Diary of a Journalist - Part 1!
April 21st 2010 19:23
Time: 09:22pm Date: 21/04/2010 Location: My Bedroom, Kautokeino
As an addition to my recent post on my trip to Estonia, this was the diary I submitted with my assignment about the challenges and successes of reporting in a completely foreign country:
Leading up to leaving for Estonia, I came across the idea for my story when searching through environmental news on the Internet. Still unclear about the path and the angle that my story would take, I had a pretty good foundation for where I wanted it to go. And I realised with the all material I was about to get, I could eventually figure something out. I want to try and sell it to an Australian current affairs radio program in Melbourne and therefore needed to find an Australian angle on it also. By comparing eco-labels to specific hotels in both Tallinn and Melbourne, I thought this wouldn’t prove to be too difficult.
When searching for my talents, I struggled at first. Although nothing was set in concrete, I had heard back from both of my Australian sources but neither of my Estonian ones and these were the most important. However, on the Thursday prior to us leaving, they both replied with a set time in which they were available to be interviewed. This was a huge relief for me.
When we arrived in Estonia, I knew I had two interviews set up perfectly but I felt like I needed more. I tried the Estonian Greens Party and they got back to me but didn’t seem interested. I also tried the Environmental Minister (twice) but he didn’t even respond. Finally, an attempt that failed was the Tallinn University of Technology. However, on the final day I managed to pick up a third interview with the CEO of a travel agency.
My first interview on Tuesday could not have gone any better. I managed to find the place easily enough that I arrived early. The General Manager of Reval Hotel Olümpia was very nice and gave great answers and he even hooked me up with a second interview with the Security and Technical Director on demand. The only downside to this day was that in my attempt to grab some vox pops of hotel guests, I had to stand outside in the cold for more than one hour and I came out with only two. The language barrier was really difficult to get past.
On Wednesday, my day began terribly – I got lost! I had already walked for nearly an hour when I discovered that I had lost my map and I had gone too far. I had to ask three locals to help me get there and luckily, a young guy basically walked with me until he found it for me. I was half an hour late. Not a good start. However, my interview with Ms. Tammik from Green Key went really well and she gave me lots of good information.
My third and final interview in Estonia was spontaneously organised the night before. The CEO of Kaleva Travels admitted that she wasn’t even sure if I was coming. However, I did and she also was really helpful and gave me some good information.
When I arrived back in Helsinki, I still had preparation work to do. I still needed to interview three people from different organisations in Australia. This proved to be harder than I thought. First of all, time zone differences are not your friend. I stayed up until 3:30am two nights in a row and got nothing. Luckily, I could interview one talent on Monday morning. The other two that I needed proved to be too difficult – one for legal reasons and the other took it too seriously. Therefore, I felt like I was behind. Behind on sleep more than anything but I was so stressed about the possibility of not having those interviews that it played on my mind; during the early stages of editing.
All I could really do on Monday anyway, was upload all my material into the program. This made me realise how much I actually had and showed me what I was in for over the next couple of days.
As I was still thinking about getting those final two interviews, Tuesday was more or less the same as Monday. As well, as learning more about a program I had never used before, I continued to upload more material and began to organise my clips. If only I knew beforehand exactly what quotes I was going to use and where…
Basically I came into editing without a plan or any structure. I had a basic idea of what my three stories would be about but I still didn’t know what quotes to use and where. However, on Wednesday I managed to string a six-minute piece together, although, it took me until 9pm.
Thursday came around and story number two was on the cards. Once again, I had to figure out everything from scratch, using only a basic plan. I don’t think my way of doing the stories is the most efficient way, but it suited me. By this I mean, record my VOs (voice-overs) and edit my story as I go instead of recording all my VOs at once and then putting it together.
Friday was different. I had my script completed and all my quotes that I wanted to use numbered. I was at school by 8:30am to finish just in time. However, all though this method was probably easier at the time, it probably took the same amount of time. By the end of the extremely long two weeks, I was extremely happy with what I produced.
