Critical Reflection - Year Three Semester One

Critical Reflection WINOL – Year Three Semester One

Over the course of this semester, WINOL has continued to be a strong and engaging local news site, retaining the strengths of content and delivery that have served the site well over previous semesters, without necessarily extending itself.

One of the great strengths of this semester has been the continued high standards of content. Our weekly bulletin has been consistently strong, as the team have covered both important local stories and approached national stories from a local angle. There have also been a number of high profile guests, and important contacts made and maintained over the course of the semester, which stands future WINOL reporters in good stead. Matt Spencer’s work with the Police and Crime Commissioner and Hampshire Constabulary has produced a number of exclusive interviews and high quality packages, while also developing a good relationship with impressive contacts. Similarly, Nadine Forshaw’s ‘The Big Interview’ series has seen some high profile guests interviewed for WINOL, while in sport Liam Garrahan secured the biggest interview in the recent history of Sportsweek when he spoke to Matt Le Tissier. It is invaluable to WINOL reporters that the relationships with these contacts is maintained, as it will make it easier in the future to secure comments and interviews in short periods of time, which will allow stories to be turned around more quickly.

The creation of the weekly Access Winchester bulletin has also been a strong addition to the WINOL site, joining the WINOL bulletin and Sportsweek, leaving us with three major weekly bulletins. Access was a much needed addition, as it provides a platform for the features team to showcase their work, and can host stories that would not be suited to the main bulletin. It is of great importance that Access continues in the coming semester, and the content remains of a high standard, as this adds a valuable extra dimension to the site, and will keep people on the site who have come for news or sport.

Whilst WINOL has continued to produce high quality content, we have failed this semester to extend our audience, and have seen little progress from our position at the end of the previous semester. Our Alexa ranking of 30,063 (UK – 3/12/13) retains our position as the most viewed student publication in the country; however it is a small drop compared to our position in April. We are also a mere 53 places ahead of East London Lines, a comparable student run site. As well as this, our bulletin rarely exceeds 100 views, and sportsweek is still hitting roughly the same number of views as it was last semester. This failure to enlarge the market for the undoubtedly high quality content that is being produced is in part down to the fact that, as a news provider, we do not have a specific target audience. It may be worthwhile identifying a specific target audience and looking to engage that market, as this may facilitate increased viewing figures for both the site and the bulletin. It is also crucial that social media is used effectively to publicise WINOL, ensuring we are promoting ourselves at peak traffic periods and in the correct places, and drawing attention to the site rather than individual packages on YouTube.

There have also been some recurring problems around sound quality and framing of interviews over the course of this semester, and that is something that will need to be polished in order for the technical quality of each piece to match the editorial value.  Additionally, there is still a lack of high quality still images to accompany written stories, and it is imperative that all reporters are trained on the still cameras that we have access to, as this will improve the quality of pictures on the site, and will make the site more visually impressive.

 

On a personal note this semester has been something of a mixed bag. For the first few weeks I struggled for ideas for sports features and was unsure of my role. In this time I worked mostly on creating content for The Volt music magazine, doing a number of album reviews and recording a weekly podcast with Harry Parkhill. The podcast was a good tool for highlighting and discussing the content on The Volt, and I feel that continuing a weekly podcast specifically for The Volt could be useful in engaging a wider audience in that particular part of the site. I enjoyed working on this magazine, but I feel it could benefit from increased video content. In the future it may be beneficial to create a short video roundup each week of the content across The Volt, and look to interview more local musicians or artists performing in Winchester.

My first package of the semester was a gonzo style feature on American Football. I was mostly pleased with the finished article, particularly my opening piece to camera from outside Wembley stadium. I felt that this piece to camera gave the package a professional feel, and that I appeared confident and engaging on screen. I was disappointed with some of the footage of the action itself, but I still had a variety of good shots to use. There was also a problem with the lighting on one of the interviews I conducted, which was frustrating as it negatively impacted the overall appearance of the package. That said, I thought it was an interesting and entertaining package on the whole.

The following week I worked on a news package about a new type of radar system that had been developed at the University of Southampton. This package was not as successful as I had hoped as it was a difficult story to tell and I felt I struggled to confidently convey the story in the finished package. I had some good pictures and my interview yielded good quotes, however I struggled to construct it in such a way that it told the story successfully. As this was the only news package that I have made for WINOL, I believe that I partly struggled through a lack of practice and expertise when it comes to constructing news packages, but I also see it as a good learning experience for me, as it gave me greater understanding of the importance of constructing a package and collecting relevant shots.

My strongest package of the semester was my Ashes preview package, in which I interviewed the Team Manager of Hampshire County Cricket Club about the Ashes tour in Australia, and specifically the chances of Michael Carberry, the only Hampshire player involved in the England squad. I was pleased with this as it took a sporting event of great national interest and localised it by focusing on the Hampshire angle. I felt that I was engaging and asked strong questions, and as a result got some good answers from my interviewee. One weakness with this piece was my responses to the answers given, often making a throwaway remark, and I must work on using the answer to move into the next question, rather than having a separate response before asking the next question, as this will allow the conversation to flow more naturally. There were also some problems with the sound, as the gun mics needed to be closer to myself and my interviewee, as our voices were at times overpowered by wind noise, which was disappointing, as the shots were strong, as was the interview.

I also presented both Sportsweek and the main WINOL bulletin over the course of this semester, and I feel that this was my best work. Presenting Sportsweek is something I have a good deal of practice at now, and I feel that I am a natural and relaxed presence on screen in this context.

The main bulletin was more of a challenge due to the ‘as live’ nature of recording, which created a more pressurised atmosphere. I believe that I handled this pressure well, and was an assured presenter, particularly as we experienced problems with the autocue that forced me to read one of the links from the script. I think that I continued the bulletin naturally despite this setback, and received praise for my handling of the situation. There was also an oov belt and a ‘coming up’ in which the pictures were a little short, however I matched my pace to the pictures well and it fitted nicely. Overall I was pleased with my presenting of the bulletin, however I felt watching it back that I could afford to be a little less static, and could have been more expressive both physically and vocally.

Over the course of this semester my ability with both still and video cameras has seen an improvement. I received training on the still cameras and took photos at a football match early in the semester, which looked good and were arguably the best still images on sport this semester. I also got a lot of practice with video cameras when working on my radar package, as well as assisting others with their pieces, and I benefited from practicing my use of the camera in a different context to my usual sports filming.

Overall, WINOL this semester has been a qualified success. The content of the site has remained engaging editorially, and on the whole the technical side of things has been executed successfully. The news side has consistently produced a high quality bulletin, and the stature of guests has seen an increase in certain areas, with a number of good contacts made that must be retained in the future. Access Winchester has improved features by providing a platform and putting features under more scrutiny, which has seen some impressive packages put together, and the Access team have truly managed to gain access to some impressive events to provide coverage. It is imperative that Access Winchester is continued, and that the good foundations of this semester are built upon. Sport has not particularly improved, though having multi camera coverage of each football match has boosted the quality of match footage. It would be beneficial if Sportsweek could have one feature and one news story per week in the forthcoming semester, along with match highlights, so as to provide some diversity.

One disappointment has been the lack of a WINOL special this semester, as they often host some of the best work of the semester, and are a great demonstration of what the team is capable of. The upcoming European election special will provide a great opportunity for the team to excel themselves, and experience the pressure of an extended live broadcast.

The structure of the WINOL bulletin and website are now firmly established, and with a diverse range of features magazines across the site, there is a firm foundation to be built upon in the future. There is scope now to improve the technical quality of each package and continue to aim for higher calibre guests and stories, across news, sports and features.