Thursday, 31 May 2018
Updated CV | May 2018
Sunday, 27 May 2018
Fabulous Magazine: Week Six - Celebrity Cover Shoot with Professor Green
After having a fairly quiet first week back at Fabulous, I was really excited about the prospect of getting stuck into preparing for a much busier week of multiple large-scale photoshoots. Last year, I got to assist on a shoot with Nadia Begum, a contestant in a past series of The Great British Bake Off. The shoot was a great introduction into the somewhat daunting experience of celebrity photoshoots, but at the time I was secretly very hopeful that I would get the opportunity to meet some slightly more famous faces along the way in my placement year!
I was thrilled therefore, to find out that I'd be assisting on the upcoming cover photoshoot starring Professor Green as preparations got underway to call in an extensive amount of men's clothing for him. It pleased me even more so because during my time as PR Intern at Coach, I had already overseen the sample distribution for a number of magazine shoots starring Pro Green and I hoped that I would get chance to one-on-one tell him how much the Coach team love styling him. It's funny how much of a small world it is, and how often my path has crossed in different ways with all of the people I've made connections with this year.
I didn't know very much about the shoot before the day-of, which potentially was a good thing as I was blissfully ignorant about what we as a shoot team were letting ourselves in for. This was my first shoot on location (as opposed to in a studio) so I was a little bit unsure about what I could expect in terms of steaming and dressing. The location of the shoot, I soon discovered, was an abandoned warehouse tucked away in a nondescript street of East London, covered entirely in bird poo and dirt. Celebrity shooting isn't necessarily all about glamour and A-listers!
To get around the challenge of hanging and steaming clothing, arranging accessories and keeping everything clean and presentable - given the unhygienic setting - a minibus was hired specifically to house the clothes and given Stephen (Pro Green) somewhere to change. It wasn't easy to manoeuvre within such a confined space, especially when we brought 6 suitcases full of clothing with us onto the shoot, but it was completely manageable and realistically, our only alternative in that location. Myself and my group had to produce a similar plan of action for our second year marketing and branding project, where we carried out a photoshoot in the Yorkshire Moors. Rather than using a minibus to act as our base for the day, we had an actual Mini Cooper - which was inevitably a bit more of a struggle!
The structure of the day was unlike any other shoot I have ever experienced before; while usually the pace of the day would be dictated by the stylist and photographer, today we worked by the celebrity's pace. This included his late arrival, the late arrival of his dogs - who were planned to be brought over by a friend towards the end of the day - and an unscheduled thirty minute break for him to take a phone call. The structure was also made hugely different by his refusal to wear any of the clothing from the 6 suitcases we had brought for him. I'm not sure whether this is a common thing for more high-profile celebrities to do when they undertake photoshoots and interviews for magazines, or whether it was simply a diva moment, but it was slightly odd and somewhat frustrating that out of the several rails of clothing that filled up the majority of the rented minibus, Stephen wouldn't wear any of it. Instead, he brought along a small selection of his own designer clothing. This meant that Nana, the celebrity stylist who I was assisting, had little say in what he was wearing and effectively couldn't fully do her job. As a result, neither could I!
Despite the clear frustration from Nana and the rest of the Fabulous team, the day seemed to be a success overall. It's always a great experience to see creatives collaborating to produce such exciting content, especially when the shoot was in such a challenging location! It was also really insightful to see how celebrity shoots are managed; as well as the Fabulous team, comprised of a stylist, stylist's assistant, features editor and project manager - and the usual shoot additional cohort of grooming, make-up and photographer - Stephen also had assistants and friends on hand to manage his day.
Sunday, 20 May 2018
Fabulous Magazine: Week Five - Back to the Beginning
I went back to Fabulous Magazine this week, where I'll be staying to complete my placement year! It's a positive step to return to the cupboard at Fabulous as a Fashion Desk Intern; this is where I began my placement year journey, and I feel really accomplished to have come around full circle now that I have such a range of experiences under my belt.
The week's tasks were largely repetitive - owing to the nature of the role - but I always find that I have a natural ability to fit into repetitive tasks with a good level of concentration and efficiency! My tasks included managing the fashion cupboard by receiving and returning samples, following stylist's instructions, organising the stylist's areas, packing suitcases for shoots and liaising with PRs regarding their urgent sample callbacks. Nevertheless the days flew by this week, which is always a good sign that I have been enjoying myself!
