Working in the Media Placement Report

Placement Report - Brandon Boyd (N0703554)
09/05/2019
Creative Journalist/Video & Podcast Content
Producer/Editor (Simbrix)
- Managed by Assim Ishaque
Camera Operator (Dancing England 2019)
- Managed by Kev Theaker
0

SOCT20807: Working with the Media
Contents Page
Summary………………………………………………………………………………………...….2
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...……3
Main Body……………………………………………………………………………………...…...4
-Academic Learning……………………………………………………….……...………...….4
-Personal Learning……………………………………………………….……...………....…..5
-Career Management………………………………………………….……...……………......6
-Work Culture………………………………………………….……...…………………....…...7
-Interpersonal Skills…………………………………………………………………...………..8
-General Skills………………………………………………………………………...…….......9
-Specialist Skills……………………………………………………………………………...…9
-Personal Impact……………………………………………………………………………….10
Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………...11
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………...12
Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………....13
Brandon Boyd - N0703554
1

Summary
In this report, I am going to include information about the two placements I completed
as part of my ‘Working with the Media’ module. The purpose of having a placement
report after completing any form of work experience/placement work is important,
because you can reflect on the positives and negatives of the organisation. This further
allows you to work out which specific tasks you did and didn’t enjoy, and also the
working environment you want to join in the future; whether it be a bigger or smaller
team of people, in the city or a quiet town for example. In the placement report it is also
good to list any aims that you had before the placement, strengths and weaknesses you
found out about yourself during the placement, and then be able to reflect on those after
your placement and make changes effectively.
For my placement at the Nottingham Playhouse, the venue that hosted the ‘Dancing
England’ festival. This placement was suggested to me by one of the media lecturers as
they knew I was interested in video and camera work. Myself and Ben had from
morning till night to plan out camera angles, equipment, lighting and get as much
content as possible for a promotional video. We also had cameras set up in different
areas of the venue; one person on the balcony upstairs, one person on the stage in
charge of close up shots, and Kev who was in a booth at the back of the venue. In
comparison to this, my placement at Simbrix tested my ability to work quickly and
effectively, whilst also allowing me to be creative. I found this particular placement on
NTU’s InPlace site where they share a variety of different opportunities. My main tasks
included editing podcasts, helping come up with creative concepts for videos, writing
blog posts and checking the social media accounts to engage with the followers.
My main outcomes for the placements were to just gain knowledge and insight from
people already in the working environment. Having grown in confidence in the last year
had made it a lot easier for me to talk to new people without getting nervous, so I think
one of the main outcomes was just to get my name out there a bit more, and make
connections with other creative minded people. Another outcome was to rule out
particular roles and tasks that I didn’t enjoy, so that I could pick a more specific job route
for the future, as opposed to saying ‘I want to work in the media industry’ and not know
any specifics.
2

Introduction
Currently, I am a second year media student at Nottingham Trent University and I
picked the practical pathway for my second and third year modules. In ‘Working with the
Media’, one of the core modules, we had to complete a minimum of 37.5 hours of work
experience. At the beginning of the module and throughout the weeks, we were tasked
with various exercises and activities which would help with our employment choices in
the future, but also the best ways we could go about searching for places to complete
our work experiences at. Initially, I wanted to help out with the Lawn Tennis Association
(LTA) as a videographer or photographer, as I used to play tennis myself, and thought it
would be interesting having more of a creative role, capturing a sport I love to play.
Several emails went backwards and forwards with the association, but they wouldn’t
have needed any support until May 2019, which was around the time that the placement
report was due, so I thought I’d look elsewhere.
Before starting this module, I had already been very proactive and started looking for
little one off media jobs that included photography, videography, interviews and public
speaking, as I wanted to have a competitive advantage amongst those in my class.
Unfortunately a lot of the opportunities had already closed because they reached the
number of applicants, and therefore closed the applications for any new students. I have
also had a lot of inspiration from close friends and mutuals who are already succeeding
in multiple parts of the media industry, whether it be as a singer/songwriter, YouTube
video content creator, public speaker or small business owner. It made me want to
branch out as many of my personal skills and traits as possible, to make myself as
employable as possible in the near future.
After weeks of searching, I decided to send in an application to Simbrix LTD, a toy
company based in Nottingham. I applied via the website and just explained that I was a
student, proactive and actively seeking somewhere to work and meet other creative
people, willing to work hard.
The placement report will be written so that I can analyse what has gone well in this
process, and for next time, what things I could change. I hope that this report gives you
a clearer understanding on my two main placement roles and how they have given me a
boost to become more career ready and given me the motivation and determination to
take part in as many more projects as physically possible.
3

