Alana Taylor : January 2016

Pasteur Rd, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR31 0DW

Even friends and family were taking selfies with it!

In my last year of high school I applied for the position of head girl and after interviews with peers and my principle, was successful at filling the position, this meant a lot of work to do with giving the students a voice and also community work and promoting our academy. There was many schemes that we done in order to get the community involved with what was going on at our academy, we had a open movie night where we invited the general community to watch a film in our newly built lecture theater, enjoying popcorn and snacks served by volunteering students. We also created the Random Act of Kindness week, where our students and teachers would go out of their way to do something nice for those in the local community, from carrying peoples shopping to their car, helping the elderly cross the road, even our principle paid for someones shopping, it was a great way to get involved and volunteer through my school to help those around us.

Press Release

As head girl we had to endure interviews with the press, I was also on the radio when the grand opening of the new academic building was complete, these opportunities have made me more out going and a successful representative of the academy I went to.

Channel 4 Experience

The C4PopUp

In the summer of 2015 I was looking for any experience I could get in the media industry and looking for potential opportunities to get my name out there and meet those industry who could broaden my knowledge. The place I found out about the 4Talent C4PopUp was on Twitter, and ever since then I found Twitter to be a really good place to find out about opportunities going especially with this industry. Once I had read about what the aim was to get young people involved and getting your foot in the door I knew I had to go for it, I applied and was successful. On the 12th of August I went to the Open in Norwich by myself not knowing what to expect and found out I was in the Digital Media group. We were given a brief to design a campaign for the Rio 2016 Paralympic games, we worked in groups with people we had never met before which was a great experience to network and get to know people that have similar interests and goals as you.

We began planning and thinking of ideas that could be different from ones they had seen before, having a label of digital media we also had to think of a social networking campaign that we could get all ages involved with. We came up with the hashtag #WeNeverGaveUp because we wanted to reflect the Paralympians commitment to their work and how their dedication can inspire others. We also wanted to shift the focus on what their differences were and focus on what the athletes have achieved and how they aspire and keep their motivation at an all time high.

We had our presentation cards at the ready and placed full confidence in our idea. We had to present it to our digital media room before we knew if we could take it to the final which was downstairs, on stage, in front of everyone at the event. After presenting we were offered the opportunity to go downstairs and present. Ready to go down to the main hall with all the other groups, (TV Production and Marketing). We had to present in front of Channel 4's talent team and other candidates.

After we had all presented we were awaiting the results, the groups that got through, got to go to the next round to an experience day at the Channel 4 headquarters, we all really wanted to go and retained confidence in our idea and presenting skills, the competition was amazing. It's crazy how so many different creative minds can come up with such brilliant campaigns.

YESSSSS! The #WeNeverGaveUp campaign got through and we couldn't believe we had the chance to go to the Channel 4 building and meet more industry professionals! One of the best things about this experience, other than the awesome industry knowledge, creating contacts, gaining networking and presenting skills, was the fact I made some friends for life. We all had so much in common and didn't realize how close we live to each other, ever since the event we had kept in contact and update each other on what we are all doing, it's great to have friends in the industry already.

The Experience Day

The day came 21st of October had arrived after a long and curious wait, we headed up to the channel 4 headquarters and got to see my group again and get a chance to get to know them even more. We spent the journey practicing our pitch as we were told in the email we would re-present what the project was to a new crowd of people including from other C4PopUps and more 4talent staff! #WeNeverGaveUp

We had to take a selfie at the headquarters, such an amazing experience, after presenting our idea and listening to other campaigns from other places that channel 4 had hosted to pop up, it proved that us young ones do have the best ideas! haha

The building was incredible we all met in the Lobby and got to know people who also had similar goals and different experiences to share on what they had worked on/ what they were working on. We also experience a tour round the building and the offices where the magic on channel 4 comes to life from paper to screen. We were then invited again back to the headquarters for a grand finale! the opportunities kept coming! We also got the opportunity to speak with some industry professionals during the networking lunch hour, this was great to hear about where these successful people started off and to where they are now.

The Grand Finale

Late afternoon on the 14th of January we arrived back at our favorite building for the grand finale. To reflect on what work we had done and for those with the strongest campaigns to win awards. We got to meet the CEO of Channel 4 David Abraham he spoke about where he had started in the industry and how he came about to managing one of the most successful TV channels in the country. I felt inspired because everyone has to start somewhere and he spoke about what he was interested in at a younger age and how we went about taking on opportunities and finding his place in the industry.
We also had the opportunity to watch an interview from Michaela Cole and Arinze Kene, they spoke of how they came to writing, from acting in plays from a young age to writing their own scripts and Michaela had the opportunity to turn a play that she wrote into a TV series called Chewing Gum which airs on Channel 4 itself. They also both gave advice for us aspiring to be in the industry and that was to 'Keep going, because everyone else will get tired, don't get tired'. It was also refreshing to hear that they had both had set backs but that only made them more determined to succeed. I would like to thank Channel 4 for this amazing opportunity and I believe this has aided not only my networking skills but also my confidence from presenting in front of key channel 4 industry professionals to presenting in front of other peers. I have made some amazing connections and some friends for life, and I will continue to take on as many opportunities as I possibly can.