future. However I could have contacted more possible interviewees sooner instead of focusing on getting an interview with Zainab Jiwa, so that I didn't have to rush the post-production process and can improve the quality of my final product even more. Next time I should try to speed up my process.
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