Main Body:
Academic Learning
The company that I chose to complete my work experience at, needed someone with a
more creative approach to working, rather than someone academic based. In some of
my previous projects at University, including ‘I Am A Camera’ from first year, ‘VOX
Pops’ from the Creative Documentary module and the ‘Audio Visual’ from Script to
Screen, I have already gained a lot of knowledge and information which would set me
up for my placement at Simbrix. I was also already taught how to use Adobe Premiere
Pro and Adobe Photoshop; video and photo editing softwares, as well as how to use
DSLR cameras and lighting equipment, if we needed to film any interviews.
The placement did give me the chance to work on a variety of tasks; usually in a short
timeframe, and it helped me to understand what a real working company has to do on a
day-to-day basis. I don’t think the placement has enhanced my academic knowledge as
such, because I only utilised some of my skills that I had previously developed
beforehand, and was only given very basic tasks. For the future, I feel that having this
work experience on my CV will give me a competitive edge amongst other students,
because although I didn’t necessarily learn anything new, both of the people that I
worked with in the office were incredibly enthusiastic, and it’s good to work in new
environments with new people, otherwise you’re only going to hold yourself and your
skills back, which could be used in more productive ways.
Keavy and me (Simbrix Ltd) Ben and me (Dance England)
4

Personal Learning
Before both placements, I didn’t really have much experience in a working environment,
but I had attained and improved a lot of my creative skills from secondary school
through to university. Whilst on my placement at Simbrix, I learnt that I was good at
time-keeping and came to the office 10 minutes before I was supposed to start my work,
so that I could plan out what I wanted to achieve by the end of each hour. I also realised
that I was good at listening to people giving me constructive criticism on my work. When
I was at school, and even during first year of university, I would have people tell me that
my work was bad, or that they didn’t like specific aspects, but people wouldn’t tell me
how I could improve it. Whilst I was at Simbrix, I was given short but effective changes
to videos or podcasts I’d edited, in order to make the sound clearer or the video
sharper. One main example was with the first video that we filmed on my first day of
working in the office. We were filming a promotional video for the ‘#SimbrixGiveAGift’
campaign at Christmas time, where free gift boxes were to be sent out to vulnerable
young children, and I was tasked to film Assim reading out some of the young children
that had been nominated by family, friends or mutuals.
At first, it was difficult to set-up the camera onto the tripod because there were lots of
people watching me, and although I was confident with the creative aspect of filming,
having to set up alone was very nerve wracking. Once we sorted the equipment out, I
had to be weary of the weather conditions as well, and only received a little bit of
assistance from Jarrid, my co worker. Just from this simple situation, I realised that I
would easily be able to adapt to any future jobs in the media industry as I had the
motivation to succeed, and continue to do so now. After finishing the video project,
editing it altogether and showing it to both Jarrid and Assim, it was ready to be posted
on social media and promoted to the public. It gave me the courage and determination
to continue working hard on projects as I knew I was capable of achieving good results.
5

