First session on the HUB at BBC Leeds for Look North
Daryl has sent me a worksheet for the HUB - so i will check these items off as i progress.
Today was my first session on the HUB with Matthew Ridley.
I was shown around and greeted by Ian Bailey, who walked me through the building showing me the variouis departments that comprise BBC Leeds.
He showed me one of the Satallite Trucks that they use, explaining how much work went into them and the technology they provided; estimated cost at £500,000.
Ian showed me the CSO room, equipped with green screen, where the Weather is pre-recorded, and it can also be used for pre-recordings and interviews.
In the studio, I was shown the 3 cameras that are used every broadcast as well as the mic placements, back projector and behind the actual barracade.
The studio is alot smaller than what i presumed the size of it might be, and also has alot of lighting; more than expected.
Back on the HUB with Matt, he explained that the politics show 'Inside Out' is also recorded here as well as 'The Super League Show'.
There are 2 sections on the HUB, HUB1 and HUB2.
There are people on either side of the HUB that share the workload, one side does more ingestions etc than an other, say one may do more pre-records than the other.
All the information, data and footage comes into the HUB, the HUB 'ingests' the footage (i.e the HUB places the footage onto the Server by which all the journalists and employees can access their footage and then edit their own packages), the footage is placed onto the Quantel Server which can be accessed and then the HUB workers clone/delete the footage.
There are 5 screens on each HUB section.
CBIS is the programme used for bookings within the BBC, such as interviews, timer recordings, other programmes that need to be recorded onto the server.
BNCS is the programme used to route certain areas to each other and link the pathways i.e. routing the Weather pre-record to the Hull broadcasting house (BBC Leeds serves West Yorkshire and also Hull's news).
The HUB has 7 ports through which the footage can be ingested through.
Ports 4 & 6 are primarily used to send footage to servers A & B in the gallery.
Port 4 = TX 1 A } IN GALLERY
Port 6 = TX 2 B }
Port 5 should be left open to be able to record the programme as broadcast (PasBs).
Whoever would be working on the HUB should set the timers for the PasBs for the recordings.
Footage can be ingested through Raven, which can playback footage and it easy to use; simply copying and dragging files on the system.
When ingesting footage, there is a correct way to title each piece.
Setting the recordings for the PasBs, goes as follows:
pasb_(date)_(time)LS
(date): Date recorded/broadcast
(time): Time of broadcast.
If there is a n* option, that means that when clicked there will be a 'no cut', which means that when the footage is in the archive it will not be cut from the selection.
RECAP
So today i worked alongside Matt in the hub, watched him ingest the footage the journalists gave him onto the Quantel server - which can then be accessed and edited by the journalists for their packages.
It is alot of information to take in within a day but Matt and I agreed that being hands on is very rewarding and a great learning tool, and that the more I'm in the more i will learn from watching and doing little bits.
Got my head around the line feeds also and the routes available, which ones are open and which arent.
I then stood in the studio when Look North was broadcast and read through the running order of the programme.
Its interesting to listen to the gallery through the headset and keep track of the order; which is very loose time wise.
The headsets have a delay time from the autocue and the feedback from the gallery.
I watched Dom the floor manager for that broadcast do hand signals for the countdown to when the camera is back on the presenters - made with arms next to the appropriate camera.
10 secondsThen a coutndown from 5 using one hand.
Amazing experience for the first day, should be good to come back and see what I've learnt.
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Tuesday 26th November 2013
Second session on the HUB - shadowing Tom Minton
10:50
Feels strange to come into and have no station or area to report to as such.
Came in and sat down on the hub, nobody here yet so sat looking at my notes from previous week.
They have an unusual way of working here which I am not used to but it must work, so I will try and understand it the more I am here.
In film, everything is so structured and everyone has a role, whereas here the roles are interchangeable, and the shift patterns are varied.
For instance they are all trained to be able to work across each sector, from hub to sound to cameras, in case anyone needs to step in.
I would like to sit in on a session with the graphics team and see how they create the imagery for Look North and the pieces for the packages, to keep interested and the time here varied.
Sort of feel left out or almost like an intruder. No-one really knows who we are or why we are there, or feel that im contributing to the programme and running of everything, as I am when having a role on a production or film piece. This is just out of the normal comfort so it may take a while to adjust to, to see how this corporation works.
Objective: Need to sort out my internet log-in today if i have time to do so.
Today Tom went over some of the abbreviations that they use in TV.
MOS - Is an audio video package.
NIB - News In Brief
OOV - Picture drop over - still shot, movement but no camera movement.
Example of CBIS - booking system.
A journalist came over to us and asked us to source the Millbank interview for him.
