WINOL - (www.winol.co.uk) has fluctuated somewhat, our Alexa rank for winol.co.uk on 10th December 2013 is:
784,450
32,128
Compared to earlier this year: WINOL stood at number 88,939 in the UK and 550,042 worldwide. We have excelled in the UK but worldwide we have let ourselves go somewhat. But we really aren't trying to become internationally famous, just relatively famous in the UK, so we seem to be heading in the right direction.
Our so called 'rivals' East London Lines, currently stand at:
Compared to earlier this year, they stood at 48,225 in the UK and 682,835 worldwide. So not much has changed for them. Since starting in September we have hit the ground running and we managed to get past the no doubt low views we accumulated throughout the summer as we don't update the site at all. Our bulletins were raking in the views this semester, gaining around 200 - 300 views for each.
Our circulation might not be so good because at times we don't really have a clear audience. We are based in Winchester, so really we should be aiming at Winchester, but sometimes our bulletin is more catered to students; especially with some of the and finally's that we've had.
My role for WINOL from September to December has been the producer, presenter and editor of the brand new entertainments show called Access Winchester. This was to re-invent the old 'What's on' section and I was to bring it up from the ground along with Faith and Emma.
As the producer of the show I was in a very new position that I've not experienced before. I was the one in charge of what went into our little entertainments bulletin and I had two correspondents that I sent out to find events, as well as finding my own things to cover. The fact that I was in charge really hit home when it came to our first bulletin.
My final cut pro editing skills were really put to the test and I feel that I have really excelled in terms of production and I sort of fell into the role of being the presenter of the show, this worked out very well for me because I love being on camera and I love presenting the show. I feel like I've developed a natural comfort in front of the camera and with script writing. As I am very confident in my English Language skills I found writing the script very easy and it came very naturally to me.
My role for WINOL from September to December has been the producer, presenter and editor of the brand new entertainments show called Access Winchester. This was to re-invent the old 'What's on' section and I was to bring it up from the ground along with Faith and Emma.
As the producer of the show I was in a very new position that I've not experienced before. I was the one in charge of what went into our little entertainments bulletin and I had two correspondents that I sent out to find events, as well as finding my own things to cover. The fact that I was in charge really hit home when it came to our first bulletin.
My final cut pro editing skills were really put to the test and I feel that I have really excelled in terms of production and I sort of fell into the role of being the presenter of the show, this worked out very well for me because I love being on camera and I love presenting the show. I feel like I've developed a natural comfort in front of the camera and with script writing. As I am very confident in my English Language skills I found writing the script very easy and it came very naturally to me.
The level of subbing this semester was good and I feel the second years that are in charge of it have done a very good job as they are fast to put stories up.
Week one: 2/10/13
I made some calls early that week and the next we hopped on the train to London for the Raindance Film Festival.
Overall: I thought of this as merely a draft. The presenting had to be edited a great deal to try and liven it up and make it look more appealing and overall the Raindance Film Festival footage that we shot was very poorly lit, for the most part, and the audio was a big issue. The African Drumming was a bit better, but it was too much of a puff piece - I was far too courteous and happy about being there and we're not supposed to rave about everything we cover, to try and make it seem great, we should be honest about it - poke fun but in a disarming way.
Week two: 9/10/13
This week I helped with the filming of the Coffee House Sessions tour with Ben Goddard. This took place at our student union. We had a production of Warhorse at the Mayflower in Southampton and we introduced our new gadget section - GarraGadgets and I presented Access that week.
Warhorse received a lot of praise, as it was an incredible demonstration of how getting access to these events pays off and how putting in calls early is just the best thing you can do. My presenting was praised along with the use of graphics which I included, I feel that it upped the production value greatly and made things more interesting.
Overall: A great success. The show still lacked a certain structure, we had to establish our stories very much like the WINOL bulletin - we needed "hello! welcome to Access Winchester! coming up on today's show" and so on, complete with a headline clip and this was my next goal.
Week three: 16/10/13
This week we had another installment from the Coffee House Sessions tour - Kerri Watt a Scottish singer-songwriter and I helped with the filming again. Also on the show I went to Basingstoke's Milestones Museum for their annual Oktoberfest event and I also went to the William Walker pub in Winchester to film their open mic night. I presented the show again.
Overall: Not pleased one bit - the sound mixing was terrible but that was due to my lack of intensive editing, we had issues with the sound in the presenting; there was a fuzzing noise and we couldn't fix it. I believe that after the relative success from the previous week I may have gotten a bit complacent, I've since learned my lesson.
Week four: 23/10/13
Fantastic week for Access. Liam and I went to Earl's Court, London for the AppsWorld convention. We looked at apps, games and technology. It was the first time we presented somewhere on location. We dual presented the show and we hardly scripted anything, this made it seem more natural and we riffed off of each other. It was well received as a good show but we were seen as 'too cute'. Also I had an exclusive interview with celebrity Celia Imrie, who was receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Winchester.
