Share a Story 2013 Final Judging Day!
Some pictures from the last day of Share a Story judging, when we decided on our eight winners for this year.
An insight into Promo Making!
When I’m asked to make a promo, after brainstorming ideas and writing a script, I log programme clips. What this means is I watch episodes of a show, and - using Media Log - make a note of sequences to use in the prom. These clips are digitised and then go into edit, where we chuck ‘em around a bit and make a prom.
It can be… time consuming. It’s often hard to find exactly the right sort of moment. Or the right line of dialogue. And kids’ shows are often very heavily mixed - there’s strong music or effects behind the dialogue. This is where good editors - and we have good editors, thankfully - come in handy.
Anyway, as an insight into the promo-making-process, I present, unedited, logs from four different shows. This was a compilation promo I made, with different clips from different shows. These photos show the sorts of clips I look for, generally, when making a CITV promo. And also the sort of whimsical humour I employ when labelling clips. Hey, anything to make the editor’s job more enjoyable.
The programmes in question are Horrid Henry, Almost Naked Animals, My Phone Genie, and Fleabag Monkeyface, a lineup which represents some of our heaviest-hitters.
CITV meets The Aquabats! Brilliant shoot at the weekend with some terrific kids and the wonderful, generous, hilarious Aquabats. Thanks to everyone, including the staff at The Cockpit in Leeds! Will hopefully have some more to say about this later.
Hurry up and enter Share a Story!
Time is running out for Share a Story 2013!
The competition, which is all kinds of fantastic, closes this week. You need to get your entries in to us (well, technically to the lovely guys n gals at First Light) by 5pm on Friday.
I want more entries than last year so if there’s a child in your life aged 5-12, give them a polite kick up the backside and get them to send their entry off pronto.
Remember, if they win, CITV will turn their story into an animation! They’ll be a legend in their own lunchtime. There’s no reason not to do it.
The Share a Story School Assembly Tour 2013!
I’ve just completed the first Share a Story Assembly of the year!
Last year, I visited one school and gave an interactive assembly, where I worked with the kids to produce one giant storyboard. It was successful: we had over 200 entries from that one school, and one of the children went on to win the competition.
So this year I wanted to do more. We’re probably not at the stage, logistically where I can offer to do an assembly for any school that wants one; but we’ve reached out to some schools we’ve had past relationships with, and asked if they’d be interested. So far it looks like I’ll be doing at least half a dozen, hopefully a few more.
So what’s on offer? Aside from my effervescent personality, I show the kids our groovy “Tips & Tricks” videos, and explain the basics of the competition and the prize. Then, using techniques from the “Tips & Tricks”, I get to work with the kids, asking for suggestions and ideas, until we have a completed storyboard.
It went well today, and I think the kids really took something good away from it all. Hopefully lots of them will enter, and maybe one of them will win!
The all-new Share a Story website is now LIVE!
Anyone with kids aged from five to twelve should seriously check it out. It’s a wonderful competition and very, very rewarding.
Many thanks to Wal Werbel and Frank Mansfield for putting this site together, Dave Beeson for the Tips & Tricks, and to Jardine Sage for animating a beautiful promo. And the rest of the CITV posse - this is a team effort, people!
I want this to be the biggest Share a Story yet - come on, kids, get those stories started!
Ghost Studios: A visit to Granada…
My eerie trip back down memory lane, when I had to work in our old offices in Granada Studios for a couple of days. I had a lot of elbow room, but there was this almost creepy vibe…
Weekend Top Ten #48
Top Ten Things I’ll Miss About Working at Granada
CITV will have left Granada Studios by the time you read this, and as of Monday we’ll be braving the windy boulevards of Salford’s Media City on a daily basis. On the whole I’m looking forward to the new scene and new experience, but there are some things that it will be a shame to leave in life’s rear-view mirror.
- Walking to The Travelling Man every week to get my comics
- Cask - a lovely, somewhat dingy pub, that served guest ales and let you take your chips in.
- The Fish Hut - the chip shop next door to Cask.
- Free city-centre parking
- Just being in a city centre, which is frequently useful for shopping, and other things
- Coronation Street - okay, they’ll be at Media City too, but no longer in the same building
- Being in a building purpose-built for making and broadcasting television
- The history and culture that only comes from half a century of doing the same thing in the same place
- The Granada canteen
- A relatively cheap and hassle-free commute
I don’t want to look back and complain. Not being in the city will be a drag, certainly, but I’m sure it’ll get easier - and the tram’s not that bad. This is a new and exciting opportunity, and we can’t shackle ourselves to the past. But I don’t think I’ve ever been in one place as long as I’ve been at Granada - certainly not since primary school. So it is with one lonely tear that I depart.
Farewell.