Career Management
Having completed both my placements; one at Simbrix and the other at the Dancing
England festival, I have proven to myself that I am capable of working to deadlines
without having to be in a group or around people I know. I was able to make decisions
quickly on the spot and the outcome was mostly successful. Both placements were
media related in the fact that they both involved an aspect of creative media, the
industry that I definitely want to go into in the future. Simbrix was more about the video
and podcast editing whereas the main focus of the Dancing England placement was
specifically videography, and being able to work under pressure at a live event.
Before starting either of my placements, one goal that I had was to ensure that I
obviously enjoyed the placement and got the most out of it, but I also wanted to
motivate myself to work hard for myself. Being a university student, there is a lot of
competition between all the students, especially those who are studying the same
course as myself, so it’s been important to try and throw myself into new situations and
projects to advance myself further than my classmates. I believe that all of the extra
curricular projects, placements and work that I have been partaking in, will definitely
help me secure a job in the future, and it is helping me to improve the skills that I have
previously attained, therefore allowing me to use them in real life working environments.
6

Work Culture
Simbrix had quite a relaxed working environment with a small team of people. We were
also allowed to wear casual clothing, listen to music, take breaks as and when we
needed to and chat amongst ourselves. I felt like this was a big positive from having
worked there because it meant that I felt more comfortable working and didn’t feel like I
was having to stick to a formal dress code or set of rules. When I first applied, I thought
that I wasn’t going to get the role because of the limited experience I had and that there
would be more suitable candidates with higher qualifications/knowledge of the
professional media industry. It turns out that they were only recruiting one person for the
role I applied for, and that even though I didn’t have as much experience as he wanted,
the fact that I showed good initiative, was able to communicate effectively and had
worked on the personal development of my brand independently swayed his decision.
He offered me the placement role and it helped me to put ‘one foot in the door’, as long
as I promised to do the same for someone else in the future.
One thing that working at Simbrix has taught me, is that I would like to eventually be
able to work for myself as a freelance photographer/videographer/video editor or
presenter and that I wouldn’t want to necessarily have a ‘boss’. The reason for this is
that my mind works a lot more creatively than some other students I have met on my
university journey so far, and I would be able to project my own ideas into final products
if I was to plan and execute them myself. One thing about me is that I’m always thinking
ahead about any upcoming projects before I’ve even finished the previous ones This
shows that I am dedicated to working in this side of the media industry and that I am
more than capable of working alone, with guidance and support when I need it.
With the one day placement for the Dancing England event, I was left to my own
scheduling and was given a basic brief which was just to film as much content as
possible, using the angles that we thought were right. One of the points that was
mentioned in my individual report from Kev was that I took the initiative in certain
circumstances, asked a lot of sensible questions and put forward good suggestions and
new ideas. I haven’t always been as vocal as I am now, but again, having received a
comment like that has made me confident and spurred me to keep working hard and
asking the right questions to get the best out of each project or work placement I take
part in.
7

Interpersonal Skills
Simbrix has helped me to increase my range of interpersonal skills as I was quite
indecisive and lacked confidence at the beginning. After completing several days of the
placement, I was able to share some of my own ideas and thoughts about some of the
projects we were working on, as well as having full confidence in those ideas to ensure
that I was being listened to and changes were being made. I would describe myself as
being an introverted extrovert, meaning that depending on the situation I’m in and who
I’m around, I will either be very shy or very confident. One thing that the placement did
lack, was accurate advice on how to make projects better. When Assim was working in
the office and I was editing a video, he would rarely come over and check up on me,
until I spoke to him and asked him specifically what he wanted from the video. We had a
lot of discussions surrounding what his concept for the final outcome of the video would
be, but also what was actually possible to create in such a short timeframe. I was
challenged quite a lot to come up with different ideas and I wrote notes on my phone so
that I could think about changes I would make to the projects the next time I came into
the office. Reflecting on this situation having completed the work placement, I feel that if
I was to get a job in the professional media industry and this situation occurred again,
having the lack of support I need, I would obviously speak up and ask what changes I
should make to a particular project, but also decide whether that’s the company I want
to spend my life working at, or whether it would be more beneficial for me to work
somewhere else or for myself.
When I first started in the office I had never created or edited a podcast before, so I had
to learn the software from Jarrid. This ensured that my communication skills were on
form so that I could explain what I needed help with and was able to continue working
on other projects. After completing the placement, I began doing some researching into
other podcasts and decided to be proactive and start a podcast of my own, asking
guests to come on and speak openly about particular projects; to give myself more
editing experience with the programme I was taught how to use.
8

