The Inquiry

Gareth Southgate is possibly one of the most adorable football coaches to date. Why? I've watched his 3 min-long interview about his premier league highlights for three days straight, and I still want to pinch his cheeks. FATV has another regular feature that quizzes former England players about their professional playing statistics. It's a very fun, upbeat, oftentimes comical idea that any England fan would love if they're a personal fan. The format is simple: Ask a question, they answer right or wrong, move on to the next question. The produced video, however, is frilled up a bit with fun animation, sound effects and extra graphics to help illustrate the players' answers. I literally worked on this every day this week when I wasn't updating the year-long log or checking emails. Looking back on it now, I'm actually pretty proud of this little feature. Hopefully I will remember all of the fun extras on Avid when I get back to Mizzou. Sure, I'll rarely use them, but they're good to stick in your back pocket.

*Video to come

British Life & Culture: Field Analysis Audio Slideshow

Take a look at the audio slideshow I produced for our British Life & Culture class this summer. This assignment had us analyze how the British identity is expressed through three out of the six areas of London that we visited in class field trips.

Back to Editing

Yay for editing. The FA's Get Involved program has had FATV cover their various events since last summer and are asking for one more for their upcoming celebration. This August marks their one-year anniversary and they are making a do by hosting a party, fit with food, drinks, music -- and a video montage of their accomplishments throughout their first year. That's where I come into play. As the rest of FATV works on their own projects, I got to take on this internal video. It won't be published online, but it will projected, on loop, at the birthday event. This wasn't a hard task, by any means, but I tried to get creative with the animations and formatting. I played with the coloring, transitions and graphics, just to add some extra excitement to the piece (attempting to push the hidden message for more FA staff to sign up for Get Involved). This was completed and sent off to the Get Involved communications coordinator for suggestions and approval.

Producing

Bits & Bobs

By now, FATV staff and I feel like we've developed a pretty nice idea of responsibilities for the intern. I'm that helping hand that's been given tasks to keep busy, but I've been trained enough to become more of a 'right hand man.' My senior producers have a better understanding of my editing and basic sports knowledge that I can now be given my own assignments. Since last week, editing a few 5-a-side pieces, it's been fantastic to actually produce packages -- at those using some editing flare. This week, however, has been less eventful, yet full of little bits and bobs to keep us moving around the office.

Tuesday was scheduling day. I actually felt pretty useful, creating monthly calendars and inserting appropriate dates, events and plans from scratch. These are being used as the year-long logs of each videographers' daily tasks/assignments, big events and published pieces. I also made a projected four-month calendar to help them budget time for the upcoming FATV projects.

Wednesday was not so eventful. I spent the majority of my time typing up a suggestion list for FATV to leave when I head back to the States. Daisy asked me to compile any suggestions or comments I care to share, based on my internship these past few months. It was refreshing to be asked for such a list because it shows care, to want to know my point of view, and forward-thinking, to always be looking for ways to improve an organization.

Thursday started off strong. Three of us met, bright and early at 8 a.m., at the Kings Arms pub on Roupell Street to interview a reknown English comedian. Jason Manford is also a Manchester City fan, so we interviewed him about his current professional projects, as well as his insight on the Man City roster and the upcoming Community Shield (Man City vs. Man United). Back in the office, I actively watched the editing of the Manford interview and finished labeling the kits with the FATV stickers.

Behind the Camera

Last Monday, we had the honor of interviewing one of England's legendary comedians, Bob Mortimer. He's most kmown for his duo act and show with Vic Reeves, "Vic & Bob," and such natural humor shined through throughout our interview about his fanaticism with football. Everyone's a football fan in England and seeing an icon like Bob helps to create those imagined connections amongst fans.

I manned one of the cameras for this interview! I'll have to admit, the hardest part of this task was stifling my giggles at every answer, but besides that, it was very cut-and-dry. I was the tight shot, following his reactions, really getting into Bob's face. The shots are just to add extra fluff and variance to the piece, which I think looks fantastic. Yay! Put another mark down for me on the "Published" column.

Personal Pride with 5-a-sides

Two more 5-a-side features willn soon be published on TheFA.com and YouTube.com/FATV! I'm pretty proud of these small pieces because I've added more movement and rhythm to the overall flow during editing. My only struggle with this piece is understanding one name of one of the sources.

Roy Hodgson, one of the current coaches of the senior men's national team, former coach of many including the Swedish Malmo FF. He chose two Swedes to be on his ideal 5-a-side team, one being Jonas Thern, but the other is practically impossible to understand! It's kind of become a fun, yet frustrating game in the office, which I believe will end up with a grand prize... hopefully in cookie or beer form. Whoever is closest to guessing the true name and spelling of this player, is dubbed the ultimate Mumble Master. Hodgson sounds like he is saying "Hans Hallander," or "Hans Allander," or "Hans Landoven,"or "Hansel Andoven" ... or something like that. We shall see. I've tracked downt he Swedish contact information for the Malmom press secretary and have emailed and called him. As of 10:30 am today, 11:30 am in Sweden, Patrik Janelin will reply back with the footballer's name (whom he said would not be too hard to find).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Again, a link is coming soon.

Technical Difficulties

Unfortunately, the memory card used to capture all the interviews from the Careers Day event was erased prematurely... so nearly all of my interviews are gone. No one's fault, really, just an unfortunate mishap. We'll be redoing a couple interviews and forging forward with the piece, but I don't think the product will be as well-rounded. We'll see!

Intern Interviews

Last Wednesday was Careers Day at Wembley Stadium, put on by the "Get Involved" program within the FA HR department. The purpose: to bridge the gap between the youth and the working professionals of the FA, showcasing the varied jobs available at Wembley and creating a stronger relationship with the London community. I think this event did just that. Beginning with a full stadium tour with a witty and interactive guide, the group of 20 local high school students walked around in awe. They then had lunch in one of the presentation rooms where they mingled with FA represetatives from the administrative side to the physical training.

My duties on this day were to assist one of the videographers, then conduct all of the interviews: One adult from the school, four students, one Get Involved spokeswoman and three FA staff. It was a great experience and an opportunity for me to showcase that I am capable of asking questions for soundbites. Immediately, j-school reporting instinct kicked in, my interest peaked and the questions began flowing. This is what I love about reporting so much; The intereaction with sources, the artform of saying few words that prompt strings of them, the genuine reaction of sources all caught on tape. This piece wasn't groundbreaking by any means, but it was nice to get back into the swing of things.

Link to come!