ITV Calendar Online

One of the last things I did at ITV Calendar was to start a Facebook and Twitter Feed for the programme - something I had wanted to do since starting there. It felt quite a triumph to finally have it mentioned on air with the graphic I'd commissioned.

Bird Songs

My friend Millie is doing research on how great tits change their songs according to where they live. She's found out that urban birds sing at a higher pitch than rural birds as they have to reach above the noise of traffic. Millie's doing her PHD at Aberystwyth University but did part of her research in North Derbyshire. After discussing it in the pub (surely the best place to find out new stories!) we agreed it would make an excellent report. Eventually we filmed Millie carrying out her research in Dronfield (between Sheffield and Chesterfield) with ITV Calendar's weatherman Jon Mitchell. I produced the item - directing Jon and the cameraman, scripting the voice over and editing the package.

Flotilla Interview

Before I left ITV Calendar I interviewed Mohammed Bhaiyat and his dad Ziauddin. Mohammed was on one of the boats heading to Gaza when it was stormed by Israeli troops in May. He was taken captive after the forces dropped from helicopters onto the deck of the vessel. When Mohammed returned home to Bradford he came in to the ITV Calendar studios in Leeds to be interviewed.

Missing Royal Marine

One of the last reports I did for ITV Calendar was on the missing Royal Marine Alan Addis. We got hold of the footage from British Forces News (BFBS) and I re-edited and re-voiced the footage.

Corrie

Here's a story I did recently on a Coronation Street actor visiting Yorkshire.

Barnsley Millionaire

We weren't allowed to go and film with the Lottery winner because of his poor health so relied on the Lottery's press department to supply us with footage. All they gave us was two photos of Ashley and a few interview clips which made it a very 'shot-challenged' story, as it's known in the industry. This meant I had to tell it in a way that didn't keep referring to him winning the lottery. One of our cameraman managed to find Gary's friends at his local pub so he went and filmed with them as well as at the newsagents where Ashley had bought the ticket. Then I used archive footage of: Barnsley FC's stadium, Oakwell, and New York.

Lions Arrive

I recently reported on the arrival of lions in Yorkshire. My package was broadcast on the late news which goes out after the ITV News At Ten. Our reporter on the ground filmed the opening shot of the report after her package on the story went out on the 6pm Calendar programme. So I changed the package for the late news bulletin. I was producing the late news that night so it was hard work finishing it in time - you may notice that the shots of the lions roaring right near the end of the package doesn't quite fit with what the interviewee says in his last soundbite.

Car Crash Reconstruction

As a TV journalist you are told to use the most dramatic pictures at the start of any report and I almost always do. But for this package on the car crash reconstruction I decided to use shots of the emergency services arriving to build up the tension before the viewer sees the wreckage of the car crash. It also allowed me to make the most of the dramatic natural sound that everyone associates with the emergency services on blue lights.

"Big Hitters"

ELECTION BLOG 3

In the two months before polling day, I worked full time on the general election. I interviewed a few 'big hitters' as they're known in the newsroom. Boris Johnson, Vince Cable (at 3 mins 36), David Willetts (at 6 mins 42), Chris Beverley from the BNP (at 9 mins 02) and John Denham (at 12 mins 28).



And here are a few election quirks I came across...




It's election delivering time in Sheffield and someone's been cheating!









Leeds unconvinced by new Tory billboard campaign.






And finally, in the build up to polling day I put together lots of research on all the (74) constituencies in ITV Calendar's patch. This included finding out the names and contact details of the candidates. When I called the press team at the Labour Party they tried to sell me the info! Why do we want to pay to publicise their candidates? You won't be surprised to know they gave in without payment.

Election Day and Night

ELECTION BLOG 2

On polling day I put together a report on the elections. Broadcasters are very limited on what we can cover on the day of the election by the OFCOM Broadcasting Code section 6 which says 'discussion and analysis of election issues must finish when the poll opens'. So I included the leaders voting, unusual polling stations and the postponed vote in the Thirsk and Malton constituency.