It's been an interesting transition to see the way that the running of the fashion cupboard has changed in the last twelve months. Fabulous have hired a permanent Fashion Intern who works part-time for three days a week, and her role also involves tasks which borderline a fashion assistant role with more responsibility than a regular intern. I found this new change quite frustrating to adapt to because it meant that I lacked the same level of responsibility that I had been expecting to return to this time around, since my responsibility was now shared.
I am enjoying being part of a team in magazine production once again; it's really affirming to know that the work I do at the bottom of the chain ultimately makes big things happen at the top. The fact that I'm frustrated about losing responsibility tells me that I am SO ready for a full time role, and tired of completing more mundane tasks however satisfying they may be to complete in the short-term. I can't wait to start moving up the ladder in my career, learning new skills and experiencing more challenging tasks that I'm always very envious of seeing permanent members of staff carry out!
Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Press Association: Features Intern Work Experience
This week I spent time completing a placement with the Press Association. I was really excited to do this placement as I had been in contact with the Fashion & Beauty Editor for some time trying to fill a slot with little success because our availabilities never quite matched up! Thankfully persistence paid off and I landed myself a week interning with the company at a time when I really needed it most, in the wake of my hiccup at Dazed!
The Press Association provides news outlets nationwide with multimedia content (such as images or features) for broadcasts and articles. When news breaks, the team cover the event immediately to stay ahead of the game, getting factually accurate information, first-hand accounts and professional images where possible. The first images released in the wake of a terrorist attack are often produced by the Press Association, because their photography team are always on-hand and on high-alert. This fast-paced and instantly gratifying approach to producing news really intrigues me, so it has definitely been valuable to experience just how fast the turnover is for all members of the PA team to complete their briefs!
On day one, I transcribed several interviews which one member of the features team conducted with the celebrity cast of an upcoming ITV drama. I had some previous experience of transcribing interviews at Fabulous Magazine, but in this role I was introduced to the website 'oTranscribe' which was a really useful tool to help carry out the task. The oTranscribe website is designed for transcribing interviews; it has keyboard functions to pause, play, fast forward and rewind so its users don't need to waste time using a mouse to select these options. I have referenced the website and its purpose here as something to consider using in final year when potentially gathering research!
The rest of my week comprised of writing feature articles, which is a responsibility that I have been longing and hoping for the duration of my placement year. It was interesting to see the way the features team's approach to the intern's role; I had a lot of flexibility to carryout the tasks, and while I did have deadlines to meet, the relaxed environment meant that I could carefully prioritise tasks alone without having anything spoon-fed to me - something that I expected would be the case in a one-week work experience position.
Because of my experience as a fashion student, I spent time being mentored by the Fashion & Beauty Editor in order to put together a main fashion piece which goes out every Monday. I liked the way that my work experience was tailored to get the most out of my time there and I was happy to get the chance to write about what I know best! I pitched a few ideas to Katie and she chose the one that she thought would be best for me to develop into an article. We went with the idea of a trend piece on natural and organic fabrics, something that I've seen a lot of on the high street and social media recently.
My other feature topics, which were provided for me in commission briefs sent over via email from the features team. It has been a really cool feeling to see my writing pieces published in online print, although somewhat frustrating to have those pieces edited post-submission in parts by other members of staff - especially when they are edited with typos, which was the case with one feature! Over the course of the week I wrote the following articles:
- London's 7 most Instagrammed boroughs revealed
- 7 ways cheating can affect your mental health
- 8 top tips to tackle workplace stress all year round
- How to throw a Portuguese-themed Eurovision party
- Here's everything you need to ace the 'au naturel' trend this summer
Putting together the articles was so much fun, which is a big indicator to me that my go-to role post-graduation will need to involve a level of writing. It was a valuable experience to manage the pressure of submitting my writing to members of the features team, because I'm aware that I possess a real lack of self-belief and confidence when it comes to my writing abilities - despite it having been an area that I've sought a career in since childhood. I experienced using WordPress to construct the articles for the first time, which I know from previously seeing job advertisements is a valuable skill to have. Overall, I really enjoyed the opportunity to try something new and a bit outside of my comfort zone, having spent the past three months in a fairly repetitive and comfortable role at Coach.
