Winol - 11th May

We planned every part of our day out this week, right down to the minute but again, a lot went wrong. The day started off with a very simple line up of link, VT, link, VT, link, OOV etc but at about 2.30 (30 minutes before we go live) we had so many changes I lost count.

This week Charlotte, myself and Aimee told everyone we would like your head line clips ready to upload at 12.10 and packages ready to upload at 1.00. Everyone managed to do this except Andy. For both deadlines he was alte making us alte in recording the headline clips. He then asked for a 20 minute extension on his package and even then he added to that; meaning we finally collected his package at 1.40. We finally got all the packages uploaded and started rehersals where Andys package would not play so I had to re-save that three times, then there was a legal problem so it had to be taken off and at about 2.57 I finally got the package back to put on to the system. Alas, I did not check this version and when we came to play it in the bulletin, it did not work. We had to apologise for this and it was missed out of the bulletin. I had to put it back in in editing.

We also came up witha breaking news story which then had to have pictures put in and a script written and rehearsed in about 20 minutes.

We also had a problem with two people putting straps in the middle of the page. After changing one we could not change the other so they both had to be put back on the VT system without the correct place for the straps.

The running order was changed last minute too due to the script writer putting two OOVS together and then the handover which we would not be able to do. Geoff gave us the idea to switch the running order and this worked with Becky Grey's help too.

This was all happening in the Studio where we had two men from BJTC, Angus, Chris, Brian and Geoff Hill from CNN. Justina also had a problem with another OOV that we did not have much time in practicing. So overall another bad week due to content being changed a lot. I understand that this probably happens in broadcast a lot but I think that we did not actually need the breaking news. It happened on the Isle of Wight which is not for our target audience, there was no body found and we said in the bulletin that we would keep the viewer updated on our website but we have no story on the website for them to look for more information.

This week I think I found out why the voice sync was wrong in our last couple of bulletins. When we record the french and polish bulletin, editing is fine and the sound and vision is synced but when I put the ustream on the VT computer it puts the sound out of sync. So this week we put the ustream on Brians computer and the sound and vision were synced perfectly. I found and corrected this problem by myself, which makes me very proud instead of running to a technician. So snaps for me.

When I started editing and after putting Andys package back in I noticed that because of the technical problem and because of changing the running order we had no link between Andys package and the Emily OOV. This made it look like one long package so for the first time that I have been Production Editor we had to go back in to the studio to record a link. Kieran Brannigan, the presenter also wanted to re-record the beginning because he had fluffed a couple of his lines due to all the complications in rehearsals. This added to editing time and again the bulletin was not uploaded until 6.30. Next week our primary goal is to have the bulletin on WINOL at 4pm sharp.

Lastly, the talk back was not working due to technical problems that could not be fixed so I would like this to work next week too. It meant that we were still running back and forth to Tab9 instead of jsut being on a headset.

This week we wanted to keep production simple so that everything would go to plan and work properly but decisions were made to complicate a lot at the last minute; confusing the director, sound, vision mixer, VT person and the presenter.

Next week I hope that all the Editors are a lot stricter with deadlines. I have also been shown by Paul Carter a way in which we can drop packages in to a folder that will appear on the studio computer. This means that we will not have use hard drives and keep running back and forth.

My Role: Sub Editor

This semester I am one of four sub editors for Winol. This includes making sure that reporters articles have the following: Correct punctuation, it makes sense when read, no defamation or legal problems and a video or picture. I also help with the maintenance of the Winol website and make sure that it looks perfect.

When I first started there were lots of rules to follow and editing a simple article took about half an hour. 10 weeks on however and as long as the article has a picture/video with no legal problems can take about 15 minutes. The main rules I look for throughout is that the punctuation is correct, any names or places are spelt correctly, the picture is 100 by 75 and does not bleed in to the text, that the top line is punchy, not too long and in bold. This is the beginning to editing an article. Sounds simple but when the rules of the punctuation come about it makes it a lot harder. Below is a sample of our house style, little points that should be taken care with, within each article that I sub; these come up most often.

- With quotes if you are taking a snippet of what someone is saying do not put the full stop before the end quote, put it after. However if you are taking the whole quote and it finishes at the end, you put the full stop before the end quote.

For example, Alice said, "eat the apple".

Alice said, "eat the apple, then put it in the bin please."

The first example is a snippet of the quote and therefore she has not finished speaking so the full stop is on the outside of the quotation marks.

