the making of my first story

Making first news story



I was a television reporter for UBC News in Thailand, but I never think doing news story could be this hard.

When I was in Thailand, I just report the news. But I didn't shoot or edit myself. Of course, I learnt something and did some these thing occasionally. But most of the time, I just concentrated on reporting the story.

This time I have to do all the process myself.

Getting to the story here, in UK, is different from Thailand. In Thailand, I think it's easier. Maybe because I get used to it..I know where and who I should contact. But here, everything is new to me. The organisation, the system and how to approach to news.

I planned to do hard news about anti-crossrail. I had been trying to contact people..but finally, I was turned down because the person I can talk to is seriously ill and is in hospital.

Well, I have to change plan when I have only 3 days left.

I kept looking for news and interesting things on the net, in local newspaper, poster, sign...lots of things..and finally, I found 'National School Film Week'. It's an event for student to watch and learn from film. This event encourage teacher to use film as a teaching media in classroom.


Getting into story

I contacted organiser, who was really nice and very helpful. He accepted my request and told me to go meet him at Haymarket cineworld. The interview with him was nice. I got nice shot of him walking into the cinema, and his clear and precise answer. I did interview teacher as well. Interview stuff went well. But problem was picture, the most important part of television news.

I couldn't film children because I hadn't asked for permission beforehand. I didn't know that I had to call school and ask for permission because in Thailand, you can shoot anything you want..no need to ask for permission. Filming kids picture is easy in Thailand. I thought it was the same, but I was wrong. So, the shots I had on that day were only the shots of pupils back while they're sitting in cinema. Another problem was that it was dark in the room. I didn't have camera light..dam!..

I was upset, really upset and worried. I knew I didn’t have a good material, the worst was that it wasn’t enough material to make story. Here, making television story, they really concern about pictures. It should tell the story. It should be a beautiful shot. It should make story more interesting. It should go along well with the story. Well, I didn’t think of this much when I was reporter. It was my cameraman job. I care more about picture when I did package, not news. So, this is something new to me. And for this story, I didn’t have cool shot!

I decided to call the organizer again asking for school number so I could ring them and ask permission to film their students. Teacher said ok. I had hope. I went to cinema again the next day to film more things. But, there was problem to solve again. Students came pretty late that they had to rush into the cinema. I had only 10 minutes to shoot. I just tried to get as much as I can. I didn’t have time to think or create a nice shot. I just tried to image what I should have; I tried to get the best I could in that time. I had more pictures. They were the best picture, but at least I had more.

Putting story altogether

When go to editing, new problem arised. Pictures were quite dark. Yeah…it’s in cinema, how could I suppose to have more light? Well, this program could help me. Fine…

Next, it’s pretty hard to choose picture because I have some but not the best. I tried to make a structure, follow what I have learnt, and follow my experience. And finally..I have my first story.

Well, it’s not a masterpiece…but I love it. I’ve been through so many things. I faced so many problems. I got through it. I did my best under all obstacles. Sure, there are lots of things to improve. But this is my first story and I’ve learnt so many things from it.

Someone once asked me that I was a journalist before, why I need this class again..

I think this is the answer…I still need to learn more. Working on news here is different and I am learning from that. I can improve myself and be a better journalist. That’s why I am here.

You can watch the video here: