Media and Communication
Student Work 2020-2021
PR and Advertising Practice – Year 3
In this module, students are tasked with working for real clients on live briefs to develop successful PR and communication campaigns.
This year the students’ one of two clients, Valconia, a recruitment firm looking to create a fresh and exciting branding identity to help them reach new clients. Or, The Kent Wildlife Trust, who needed help from our students to on how best to create a campaign that would encourage dog walkers to keep their dogs on leads in order to introduce free roaming Bison into the Blean woods. The students then had to conduct an online pitch and showcase their final concepts to their clients.
Media Production 3 – Year 3
Students on this module are tasked to re-create a trailer or a scene from a movie. The only stipulations, they must embrace low-budget aesthetics. The video below showcases three students Cate Bishton, Dan Millen and Katie Wagstaff’s completed Swede movies.
Publishing Practices – Year 2
In this module, students gain an understanding of the processes and different forms of professional writing and publishing. Showing expert communication and copywriting skills the students learn how to design a magazine and write accompanying articles.
Multimedia Journalism
Dan Bichener (Year 3) - The Anaphylaxis Archive
I was inspired to create this website as I’ve always had a personal connection to life threatening allergies, without actually having one myself, and have always felt as though there isn’t enough conversation about them.
I wanted to create something where people would be informed about this important topic but in a way that would keep them interested and would make them want to help. Having such personal interviews and a wide variety of information helped me to create exactly what I had envisioned.
Creating it whilst in a pandemic meant I had a few obstacles, such as finding a good location for a piece to camera, and gaining lots of original photographs. However, with help from allergy sufferers and charities, I was able to overcome them.
I’m very proud of the website I’ve created and I hope it sheds some more light on such a serious topic.
The website can be accessed at: https://theanaphylaxisarchive.wordpress.com/
Kellen Blackwell (Year 3) - TV piece exploring the secret underneath Hythe church
My inspiration for this story was that I wanted to try something a little more cinematic, but also something that had a nice local angle too. Therefore, the crypt fitted both of these categories, as it is nearby to me and is certainly eye catching and unique. In addition to this, while it is not a typical hard news story, it is certainly a strong feature piece which would be perfect to end a news broadcast on. This in particular made it an interesting story to cover, as the emphasis was less on the story itself, and more on the visuals and narrative, which I preferred.
My main challenge was only having a limited filming time due to the pandemic, as well as some of the interviews having to be done over video call platforms instead of in person. One particular aspect of the filming that I struggled with, was that the natural lighting in the crypt was rather poor. This meant I had to be creative in the ways that I lit my subjects (skulls), in order to achieve the cinematic look, I desired.
Overall, I really enjoyed filming and working on this story, as despite the restrictions and challenges with Covid, it was still rewarding to be able to see such a unique place first hand, as well have the opportunity to film it.