- Go to CBIS and check the planned recording is there.
- So the timer needs to be set to record the 'clean' link.
- So we set the timer in ServerLoad which sets the timer for the programme to be recorded and placed onto the server.
Recorded the weather with Paul for later broadcast tease.
Paul does the weather for Leeds, Hull and Newcastle from Leeds Weather studio.
There is a tool used on the HUB called Trilogy. This is a talkback device which allows people to connect and converse throughout the building.
Button Up - On - Amber Light - Able to Listen
Button Down - Redlight - Able to Talk
You can also buzz through, for exmaple 1 buzz = yes, I am recording
2 buzz = no, I'm not recording
To be able to talk to Paul in the Weather Studio you must route the lines through BNCS - router.
gPTB = Gallery Production Talkback
VM = Vision Mixer
TM = Technical Manager
Davina is the BBC's site to site transfer programme.
All the content on the BBC's servers is accessible through Davina, so worldwide, national etc.
In effect it is like the BBC's private YouTube account, only not accessible to the public.
DVD Copying
To put an item onto a DVD:
- Put a blank DVD in the DVD Player.
- Press record
- Load programme onto ServerLoad
- Press play on Serverload
- Source Route
- - SVR 5 > HUB VHS (VHS is DVD, although confusing)
- DONE.
To copy a DVD:
- Put DVD in DVD copier machine
- All DVD ports open
- Press start
Bit by bit it starts to make sense and come together. Tom is great at explaining and simplifying things for me to understand and telling me how it is.
When titling footage, use:
Lower case naming = raw footage
Upper case naming = ready for broadcast
Brickwaller: is an outside interview from HUB, use talkback.
i.e. an interview is booked from Salford, so we need to route the clean feed to we can receive it in Leeds.
I renamed and clipped a weather tease for Paul.
Its a really daunting experience, looking at the BNCS (router). So instead, I clipped the weather tease on Serverload as I wasnt comfortable with routing the weather yet.
Tom tried to test me on my knowledge so instead i asked for a quiz to make it less pressurised.
Dom helped - kept it lively if a little fun and silly.
Did a talkback on Trilogy and did a source route on BNCS.
Also cloned some footage.
So its getting there bit by bit.
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10th November 2013
Third session on the HUB - shadowing Matt Ridley
Objectives:
- Fully ingest a tape
- Set timers for PasBs
- Take images for work
- Write down a summary of each software and get Matt to check it (maybe for next week)
- Activate email account
Serverload
Red - Cant Use
Amber - Available
Green - In Use
Successfully logged onto my network with the details Darryl emailed me.However, cant access CBIS on my log in.
ENPS - programme that keeps the running order of the programme digitally. Can be seen gradually updating information live.
Matt drew this image for me which represents the links between cities and BBC houses.
This makes it easier to understand if lines need to be opened to allow footage or links to pass between corporations across the country.
LS - Leeds
SF - Sheffield
HU - Hull
LDN - London
BM - Birmingham
MR - Manchester
GW - Glasgow
NT - Newcastle
BS - Bristol
Matt drew this to represent the lines feeding into Leeds HUB including the Sat Trucks.
CBIS
You can route the line on CBIS so that the line is available from a certain time onwards.
CueMatrix
Audio Talkback
ServerLoad:
title: title_date_dept
length:
source: manual > where its coming from e.g. GMAC1
BNCS
Weather = CSO STD > Colour Seperation Overlay (Green Screen)
BrickWaller
- Journalist talking to interviewee at HUB.
- We route the feed and do talkback on Trilogy
Ingested SD Card for JoJo.
Ingested MiniDV tape - same format - different systems.
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Tuesday 14th January 2014
Fourth session on the HUB - shadowing Jaimini.
1. Successfully set times for PasBs.
2. Demonstrate a full server ingest - not completed although i did copy footage onto XDCam
3. Know the roles more accurately of CBIS, BNCS and ServerLoad.
4. See if i can verify my email to be able to log-on: jessica.ing.ext@bbc.co.uk
Serverload = IN
BNCS = OUT
Sent DV tape footage over to Hull.
All we did was put the tape in the DV player, press play, rang Hull and told them where the was sourced.
"DV2" - we put it on Serverload to view it for our benefit.
As there wasn't much to do, Dom helped me out and gave me a card to ingest while I was waiting. I got mixed up however as two tabs were open for Raven1 and Raven2, and i was working on Raven2 that port was unusable.
I noted down the times to input into the timer settings for the PasBs, just for clarification.
Jaimini also demonstrated how to record audio from a video onto Radioman.
