Throughout the past 2 years I have been on multiple trips and have been on placement which has enabled me to meet already established individuals in the media industry and gain experience working in a media environment.
I've been on numerous trips to the University of Sunderland. In each of these trips we've used the media studio and taken part in recording our very own production (ranging from a quiz where we battled in teams, a fictional sports report and an interview with a former professional footballer called Danny Collins). Not only have we gained experience using industry style equipment we've also been able to talk to students and lecturers at the uni gaining some great insight onto how university is and what working in a professional production is like. I thoroughly enjoyed each of these trips as university has been something I am going to do in the future and having these experiences has made me a lot more confident and excited for September, in these visits I used the camera, and the teleprompter in multiple recordings and the more I did it the more I felt I could hold myself in a production. This experience also made me realise that I want to attend this university, and I don't think I would've been so certain had I not been on these trips, I was always eager to visit. I also went on a trip to Teeside University in Middlesbrough which we had a talk from two journalists, one was from LadBible and the other was freelance, despite journalism not being a subject that intrigues me as much as film it was still an informative talk, showing just how the industry works and just how much hard work is needed to make it into the industry. The trip to Teeside gave me an insight into what student life is like, it was great walking around campus realising that university is not just an educational institution but a social experience which is another factor that motivated me to pursue further education. Finally, I did a placement at the Sunderland AFC fanzine A Love Supreme (ALS) which is the biggest unofficial magazine for the football club, I met the owner who told me about his career in the music industry as well as publishing, he told me about his connection to musical acts. They showed me around their offices where they make merchandise for the company (such as shirts and badges) which showed just how much work goes into a media related business and it was an experience for me, speaking of merchandise I made badges for the fanzine and another business located in the same area, most specifically I made badges for a well known band in Newcastle. Not only did I help on the merchandising side of things I had access to their social medias, I would make posts about the club giving the fans a platform to be able to freely talk about matters relating to the team. I would also mail products to people who'd bought them. it ultimately showed me just how much work goes into a business and made me realise that if I was to own my own media company it'd take a lot of work to make it successful
