Face to Face scheme update

You may remember a few months ago that some of the UNITY volunteers attended a scheme run by the BBC called Face 2 Face. The scheme gave each volunteer the chance to work alongside media professionals and develop their technical skills. We caught up with one of our volunteers, Romayne Graham, to find out more about his experience at the BBC and how this has lead to new opportunities for a career in the industry.

"When Face 2 Face started we split up into three small groups. They wanted us to make a short film, which raised a question “Is the BBC for me?”. The catch was that we only had three days to do it. That gave us one day to come up with an idea and develop it with the intention of shooting it on the following day. We only had the third day to cut it together. It was an intense three days but it was definitely a good experience because we had the whole BBC at our disposal.

After making our short films we were able to attend professional workshops at the BBC once a week for 3 months. To my surprise mid-way through the workshops we were told that three paid work placements would be up at the end of the scheme.

I was one of the lucky three to gain a placement. I would be a Entry Level Runner for three months with pay. Not only that but I would work across the three main departments of BBC Bristol. Which meant working on Points West, post-production and NHU (natural history unit).

I have been working on Points West for the last two weeks and my first impressions are good. I have shown that I have a technical interest so I have been learning how to control the Hub, which is PointsWest super computer.

Reporters give me tapes and I record them onto the server. Once they are on the sever they’re routed to Points West editing suites where the reporters cut together their own martial. This is also where live broadcasts are streamed to the Points West studio.

I have also been fortunate to go out with a reporter by the name of John Maguire and I have helped set up the Points West studio for broadcast.

With the time I have left in the newsroom I hope to learn about vision-mixing. The idea of cutting together a show live on air really excites to me.

I see this work placement as a huge opportunity develop my skills as a media practitioner. Hopefully the skills I learn whilst at the BBC will help me to gain other job opportunities in the media industry." Romayne, 24

We're really proud of what Romayne has achieved and look forward to seeing how his career develops in the future. You can see pictures from the scheme on our Flickr site.

Why I Respect : The finished film!

 

This has been a really special project for us and our thanks go to our fabulous peer educators Oneil and Shagia who’ve supported every session and were fantastic with all the young people. We’d also like to thank Charlie Mee and Andy Gove from Fairfield school for being so supportive and helping us make the project possible, we’d really like to work with the school again in the future.

Our thanks also go out to BBC Bristol and editor Richard Lanciault for providing such excellent technical support and enthusiasm. Last but by no means least we’d like to thank the Fairfield Students themselves for bringing such creativity, humour and flair to the project. We loved working with everyone and the commitment and entertainment they brought to the project was brilliant. They’re an awesome bunch and we hope to work with them again in the future.

"As a school, we couldn't have asked for more from the Bread Youth Project in terms of the professionalism, the enthusiasm and the imagination you demonstrated in the way you managed the whole project, and in the way you worked with our students. The sessions were thoughtfully and creatively put together, with care and attention to detail, and the diverse group of young people were engaged and motivated throughout the six weeks of the project. Add to this the inspiring choice of volunteer facilitators and organisations who Bread arranged for us to work with (including the chance to work with experienced film-makers and to edit at the BBC) and Fairfield would have absolutely no hesitation in working with Bread again, or in recommending other schools to do so."

Charlie Mee, Extended School Co-ordinator, Fairfield High School, Bristol

Clash of the Titans!

See the party leaders go head to head in the first televised political debate tomorrow night on ITV1. You can follow the action online with lots of interactive features on the ITV website.

Don't miss out on the action and your chance to hear what the politicians have to say straight from the horse's mouth.

Make sure your voice is heard this election

The UK general election is being held on 6 May 2010 and if you aren't registered your voice can't be heard.

You can follow all the election action on the BBC website, hear what the politicians are saying to earn your vote and read their manifestos online.

Make sure you register by 20 April 2010 if you want to vote in this election. Go to aboutmyvote and register now!

Top links  for first time voters:
How to vote:
The BBC news website it great for info on what to do, where to go and how to vote.

Radio 1: Newsbeat
The Newsbeat site has lots of videos, debate from young people and simple overviews of the events and policies and how they will affect you.

The Parties
Check the BBC page for some of the sites of the political parties contesting seats across the UK in the 2010 general election. 

Who to vote for?
Votematch is a great site for helping to work out your voting preference. By answering a few questions on different issues it will give you a rough idea of which party you are best suited to.

UK Youth Parliament have asked lots of party leaders to send them a statement explaining why young people should vote for them. Head over to their site and click onto the party logos to hear what the leaders have to say.

Channel 4 Fact Check
Fact Check goes behind the spin to separate the political fact from fiction.

BBC Interactive Guide
A very handy site that allows you to directly compare each parties policies on a whole range of issues with just a couple of clicks.

Democracy UK
Democracy UK is Facebook's page to bring people and politics together.

Join in the Facebook / Youtube digital debate

We believe your views matter so don't be a bystander, get involved and make a difference to your community and your country.