General Skills
The placements have helped me to increase a mix of both my general and specialist
skills that would be beneficial to my future career development. One of the main skills
that I managed to improve was my time management in a real life working environment
and was confidently able to manage my time effectively whilst completing a variety of
tasks. For example, when editing some of the podcasts that Assim recorded when he
went to China, I gave myself 15-30 minutes to listen to each of the podcasts (depending
on how long they were) and made specific notes on what was mentioned, so that I could
work out what information was important and what could be cut.
Another skill that I developed was my ability to self manage. For my placement at
Simbrix, I made a physical list of tasks that I had been set, and gave myself a personal
deadline for when I would complete each individual task. This was because each of the
deadlines were quite far apart and I had some time to work out what I could complete in
a single 9am-5pm working day. In comparison, the placement opportunity I did for
Dancing England made me think more critically under pressure, and as the event was
being filmed live, I had to made more strategic decisions. I wasn’t able to make any
physical notes to help myself with the filming, but I mentally made notes of the key
points to focus on with the performances and how I could get the best content.
Specialist Skills
In relation to more specialist skills, I have increased my knowledge around audio editing
by using software called Audacity, which I had heard of but never actually used until my
placement at Simbrix. Audio editing is a good skill to have, and as I hope to eventually
go into the creative media industry, there are a lot of placements and opportunities that
will highly focus around video and photography, there are be others that primarily focus
on audio and sound editing. This is a skill that I have wanted to develop for quite a long
time, and although I haven’t got much experience with it, I feel like I have learnt quite a
lot from just a few tutorials about it.
Another hard skill that I have continued to improve and develop was my ability to edit
videos effectively. Before completing either of my placements I was confident with video
editing, but would only be comfortable using Movie Maker or iMovie, and had little
confidence with more professional software such as Adobe Premiere Pro.
9

Personal Impact
From completing the Dancing England and Simbrix placements, I believe that I have
added value to both projects. With Simbrix initially, they had a very limited audience of
who would see their content and they were very inactive with posting on social media.
One of the roles that I was able to take on including being able to control the Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube accounts to ensure that the projects we were working on were
being seen by a wider audience. I took it upon myself to follow children’s charities and
toy companies as these were the main demographic audience for this company. When
tweeting out the blog posts, videos or the website, I would include some of the
companies and individual colleagues from those specific workplaces, to ensure that it
was being seen by them, helping Simbrix get more exposure. I also managed to add
value with the actual content that was being produced. When I initially came to the
office, they had lots of video tutorials for how to use Simbrix, but they were very limited
with podcasts which they would upload to SoundCloud, and blog posts which would be
uploaded to their website. In the time that I was at the office, I was able to edit another
6-7 podcasts and 2 blog posts which they were able to publish on-to their website,
helping to increase the amount of content they have.
Along with this, I also helped with getting some photography shots of the Simbrix toys
so that they could be used in any future video projects for when I’m no longer working in
the office. As there is only a small team in the office, it would make it a lot easier to have
a separate folder for ‘Archived Images’ for as and when they need to upload a blog post
or create a thumbnail for one of their YouTube videos.
With my Dancing England placement, I feel like I was adding value as I was fully in
control of one of the cameras, and given the responsibility to get as much good quality
content as possible. If I wasn’t at the shoot, they would have been one cameraman
down, and they would have missed out on the opportunity to have a third alternative
angle to get shots. As well as this, I think the fact that I was proactive and able to
complete tasks without having to ask too many questions during the shooting, made it
easier for my supervisor Kev to work on getting his shots, and finalising other details
relating to the event, rather than having to worry about what me and my work partner
Ben were getting up-to.
10