Week five: 30/10/13
This Access Winchester was a Halloween special. We piled on the graphics and effects, trying to make it look like something from 'Most Haunted', we added sound effects, filters on the camera lenses and to top it all off we filmed it in a graveyard. After last week we had a dedicated slot for headlines which runs exactly like the WINOL headlines do, we have 3 in the headlines and then a 'but first' to kick the show off. I presented again this week and we had a run down of spooky places to go in Winchester, which was just done by me presenting and talking on screen (this could have done with graphics but we were a bit strapped for time)
Overall: Another successful week I think, my presenting received a lot of praise and we were commended for using graphics, sound effects and a different bed. Again we were picked up on the show being too slow and not having enough pace, headlines needed to be quicker, links needed to be quicker and stings had be done better. Insofar as they had to be louder to wake the bitter 60 year old viewer of our show up.
Week six: 6/11/13
This week of Access was another rousing success. We had an interview with Lucy Spraggan, we celebrated national sausage week with our own version of 'Come Dine With Me' and Coffee house sessions tour continued at Winchester with Dougie Crosbie. I presented the show again.
Overall: I think it was another good week for Access, we seemed to have really hit our stride but it was still a work in progress.
However, I think the sausage week package was a great success, we mimicked 'Come Dine With Me' which people seemed to like and we even had a voice over as the sarcastic narrator, the only thing wrong with it; it again dragged on too long.
Week seven: 13/11/13
I went out to take pictures of Winchester and then edit in, through 'Photoshop', Christmas decorations and make them spring onto the screen with as many sound effects as possible.
Overall: Very good but I think it could have been better this week, I really enjoyed what I had to do, I feel that I am very good with a camera and I took some great pictures and this helped me learn how to use Photoshop, a skill which I've always wanted to learn and also it helped my editing skills in Final Cut Pro immensely and thankfully, people loved my picture package.
However, there were a few problems with production -, I wanted to take a backseat and let the responsibility fall on the presenter and this is what I noticed: Headlines weren't too great, but they were good apart from saying "Winchester Access" and not "Access Winchester". The sound mixing wasn't great, the spikes had to be louder and there were some general sound issues with the radio mics that were used.
Week eight: 20/11/13
This show was a very good one, I presented and we had an exclusive interview the Chief features editor for Cosmo Magazine, a new racing game at Beaulie, the Southampton Christmas Market and a special interview with Keith Chegwin.
Overall: Loved this show. We had a national treasure in the shape of Keith Chegwin, we had a big name in the features industry - Rosie Mullender and an awesome new racing game a Beaulieu. The stings in the show were loud and prominent and my presenting was commended.
Week nine: 27/11/13
This was our penultimate show, which is a very sad concept! This week we had Harry Parkhill take us through another list, this time the topic was silly Christmas adverts. King Alfred's Choir sang at the Cathedral to raise money and awareness for Parkinson's disease and Liam put together a package about 'Selfies' and how it had recently been crowned word of the year. We broke the selfie package into two parts, so that we could have a 'to be continued' cliffhanger in the show to keep people watching.
Overall: Fantastic show I think, no sound problems, the stings were loud and intruding, and another main thing is I sped up the transition, the 'Access Winchester' logo we use to break up the stories and since they've been sped up it makes the whole show seem more professional and snappy. This is a great addition because we really don't want people losing interest.
Week 10: 4/12/13
This was our final show of the semester. In the show this week we had a return of Garra-Gadgets, a preview of Wicked the musical and a look at Winchester Christmas Market.
Overall: Production wise, fantastic. Content wise, lacking. However, what we did have - a nice introduction to the show; it was a Christmas story. Wicked followed but the footage we had went on for a while, regardless it looked fantastic. The show ended with a review of the PS4, had some light problems with it, but overall still view-able.
I've really become part of the features team this semester with Access Winchester. The features team have progressed in leaps and bounds - ranging from the amazing fashion magazine Absolute:ly to the highly in depth New Winchester Review. The fashion magazine instantly draws you in, the images are striking and the huge banner at the top of the page is an eye catching way to intrigue readers.
I feel like for the features to progress that we should use Access Winchester as a 'features bulletin' to mirror the WINOL news bulletin, but have this one focus entirely on all the different features. This would be a great way to get some more circulation and exposure for us.
I have had a phenomenal time on WINOL this semester and I'm extremely proud to be part of the News and features team here, I cannot wait to see this wonderful site grow and flourish as it no doubt will over the years and I hope to see Access Winchester blossom into a majestic spectacle that is highly viewed.