Weather
LS CSO -> NT
Weather Studio (CSO Studio) needs to be sent to LS-RN51 because Newscastle have opened up that line but nothing is on it - to be able to send the Weather recording to Newcastle.
Recorded 'Sunday Politics' onto a DVD using Serverload + BNCS.
- Put DVD in player.
- Find programme - load onto a port
- BNCS - SVR 2 -> HUB VHS
- Press record on DVD
- Press play on ServerLoad
- Wait til done.
Copied 'swimming' on XDCam.
*Dont delete the footage if it is a journalists card*
I also ingested some footage for KBR - Kate Bradbrook on my own while Jaimini operated the camera in the studio for broadcast. I conversed with Dom who was on the second section of the HUB as to which ports were available for me to use and if he could release any for me.
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Tuesday 28th January 2014
Fifth session on the HUB - shadowing Tom Minton.
I verified my email today at the BBC to be able to access any emails and safety guidelines.
I set the PasB timers again for the broadcast recordings.
Tom informed me that if a journalist asks for something from the server, you can export the clip from Davina - export it into a folder, put a card into the 'Whitebox' - (also used to copy footage - card reader) then copy and paste the clip from Davina into the 'T:Drive'.
Tanya Arnold came over to the HUB and asked Tom to find some music for her 'trampoline' package - a story on the gymnast team at Sheffield.
I suggested the Kanye West track 'Touch The Sky' as its quite an uplifting, catchy beat. They didnt need the vocals just the backing track.
So i recorded it onto the server and put the source as 'Bars' as only the audio is needed.
Tanya Arnold then used that track in her package during the broadcast.
It was a quiet day on the HUB, so i just tried to look around the desktop and study what Tom was doing when things needed to be done, such an ingests etc. so that i could learn again by watching - as i had done some i wanted to compare and confirm what i was doing by viewing Tom's actions.
I also had a go at moving the cameras and zooming in and out of a point before the broadcast.
It seems quite easy to zoom in and use some controls, but it seems to be the pressure of making sure the camera doesn't make any sudden movements or anything bad.
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Tuesday 25th February 2014
First session on the Sound Desk - shadowing Alice
Today was my first sound session with Alice on the sound desk in the gallery.
Daryl has sent me a worksheet for the sound sessions, which i will try and look through and check my knowledge against.
Alice ran out a few points about what the sound desk does and the controls, but didn't want to get too in depth as it is a lot to take in, especially as i hadn't been there in around a month.
Server A = TX1 screen in gallery } Footage e.g Packages are played from this.
Server B = TX2 screen in gallery } " " "
Server C = Back Projector in studio (weather etc - never any sound)
3:15 - Meeting
- ran over any errors/changes/things to do to prepare for broadcast.
They said that its a lot of sitting and waiting around until 5:30 when you can rehearse the script and sound checks with presenters etc.
I wanted to see how it was done first today before trying anything just yet.
Alice didn't want to overload me with too much information but i was happy to watch her work and understand/follow the actions on screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday 10th March 2014
Second session on the Sound Desk - shadowing Tom Minton -12:30 - 15:00Tom went over more things with me today.
He explained that you need to get the sound levels for the microphones between 4-5 on the dial. If it gets to 6 it compresses the sound, which you dont want to do.
So always test the mics with the floor manager before broadcast.
Alice got the names for the presenters on network and LN on cartwheel for the ident, which is when the voice-over introduces the presenters before the headlines.
Buttons on Desk;
mono - white
stereo - yellow
stereo group - blue
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
This button is situated in the column of each channel.
If you press 1 it will send the channel to then stereo group.
e.g. If there are guests in the studio you can keep all the mics up -> go to a package, and come back and they will all be the same as the original - microphone levels etc.
Blue sliders are always up which gives overall control of the sound.
Alice - 15:00 - 19:00
I was shadowing Alice after lunch.
We did a short mock interview today so that Anthony who was training on vision mixing could practise.
Cameron, Charlotte and Gavin went into the studio and did an interview with Cameron as the guest, but it wasnt recorded.
I controlled the sound, and Alice guided me on watching out for the conversations and anticipating audio from each person - to then be able to put their sound levels up or down accordingly.
Also practiced a little ident with Alice and Anthony - "And here the BBC News, with.......".
Server A - Ident -> Network -> Radio Man -> Put Server A up at count of 1 -> Bring network doiwn -> cartwhell the names -> server A lower a little -> pull server A down - network up and always check back to make sure there's a delay by pulling the slider back to hear the delay, and listen our for certain words to verify against.
I showed Alice the checklist Daryl had sent us to check against when we were in our sessions. She then explained some of the different microphones available. 