Sunday, 6 May 2018
Dazed Magazine: Two Days at my 'Dream Placement'
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| Recent Coach coverage secured in Dazed Magazine |
I envisioned what my dream placement would look like before beginning my year in industry and it always involved the most elite, luxury and independent magazines such as Dazed, Wonderland, LOVE or Another. These were the magazines which I most enjoyed reading, and I considered my consumption of them to be a personal hobby as well as a career ambition. One part of my reasoning to pursue a role at Coach was the fact that getting experience in a luxury brand could get me one step closer to reaching a luxury magazine, and a huge reason for leaving my placement at Forever Unique was to potentially pursue working at any magazine at all. Ultimately, I considered getting a placement at Dazed or the like as a bit of an 'end goal' to strive towards. The idea of reaching this goal did initially feel somewhat unattainable, but nevertheless it always meant a lot to me so I pushed myself to work hard, make connections and leave long-lasting impressions. Eventually, just last month - although it feels like months ago already - my hard work did pay off when I was offered an internship position on the spot during an interview for the role of Fashion Intern at Dazed Magazine.
I was already quite intimidated by the elite reputation of Dazed and concerned about the working environment of the publication based on the negative stories and experiences from the industry about the way that interns and assistants are treated. Throughout my placement year I've been faced with a few uncomfortable situations and difficult decisions, so I gave myself plenty of credit and began my placement at Dazed with optimism and disbelief that I had actually secured an internship there. My optimism was short-lived however, as just five minutes after arriving for my first day (and with no introduction to any of the team members, tour of the building or health/safety to go through) I was sent out with a suitcase full to bursting with samples to be returned to designer brands and PR companies. Returning samples by hand wasn't something I had been asked to do before, and while I knew it would be physically demanding, I still wanted to experience the task as a sort of 'rite of passage'. I seriously underestimated how degrading and exhausting it would be to drag suitcase after suitcase across London for a full working day, and I felt uncomfortable knowing that the expenses I would receive for my month there actually wouldn't even cover the additional cost of travel for returning samples - despite this being an explicit part of my job description - let alone the cost of my commute to and from the city centre each day. My first day of placement left me battered, bruised, sore and in distress.
My second day at this placement caused me even more cause for concern. There seemed to be a serious lack of direction from the several Fashion Assistants who oversee the interns at Dazed, paired with a serious lack of respect. Myself and the other 3 work placements who made up the intern team at the magazine were set with the task of researching unfamiliar and unheard of brands whose clothing designs met the criteria and 'look' for an upcoming shoot. The brief was set via email, so without opportunity to ask specific questions about the task or simply chat and get to know the assistant who set the task, we began to endlessly Google-search for unknown brands. My key issue with this task was the fact that I had been expected to bring in my own laptop, as equipment was not provided. I felt really uncomfortable about carrying my laptop to and from the Dazed offices, especially since I had been sent all around London just the day before. Had there even been a 'placement supervisor' present at all during my internship there, I'm sure that the intense and intimidating attitude towards the interns would have made me too fearful to voice my concerns anyway.
The 'straw that broke the camel's back' came when I witnessed another intern receive seriously shocking workplace abuse in the shape of aggressive screaming and shouting for a simple mistake which could be easily corrected and did no damage to the completion of her task or the running of the day. I was growing increasingly anxious about being there, and felt tearful throughout the day. The other interns there told me how the week before (which was their first week) had been especially stressful, and they had cried every night when they returned home.
I thought that I could handle just about anything that placement year could throw at me, but this was one challenge I just wasn't willing to undertake. My placement year has been motivating, encouraging and overall, a really happy experience. I knew that I simply couldn't continue my placement at Dazed any longer, despite having no back-up plan and having only complete 2 full working days there. It would have been a serious discredit to the brilliant year that I've had to have spent my final month of placement year unhappy and fearful of humiliation by more senior members of the team. While I wish that I could have had a different experience at Dazed, I'm glad that I got the see the reality of working at the publication. Had I not achieved the opportunity to intern with the magazine during this year, I would have certainly pursued a job at Dazed post-graduation. This could have caused me even more upset in the long-run, as I would have been terribly upset to find out that my dream job wasn't really all it was cracked up to be.
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