As an addition to my recent post on my trip to Estonia, this was the diary I submitted with my assignment about the challenges and successes of reporting in a completely foreign country:
Leading up to leaving for Estonia, I came across the idea for my story when searching through environmental news on the Internet. Still unclear about the path and the angle that my story would take, I had a pretty good foundation for where I wanted it to go. And I realised with the all material I was about to get, I could eventually figure something out. I want to try and sell it to an Australian current affairs radio program in Melbourne and therefore needed to find an Australian angle on it also. By comparing eco-labels to specific hotels in both Tallinn and Melbourne, I thought this wouldn’t prove to be too difficult.
When searching for my talents, I struggled at first. Although nothing was set in concrete, I had heard back from both of my Australian sources but neither of my Estonian ones and these were the most important. However, on the Thursday prior to us leaving, they both replied with a set time in which they were available to be interviewed. This was a huge relief for me.
When we arrived in Estonia, I knew I had two interviews set up perfectly but I felt like I needed more. I tried the Estonian Greens Party and they got back to me but didn’t seem interested. I also tried the Environmental Minister (twice) but he didn’t even respond. Finally, an attempt that failed was the Tallinn University of Technology. However, on the final day I managed to pick up a third interview with the CEO of a travel agency.
My first interview on Tuesday could not have gone any better. I managed to find the place easily enough that I arrived early. The General Manager of Reval Hotel Olümpia was very nice and gave great answers and he even hooked me up with a second interview with the Security and Technical Director on demand. The only downside to this day was that in my attempt to grab some vox pops of hotel guests, I had to stand outside in the cold for more than one hour and I came out with only two. The language barrier was really difficult to get past.
On Wednesday, my day began terribly – I got lost! I had already walked for nearly an hour when I discovered that I had lost my map and I had gone too far. I had to ask three locals to help me get there and luckily, a young guy basically walked with me until he found it for me. I was half an hour late. Not a good start. However, my interview with Ms. Tammik from Green Key went really well and she gave me lots of good information.
My third and final interview in Estonia was spontaneously organised the night before. The CEO of Kaleva Travels admitted that she wasn’t even sure if I was coming. However, I did and she also was really helpful and gave me some good information.
When I arrived back in Helsinki, I still had preparation work to do. I still needed to interview three people from different organisations in Australia. This proved to be harder than I thought. First of all, time zone differences are not your friend. I stayed up until 3:30am two nights in a row and got nothing. Luckily, I could interview one talent on Monday morning. The other two that I needed proved to be too difficult – one for legal reasons and the other took it too seriously. Therefore, I felt like I was behind. Behind on sleep more than anything but I was so stressed about the possibility of not having those interviews that it played on my mind; during the early stages of editing.
All I could really do on Monday anyway, was upload all my material into the program. This made me realise how much I actually had and showed me what I was in for over the next couple of days.
As I was still thinking about getting those final two interviews, Tuesday was more or less the same as Monday. As well, as learning more about a program I had never used before, I continued to upload more material and began to organise my clips. If only I knew beforehand exactly what quotes I was going to use and where…
Basically I came into editing without a plan or any structure. I had a basic idea of what my three stories would be about but I still didn’t know what quotes to use and where. However, on Wednesday I managed to string a six-minute piece together, although, it took me until 9pm.
Thursday came around and story number two was on the cards. Once again, I had to figure out everything from scratch, using only a basic plan. I don’t think my way of doing the stories is the most efficient way, but it suited me. By this I mean, record my VOs (voice-overs) and edit my story as I go instead of recording all my VOs at once and then putting it together.
Friday was different. I had my script completed and all my quotes that I wanted to use numbered. I was at school by 8:30am to finish just in time. However, all though this method was probably easier at the time, it probably took the same amount of time. By the end of the extremely long two weeks, I was extremely happy with what I produced.
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