8 XPONORTH TRAINING


‘We’re live on air’


Young hopefuls get their chance at a unique television production and technical craft boot-camp


BY JAN PATIENCE


Once upon a time, when XpoNorth was known as goNORTH, it ran a festival radio station, which trained a group of aspirant radio producers and presenters looking to gain hands-on experience in producing live radio content. Radio goNORTH ran for five consecutive years, from 2012-2015, and as a direct result, trainees started finding jobs in the industry. Spurred on by this success, XpoNorth festival director, Amanda Millen, who has a proven track record as a producer in radio, television and film, decided to take it to the next level and stage a live festival television sta- tion. XpoNorth Live! roared onto the scene at XpoNorth last year, staffed by an eager group of trainee researchers, co-ordinators, editors, camera opera- tors, sound recordists, data wranglers and floor managers. The broadcasting equipment


was provided by Glasgow-based production company, Visual Impact Scotland, which supplies state-of- the-art kit to production companies throughout Scotland. Headed up by an experienced director, producer and presenter, XpoNorth Live! filled 18 hours of television filmed in front of a live audience of conference delegates at Eden Court in Inverness. Described by one trainee


researcher, Isla Turner, as “by far the most stressful and thrilling thing I have done in my life”, the team produced 87 individual video items and learned the hard, hands-on way that it’s not all glamour in TV Land.


Turner, who has gone on to take up a place on the Edinburgh-based Traverse Young Writers programme says: “I would definitely recommend XpoNorth Live! for anyone wanting to work in film or TV, or generally any- one wanting to build confidence for working in the creative industries.” Fellow researcher, Gary Hughes,


recalls: “I had no experience of work- ing in a live studio. Over the course of ten days a small team of trainees, including myself, with guidance from industry professionals managed to create three days of television. The week before, we learned research techniques, contacted contributors and guests and scripted for our host Siobhan Synnot. “During the festival, we worked as


live producers, runners and some of us even had the opportunity to host the channel. Even with the pressure and long hours it was a tremendous experience and a lot of fun. I met a wonderful group of people and began building my professional network.”


SINCE COMPLETING the training, Hughes has worked as a freelance in a variety of roles for the BBC. He has contributed to BBC The Social, creat- ing his own short films. He also in- terned with the BBC1’s The One Show as a researcher and, most recently, has been working as a dailies runner for BBC Scotland’s flagship drama, River City. “I don’t think any of this would have been possible without the guid- ance, confidence and training gained from my experience with XpoNorth Live!” he admits. Presenter Siobhan Synnot, who will


be back in the hot-seat for XpoNorth Live! 2017, adds: “XpoNorth is a unique event. Open to all, and drawing enthusiastic participants from all over Scotland, the UK and the world, so it makes sense to combine all this amazing content with a training initia- tive for the next generation of


XpoNorth Live! roared onto the scene last year, staffed by an eager group of trainees. Pictured Siobhan Synnot interviewing Joe Gibbs, founder and director, Belladrum Festival.


TV producers and technicians. “Over three days – we have a ‘prac-


tice day’ on the day before XpoNorth begins – I conducted 30 live inter- views with speakers involved in the daytime aspect of the conference and witnessed umpteen live bands play for the cameras. It also gave me an insight into the breadth of creative industries subject matter covered during the conference.”


“The adrenalin flows and your brain and all your senses work at full capacity” Alan de Pellette


Discovering great new acts


The bedrock of BBC Music Introducing in Scotland will be at XpoNorth


BY LINDSAY GILLIES


You couldn’t get a much better job than listening to new music, deciding what you like then playing it on Vic Galloway’s show on BBC Radio Scot- land. If we could do one thing more often it would be to take the show on the road - which is why we’re mak- ing our way to the XpoNorth creative industries festival. Typically we broadcast the show


from studios on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow at 9pm on a Monday night; there are often session guests, interviews and use social media to bring our listeners into the conversation. When we do take the show out of the studio we like to go to as many areas as we can to play our part in reflecting the music scene across Scotland, which is why we’re grabbing the opportunity to go to Inverness. We’re bringing three live acts and


putting together a discussion to add our contribution to Scotland’s leading creative industries festival – record- ing at Eden Court. Moreover, we’ll be experiencing the festival as members of the public too – for Vic, that’s


essential: “During the day the panels, seminars, talks and workshops are always extremely useful, and the night-time live music showcase time- table keeps me on my toes as I dart from venue to venue around central Inverness.” Vic’s show is the bedrock of BBC


Music Introducing in Scotland; we broadcast music which artists have uploaded directly to the BBC Music Introducing website. It couldn’t be simpler – you upload it and we listen to it - and then hopefully play it on the show. We’re also in the position to offer sessions too – not only do we get great content for our programme but the musicians gain experience in recording a session at the BBC with


professional sound engineers. To put that experience in context,


there are over 180,000 artists regis- tered with BBC Music Introducing; 15 artists have had 20 number 1 albums, 13 artists have had 33 top 10 singles and seven Introducing artists have won 11 BRIT Awards. Hopefully one of the Scottish artists we see over the two days of XpoNorth or who appear on our bill will be the next Introduc- ing artist to pick up a Brit Award. Vic himself has high hopes: “I’m delighted to be returning with my weekly BBC Radio Scotland show to help shine a light on artists who may well develop into stars of the near future, with the support of BBC Music Introducing.”


As important to us as the musi- cians who we play on the show are the people who listen to it, without them we’re nothing. We’re lucky to get this opportunity to bring the programme to our listeners, to include them in our discussion about the place of BBC Music Introducing in Scotland. I’ll leave the last word on that with Vic: “XpoNorth has become a superb annual event and initiative and I’m lucky to have attended every year since it started; it continues to help me discover a range of brand new acts and confirm my interest in others.”


Lindsay Gillies is producer of The Vic Galloway show on BBC Radio Scotland. Eden Court, Thursday 8 June.


THIS YEAR, in the ten days leading up to the festival, a new batch of 17 trainees will join Siobhan and director Alan de Pellette, to be schooled in this unique television production and technical craft boot-camp. XpoNorth Live director, Alan de Pellette, has more than 20 years experience as a producer and director in radio and television, working on the creation of hit shows such as Off the Ball and Still Game.


He says: “XpoNorth Live! is great


fun to work on as it’s fast, exciting and has so many things happening at once. The adrenalin flows and your brain and all your senses work at full capacity. For trainees to get this kind


of experience is an incredible oppor- tunity and is worth a year of doing any kind of TV course! “People interested in working in


production get thrown in at the coal face and are given opportunities to meet amazing contributors and pro- duce their own programme seg-ments. For those interested in working on the technical side, they get unparalleled access to a TV studio and the chance to shoot or record live interviews and bands. You simply can’t buy that kind of experience when you are starting out in your career!” XpoNorth director, Amanda Mil-


len adds: “The trainees learn all the behind-the scenes skills they need to produce a live entertainment maga- zine show. They also get the chance to network with commissioners, employers and freelancers currently at the top of the TV and digital broadcast industry in Scotland and beyond. The cost of offering each place comes in about £2000 a place but trainees get to do the course free of charge. In return we expect them to give it their all to make the most of this fantastic opportunity.”


10 May 2017


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