Dynamic Mic - works on electromagnetics - has its own battery.
Today was an interesting day, being able to be hands on on the sound desk and operate some controls was good, a little nervous and apprehensive to do so as i wasn't as comfortable yet as i still thought i wasn't safe enough to do it properly.
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Tuesday 25th March 2014
Third session on the Sound Desk - shadowing Ian Bailey
Ian was the first person i met at the BBC and he showed me around the building at the various departments that operated there.
I arrived for 12:20 - no body was around yet or even in the gallery, so i sat and waited and began to look back on my notes from previous weeks.
Ian said that he needed to edit and retreive some footage for the Helicopter Heroes series to helps edit, so i will go along and watch him to do that later.
Ian explained that he could show me some things on the sound desk but they're not as effective at carrying out their function until put into practice.
After lunch i went with Ian and a lady from Radio to the editing suite, where the lady wanted some audio clips from an episode of Helicopter Heroes to use in her piece. Before the start of the next series, they wanted to do some promos so the audio would be used for the stories of the victims for when they get interviewed.
It was quite interesting to watch as the concept of editing and clipping the audio is the same as what i have experience editing my own work through college, but Ian just went about it in another way because of the equipment they have available to them. He used ProTools for this edit.
At 16:10 we went for a drive with the technical manager to pick up the VSat truck and brought it back with Ian to base.
There was a VSat link at York, and even at 18:25 they were still sorting the audio and visuals out.
Its a little scary as how close to the broadcast some of the packages are, as i've learnt how to plan efficiently through the projects ive worked on.
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Tuesday 8th April
Fourth session on the Sound Desk - shadowing Tom Minton
Today on sound Tom went over most of the functions again that i went over with Alice, just to recap - sometimes i learn better by retracing the steps and phsyically doing the actions myself, so when we opt in i have been asking to press the controls on the machine at the side. Its also good as i feel that i am contributing to the production, as i would making a film, which i am more used to.
Tom explained about the 'bleed/spill' which can sometimes happen with the microphones.
Thats why you need to dip the microphones in interviews as one microphone may pick up the person's vocals if they are sat next to them - thats the spill.
At 15:15 we went to the meeting, which Sarah the producer led.
She was very thorough and explained each story in depth and why they were covering it and why it was in the specified running order.
I enjoyed this meeting more due to the explanation of the stories and the changes/mods that were needed for the broadcast were explained accordingly which made it more clear for me to understand why things were done.
This linked more into the film side that i am more familiar with - the production meetings, any changes that need doing are recognised etc, preparing for the broadcast.
On the sound desk, there are numerous buttons and dials with different functions.
There are some that are yellow, blue, green and grey.
The yellow and blue ones are the notch filters.
The green and grey ones are the parametric EQs.
As Tom was explaining the functions, i asked whether it was similar to music.
Tom has a music engineering background and i play guitar, so we compromised the information by putting it into terms that i could easily comprehend.
The yellow is the treble function, similar the the treble switch on an amplifier.
The blue is the bass function; more gain on bass etc, again like on an amplifier.
Greens and Greys
Put a grey on full
Move the green to find the nasty sound/you will be able to hear the distortion. It sounds out of sync with the rest.
Then move the grey til its taken out.
Played around with the controls to hear for myself and felt that i understand that section of the sound desk as i could affiliate it with music and playing on my amplifier.
It really helped putting the information into terms i know.
Tom also explained how a 'wah-wah' pedal for guitars is a very quick parametric EQ.
Microphones and OS (Outside Sources).
Say there is an outside source and the presenters need to hear them, you put the BLUE OS button up, and press the button next to the orange toggle labelled [3] (Auxilliary 3) -> that means presenters can hear them in their earpieces and that its not coming out on the floor speakers, also known as foldback.
Tom is a really great mentor, explaining functions to me personally in terms that i could understand better, and once i had understood them they were so simple in reality.
I think that by looking at the sound desk and HUB, they do seem to be full of information, but once you break them down into sections, the functions are actually very simple - just seem more complicated than they actually are.
It was also actually a really good feeling of pride and acheievement once i had related the functions to terms i am more familiar with, and it seemed so much easier and less daunting than when i first tried to understand them.
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I missed my 5th session on the sound desk due to illness, which i informed Daryl of.
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Tuesday 6th May 2014
First session on cameras - shadowing Kev.
I have a worksheet for the cameras which i will ask my mentor to run through every session.
Came in for 12:20 and went up to the studio to see if Kev was around.
I havent been informed of where to go or who to report to when i started my camera session; on the hub and sound you could go to that area and wait for them there.
