Becky Bailey shared her production skills with teenagers to help make a film focusing on safety online in romantic relationships. She worked with the advisory service Brook which was a successful applicant through BBC Outreach’s Community Doorway programme.
In the first of two different blogs from the project, Becky writes about her experience.
'I use my improved understanding of this audience every day'
Last month I found myself shooting a scene in the drizzle with a team of talented teens intent on getting everything just right. I’ve had some limited experience as a self-shooter, but my portable little Canon XA10 was a far cry from the thoroughly professional XF305 I was having trouble lifting.
I was freezing, sneezing but glowing with happiness. This was it, I thought to myself. I love my job but this is something else. A change is certainly as good as a rest!
At the time, you would usually find me comfortably indoors. I entered the BBC as a team assistant with Bitesize, which required me to re-code content and migrate it to the new website.
However, I saw the advert for the Outreach programme and immediately wanted to chip in, if only for a day. Outreach have been working alongside Brook, the young people’s sexual health and wellbeing charity, to create something entirely new - a piece of online video content focusing on safety in online relationships. This was content that would make a real difference to someone’s life and, most importantly, might keep them safe.
The wonderful thing about this kind of project was that Outreach and Brook decided it should be created by the very audience it tries to reach. Nearby teenage students in Salford made the project possible with some fantastic creative ideas for Outreach to flesh out and some indefatigable acting to boot.
You must enable javascript to play content
Watch 'Relationships: meeting someone' - the fictional film highlighting positive online dating actions created by BBC staff and students
I do love a challenge and I feel really gratified when I have pushed myself, so learning a new skill, such as handling a new camera, and working with a new team of colleagues and audiences seemed ideal.
I got stuck in with writing the script, assisting Allison Hinds the Outreach project manager and staff volunteer, Alice During from Radio 5live - they both had a wealth of experience in creating content.
As I had only just ed the BBC, I was very keen but had limited experience of bringing a larger project together and so I learned a great deal from them both.
I’ve never worked so closely on a project with young people and their energy and enthusiasm for the short film really spurred me on to do the best job I could. BBC Outreach are incredibly ive and friendly. Not only do they want the best for the young people involved, but they want their volunteers to be 100% comfortable and happy with their work, too.
By the end of the day, I was absolutely exhausted but I knew we had enough footage to create something special. It was a real team effort. The young people involved made the entire project completely worthwhile; they had a new way of approaching certain narrative problems and were a constant source of inspiration - we just couldn't have done it without them. They should be very proud of their contributions to the project throughout.
Since volunteering, I've taken the next step with my BBC career and I am now a researcher with Childrens Interactive. Needless to say, my work with the teenagers has been so valuable.
I use my improved understanding of this audience everyday as I strive to make exciting content for the CBBC website and I think volunteering has given me an edge, both in of creating online content and in understanding our audiences better.
BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community and staff volunteering.