Conclusions
To finish up my report, I want to say that both my placements at Dancing England and
Simbrix were both great experiences for me. I was able to meet and network with a wide
range of people who could potentially be good contacts for when I’m looking for work in
the future, if I decide to stay up in Nottingham. I was also able to share my knowledge
as a younger person, especially with the social media aspect, as people from different
generations wouldn’t necessarily be able to adapt to the modern methods/processes
with social media. Having being involved in multiple placements (others as well that I
haven’t included in this placement report), I believe I have been given a true insight to
the real life working world and the sorts of rewards and challenges that I could come
across once in a full time job.
Looking back on the blog posts I created, podcasts I edited and videos I produced, it’s
great to see that my hard work has paid off and that the work is being used as exemplar
work to the future interns who decide to work at Simbrix or work for Kev Theaker on any
other camera operating projects. Kev also said that if there are any other
video/photography related projects that he needs help on, that he will contact me
immediately which is a massive confidence boost. I have enhanced all of the skills that I
had before starting my placement, but I am even more confident in myself and have a
passion for videography, photography and editing a lot more than I did before, as I had
quite a lot of knowledge before actually starting the placements, and only needed minor
assistance here and there. I believe that both of these placements will be good
achievements to have on my CV, online portfolio and LinkedIn, helping to give me that
competitive advantage to other media students aiming for the same jobs in the industry.
11

Recommendations
1- Posting more regularly about any my work placements, projects and work
experiences that I take part in. I think this would be a good way to connect with other
like minded people who want to go into the same/similar industries as myself and also
allowing me to grow on a variety of platforms, advocating to different audiences.
2- Applying for more of a variety of roles rather than just as video
operator/photographer. I could explore other opportunities or work placements including
modelling, presenting, public speaking, drama etc - other passions that I have and see
what different roles are around.
3- Connect with more students (media or not media based) and professionals on
LinkedIn. It’s a great website to meet new people and I’ve already been offered
placement opportunities and job roles for after I graduate from University. Building up
rapport and strong connections on there will definitely help with my future career.
(Connecting with people that are interested in graphic design, videograpy, photography,
post production editing, YouTubers, presenters, DJ’s etc).
4-Increase confidence by working more independently on tasks. I enjoy working in a
group, but sometimes ideas get miscommunicated, and visions that I have for a
particular project might not be the same visions and someone else, so if I work alone on
tasks, I can be 100% sure that the project will be exactly how I want it - I can think about
all the details myself and ask for any assistance if I need to.
12

Appendices
Appendix 1- Diary of Work Experience (Simbrix LTD)
This was a list of the dates that I went into the Simbrix office, and a brief outline of the
tasks that I completed on that day. I didn’t have an attendance log for Dancing England
as it was only a one day shoot and as it was a live event we didn’t have time to make
notes on what we were actually doing.
13

Appendix 2- LinkedIn Recommendation (Assim Ishaque, Simbrix)
14

Appendix 3- Placement Reference Form (Kev Theaker, Dancing England)
15

Other Appendices (for Simbrix LTD)
Background Information:
Simbrix is a small toy company located in Nottingham, on the way to the University of
Nottingham, The Nottingham Cleantech Centre; 63-67 St Peter’s Street, NG7 3EN.
Assim decided to start the company as he wanted a new type of toy for his children to
play with that didn’t require you to have to keep buying new beads. The product can be
found on multiple websites and platforms such as Amazon and is also sold to
independent retailers, schools and businesses across the UK and also worldwide.
Website:
www.simbrix.com
Work Produced:
A video project for the #SimbrixGiveAGift campaign - featured
on my YouTube channel and also the Simbrix website
A blog post about Sean Brass, leader of innovative teaching in Edmonton, Alberta
16

17

Images taken
during my
placement at
Simbrix (mid
editing a video
and an image
used for one of
the projects -
characters from
‘The Simpsons’.
18

Setting up the Initial Placement Opportunity: (for Simbrix LTD)
19

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