I then had a kip and was back in the newsroom in time to see the first results coming in. The big story was kicking off just a few miles from where I live in Sheffield - hundreds of people, including many students, had been unable to vote in the St John's polling station in Ranmoor. Thanks to Twitter, I was able to find some of the students who'd been there including Holly Taylor, this year's Sheffield University Students Union Education Officer (who was a first year student involved in education campaigns when I was the Education Officer three years ago). She uploaded the footage she'd filmed on her camera to YouTube for me and I then passed it to ITN who broadcast it on their live election show - a good example of citizen journalism I think you'll agree. Holly then distributed it far and wide and it was broadcast around the world on the BBC and CNN among other news organisations. A group of students who are angry with the way they were treated at the polling station set up a Facebook group which now has 5,500 members. Here's the video which has been viewed by more than 12,000 people on YouTube...



We had cameras covering 32 of the constituency counts in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, including at Ponds Forge in Sheffield where six counts took place. It included the fiercely contested Sheffield Central seat which Labour held - Paul Blomfield won by just 165 votes from the Lib Dems. For each of the counts our camera operators filmed the declaration and an interview with the winner. Here's the constituency I live in, Sheffield Central, as an example.

Wildcat Strike

As broadcast journalists we have to stick to the OFCOM Broadcasting Code to show 'due impartiality'. In this report on the strike at the Staythorpe power station in Nottinghamshire, it was important for me to tell the story without being biased in favour or against the workers who were striking - just to tell the facts of the story.

Chris Morris on ITV Calendar

I recently set up an interview with Chris Morris, a comedian who's renowned for never doing interviews. He was on ITV Calendar to promote the premiere of his new film Four Lions at the Bradford Film Festival.

Here's the whole interview plus the post interview chat between our correspondent Jon Hill and Chris Morris...



And this is how we told the story on the Calendar programme...



Click here to read an article on Chris Morris at the Bradford Film Festival in The Times. It gives you more depth on his appearance there.

Biggest Dairy in Europe

To tell this story I used a graphic showing where the dairy is being planned for. The graphic also helped me because I didn't have many shots to choose from to tell the story.

A Little Star

I had the luxury of around 4 hours to put this report together. It allowed me to tell the story just as I wanted, using the natural sound of Lauren reading out the celebrities who had signed her certificate for example.

Footballers Visit

Before Christmas I put together this package on footballers in the Calendar region visiting children's wards. I used a 'dip to white' between each of the teams' visits to distinguish between them.

Poorly Reindeer

This was my one and only Christmassy package over the festive period and my first ever 'and finally'. We decided to leave out the fact that the surgery the reindeer needed was on his testicles!

Walking on Broken Glass!

This has to be the most unusual story I've covered: a motivational expert attempting to break a record for the amount of time spent walking on broken glass! I had two hours to put the package together which was made more challenging as I had thirty minutes of footage to choose from and a just few paragraphs of information on the story. If I'd had more time, I would have used Annie Lennox's song Walking On Broken Glass in the package!

Searching For Unexploded Bombs

I put together this package on RAF bomb disposal experts searching for unexploded devises in a North Yorkshire village.

It was on the day Hannah Whelan came in for work experience and was useful for her to see me under pressure to tun the package round in two hours. A reporter had been out filming the story and had given me some tips over the phone on which parts of the footage to use. The programme was a little under that day so I was asked for the package to be two minutes when I think one minute thirty would have told the story better. To cut it down, I would have dropped the policeman as I don't think he adds much.

Women's Boxing at London 2012

When it was announced that women's boxing would be included at the London 2012 Olympics, we localised the story by filming with a boxer from Rotherham. It was a challenging story to edit because the subject of the story (Sharon, boxing) was always moving.

The Challenge of the Channel

Liane Llewellyn has to be one of the most incredible athletes I've come across. The Yorkshire physiotherapist swam non-stop across the channel and back in twenty seven and a half hours. We had a cameraman in Dover to film with her before she left and on her return. His footage was sent to me in Leeds via the ITV Meridian newsroom in Maidstone where I used to work. I then edited the package together. I'm particularly fond of the shots of her walking on all fours, like an insect, to become the first woman from Yorkshire to do the double crossing.