- Unless it is speech and is in quotes then words should not be shortened. For example: it's = it is, don't =do not, wont = will not etc.

- If you have : you need to start the next word with a capital. For example, the skirts she wanted were: Green, yellow, pink and orange. If you use ; you can just carry on with the sentence.

I thought that being a sub editor would be really good and easy. I know how to spell and it is a pet hate of mine when something is written and does not make sense or when the punctuation is incorrect. I did not realise there would be so many rules to follow and how easy it is to let an article slip on to the Internet that could be wrong, defamatory or with one simple fact that has one word wrong; completely changing the sentence meaning. I have, however, come to really enjoy editing and even the rules are starting to stick, I remember them and spot them a lot quicker than I first did.

In order to get the pictures and videos on to the article I have even learnt some basic html codes and can now organise the look of the article in the html section, when before, it looked like an alien language. Sometimes it is confusing, annoying and just damn right irritating but getting a hold on it now means that I can make the articles look good by myself. It means that I now have a skill that I can share with other people.

In the first few weeks it felt like I was never going to get the editing correct, the picture the right size, the 'read more' sign in the right place, the html code correct but I am very happy to say that I am now 100% confident with my editing. I also think that it may be a different path in to Journalism I take. I love writing and would love to one day be writing articles that are read by thousands each month but if sub editing offers me a different route in to my chosen career I am very glad that I have been able to experience and learn this part of the job. It also opens up for me editing books, not exactly the career I have studied for but none the less, a job that does now appeal to me. Learning it now saves me from screwing up in the real world. Where letting an article on to the Internet that has any legal problems does not get me sued.

Critical Evaluation of Winol, 27th October

After three weeks working as a sub editor and working on production for Winol, I have decided that it is time for me to evaluate the work we have done. Now that I know the work that needs to go in to the weekly bulletin, the different sections coming together and how the bulletin can look, I feel I can now have valuable input.

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to write for features on a magazine. This was all I thought I would ever want to do but after working on production for four bulletins I have found another facet of journalism that I like to work on. It may be the fact that the craziness is happening around me and that the jobs I do, I feel, won't mess the bulletin up too much, or it may be the buzz around the room and the studio doing rehearsals and going live; but I really enjoy production. I enjoy watching the different sections come together to create a bulletin, I really like being a part of it and I love the feeling when the bulletin is done, recorded and ready to be uploaded. It is a sort of "phew, it's done and I didn't mess it up" kind of feeling.

Now that I know what has to be done and I am starting to understand why we include some items and why we do not include other, why we do it in one order etc. I feel my contribution can now be correct and that I am not criticising a point that has been done correctly.

To begin with I'll start with the negatives as you will finish reading my piece happy. There were a few black holes again. This can easily be fixed with the packages being left to run a couple seconds more to allow the mixer to click back without a black hole. A simple problem but we should not be having them in our fourth week now.

The audio levels in some packages were not correct. Again this is something we should not be doing in our fourth week but can easily happen. We just need to take more care when setting up the camera for an interview that we check the audio levels.

In Stuart Appleby's piece there was a shot of the pavement with puddles. It lasted for about eight seconds and juse made me a little bored. It did not go with the story at all and even though writing came after it and it was used for a background I believe there could have been better backgrounds used.

In the same package, it opened with a guilty building. I believe it was hard to get many shots because of the nature of the story but it was another guilty building.

Lastly, Jake Gable, the news presenter was situated in the middle of the screen. I would prefer him to be sat slightly to the right. Meaning that his head didn't interrupt the title, "Winol News," but that Jakes head was right next to the letter, 's'. I know that this may not be popular and that it would leave open space to the left but I just prefer it that way.

Now, the good news. I think that it was nice to have two new presenters and I think that Karen Purnell and Jake Gable did really well. In Stuart Appleby's piece he did some really good sequences of the woman he was interviewing. This was better than more guilty buildings.

I also really liked the interview of Joey Lipscombe in the news room. It was different and allowed a story to be shown without making a package of it.

Lastly, I love the feature at the end. We did it last week and again this week and it leaves the viewer with a bit of colour. It also advertises the Winol website where the viewer can see the full feature and re-view the bulletin again. If these wern't included in the bulletin, the viewer may not know about them and only view the bulletin.

Below is a link to watch the bulletin for yourself, enjoy.

http://www.winol.co.uk/