UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 18 JULY 2017
Gaining experience in the media industry can be a difficult task, but this has been made a little easier for some of our students, thanks to a competition between Birmingham City University's School of Media and BBC Three.
Three lucky students were shortlisted to pitch their ideas to three channel executives from the youth broadcaster, whose new home will be in The Mailbox in Birmingham City Centre, but as always, there can only be one winner! The prize? Something money can’t buy. Two weeks work experience!
Caroline Officer, Award Leader for MA Television Production and Senior Lecturer in Television & New Media at the University, told us:
"All three finalists delivered impressive individual pitches to the BBC producers, proving that our Media students understand how to devise professional broadcast pitches. Matt Bateman was a worthy winner, his idea, a confinement based drama, The Fortress, proved that a drama featuring just one location and two actors can be compelling. Matt has studied the Television Production MA at BCU and responding to broadcast commissioner’s briefs are a key element of the skills students learn on the course I am very proud of his success and hope his two-week placement with BBC Three allows him to grow in confidence and opens doors to a broadcast career."
The competition was open to all students from across the School and challenged them to write a proposal for a piece of content that can be delivered on social media and online platforms, in a style that is native to the youth channel.
“The story you choose to tell is up to you. It should be something you are passionate to tell the world about and of course relevant to young people, i.e. BBC Three’s audience. Would they click, like, comment or share it?”
Matt (in the centre of the picture) said about his win:
BA (Hons) Media and Communication student April Ely, (on the right of the image) who has ambitions of becoming a Producer, or working in ‘idea development,’ told us:
Fellow student Maddie Muda, (on the left of the image), pitched an idea for a series of social media shorts based around stereotyping and told us how she was feeling during the process:
At the end of the session, once the winner had been announced and everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the BBC Three staff kindly answered a variety of questions from the students, offering advice on careers, how to get into the industry, CV building and how to market themselves.
Nasfim Haque, Short Form Commissioning Editor, BBC Three said:
Caroline was very proud of her students and told us:
"BBC Three is leading the way in the innovative development and delivery of broadcast content and we are delighted that the team were keen to engage directly with our students. This competition has enabled our students to gain a valuable insight into current production processes."
Find out more about Birmingham School of Media.