I didnt want to wait in the studio, so i went to the canteen and waiting there for a few minutes in case walked up the stairs.
I went back into the studio and Jaimini was there. I asked if she had seen Kev yet and she hadnt, so i just sat in the studio and waiting until he arrived.
Kev arrived and Jaimini gave me a headset to be able to listen to the gallery.
As floor manager, Jaimini attached running orders onto the cameras with a clip - so that each operator would be able to look at that days programme and see what needed to be done for their camera.
Kev went through the functions of the camera with me, explaining briefly the focus, zoom, the ped (base of the camera) and how that worked.
I had a little go at focusing and doing a swoop, just to get a feel for how the camera moves.
I wouldnt intend to do anything as bold as that but i felt that to be comfortable with the camera and its movements you need to just go for it and move it about.
The lunchtime news was presented by Phil Bodmer, who introduced himself to me after broadcast which was a nice gesture; alot of the people who work there i feel are unsure of who we are and why we are there.
After lunch, i went to the gallery where Elaine was. Kev was switching training with Elaine to ease her workload, as she was due to train Tom on vision mixing.
Meeting
Nikki the producer conducted the meeting.
Was a basic meeting, just noted down the cameras in the running order.
Elaine was needed to do a voiceover for the broadcast, so she suggested that i go over the shot list and note the cameras down and what framing they needed to do - then we would recreate each shot.
Went into the studio. Jaimini was there, and Tim and Ian were sorting out the hanging images which feature in the Sunday League Show.
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Myself and Elaine went through some of the set-ups, and which cameras generally do which e.g. camera 3 does intro, pay-off, camera 2 does MCU etc.
Elaine also showed me her edit of the information of the running order.
As she was due to direct the 10:00pm broadcast, she needed to check with the producer Rod what stories were featuring and to also confer with graphics.
Elaine also explained the numbering system on the running orders.
The numbers along the side under 'page' have a system:
Depending on how many contributions there are for each piece, the numbers will vary.
Each contribution is numbered, within the stories' number in the running order.
e.g BRADSCHOOL has 2 contributions, but it is the second story.
So it has 2 - for the story and then the following digit is according to the contributions.
-21-two shot of harry and amy
-22- package by journalist (the second part of the second story)
I also set-up the shot for the programme heads and controlled the camera.
I was more confident when i was actually contributing again, and just feel that i need to go for it.
Elaine said that if the director doesnt say anything about the shot they are happy about it.
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REFLECTION
During my time here at the BBC there have been many ups and downs that have hindered my experience there.
I was excited at first and looking forward to completing my placement there, however there have been many times that i have felt uncomfortable there.
Im not sure if anyone has been acknowledged of our placement and it can feel quite uncomfortable at times there, if i am waiting for someone or for example when i was sat on the HUB alone one time and a journalist wanted some footage ingested quickly and i was unsure of whether to do so, as i still wasnt comfortable with the process.
There have been interactions with many people though; meeting the graphics team and meeting journalists like Phil Bodmer and Emma Glasby which has been nice to feel like a part of the working team there; especially if they would like footage ingesting and you are able to do so with guidance from your mentor.
I also got on well with Tom Minton, Gavin Mintus, Dom and JoJo, which was nice as i would say hi if we were on the same day etc which really helps make you feel comfortable in that environment.
I thought there would be more things to do there. There is a lot of waiting around especially on sound and cameras between broadcasts, unless someone would like to rehearse something if someone was training, as we arent insured to go out onto the road with the journalists and crew to film, which is what i am more used to rather than behind the scenes, controlling sound or cameras.
I have learnt alot from how television news works and it has been great to see the many differences yet many similarities to film.
I guess the only difference would be the way it is constructed and how flippant some things are; such as the late edit of packages during broadcast and the format that continues each day, whereas in film there are so many variants that you can change during production.
I was quite surprised on how hands on the team work, such as doing the sound for the ident, which id have thought would have been pre-programmed into the system, so things like that have intruiged me, and the way the HUB works is much more complicated than what it actually is once you understand it.
I have learnt many skills while conducting this placement, and it has definitely opened my eyes as to how similar yet different in format television and film are.
The experience here at the BBC has allowed me to understand how to work as a team more, providing work that comes together to create a piece of work to a deadline and to a standard of which the company works at.
As i still have a few more sessions before finishing my placement, i will definitely push myself harder to be more confident in helping out and being more willing and comfortable in operating the cameras and improving my abilities while on the studio floor.
I have felt less confident as television isn't my first choice of interest in the media industries, but i understand that i should understand how the system operates to broaden my interests in this field as i may be able to adapt some techniques of how the BBC operates into any film productions i may come across in the future.
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