Ten Diploma of Screen and Media Production students from Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE were invited to assist professional video journalists in documenting the 2010 Worldskills Australia National Competition held in Brisbane during May. SkillsOne TV kindly extended the invitation to students who had begun their study less than four months ago.

It is often said that the film and television industry is a very difficult one to break into and this is generally true. However, the team from SkillsOne Television generously offered MSIT students the opportunity to get hands on experience with industry experts. To find an organisation willing to let students participate in documenting an event as big and unique as the national World Skills Competition is rare. In the commercial world, there’s little room for mistakes or learning on the job and it’s certainly rare in the screen and media industry to find an organisation willing to take the risk with students.

So it was with a sense of excitement and certain amount of trepidation that students attended the briefing on Thursday to find out their assignments. Some were paired up with video journalists who were responsible for interviewing competitors and editing the stories within a very tight timeframe to be uploaded to the World Skills web site that evening. Other students brought their cameras and were thrown in the deep end to source their stories. As a result of this they’re looking to edit their own program for MSIT and potentially for SkillsOne TV.

The students I spoke to during and after the experience all commented that the opportunity was a valuable one. They particularly enjoyed the camera and editing expertise that was so readily shared by the experienced video journalists.  They appreciated the collaborative attitude of the VJs and their willingness to share skills and knowledge.

As a teacher on the Diploma of Screen and Media Production at MSIT I am constantly impressed by the way students respond to high pressure situations. Often ‘industry’ hesitates to take on inexperienced students because of the commercial imperative. Yet if more production companies and employers in the screen and media industry were willing to take on inexperienced students I’m sure they would be as pleasantly surprised as I am at the way they rise to the occasion.   So thanks again SkillsOne TV for the opportunity for our students to work alongside industry experts and get a taste of the ‘real world’.