I was part of the original team that launched the UK capital’s first dedicated 24-hour TV channel. We conceived and produced bespoke shows that covered local news, current affairs, sports, arts, events and entertainment. London Live was made available on television, digital, tablets and mobile - embracing multi-platform media.
Below is a short feature I produced, shot and edited. It follows Rodrigo Alves, also known as the Human Ken Doll, who has spent hundreds-of-thousands of dollars on plastic surgery. This package formed part of a wider investigation into body dysmorphic disorder, and has stacked up over 100k hits on YouTube.
As a hyper-local channel, London Live offered the city’s residents unique access to events. For the first time ever Londoners could watch key celebrations, such as Notting Hill Carnival, live from their living room. Below are some highlights from our coverage of Chinese New Year.
From drones to taxidermy! Below are a number of other videos I worked on for London Live.
Myself and a small team of multimedia journalists were tasked with establishing a new video presence for local newspaper the London Evening Standard’s digital platform. Not only did we optimize video on the website and begin to create original content, we also developed the style and direction of its YouTube account that has since generated over a million hits.
To get the most out of the London Evening Standard’s writers and personalities, we created bespoke videos that really visualized their work. In the example below Mallika Basu, who writes columns on Indian cuisine and cooking, gives viewers a tour of her favourite spice shop in the capital.
We got out and reported on the day-to-day issues that affected Londoners - housing, transport and entertainment to name but a few. Using top-range DSLR cameras we were able to craft visually stunning packages that readers could access with a simple click.
Crossing the Bridge was an in-depth multimedia project exploring ethnic tensions in Kosovo. I shot and cut footage, recorded audio, wrote text, gathered sources and took photos as Belgrade and Pristina attempted to normalize relations through the Brussels Talks in 2013. As part of my master’s degree thesis, it was awarded the BBC College of Journalism Student Innovation Award.
Crossing the Bridge was a truly multi-platform experience, bringing together video, text, photography and audio elements gathered in Europe’s newest nation. BBC College of Journalism judges called it “a strong, comprehensive and atmospheric piece of story-telling”.
Myself and a small team of multimedia journalists were tasked with establishing a new video presence for The Independent and i100’s digital platforms. Not only did we optimize video content on each website, we also developed the style and tone of their YouTube account that has since generated millions of hits. Added to this, we created hundreds of unique feature and explainer videos which were used across digital and social, covering key news events such as general elections, sporting events and film premieres.
We came up with an amusing idea for the i100 that held politicians to account through the use of irreverent vox pops. Watch the examples below that poked fun at Boris Johnson and Ed Miliband while dealing with on-the-day news stories.
We used journalists’ expert knowledge on certain topics to create videos on a wide range of issues - think tech, finance, international affairs and sport. Whether out in the field or in studio, we produced engaging content that brought stories to life.
I was brought on board to help British tabloid the Daily Mirror improve its video output and build web traffic. In addition to running the news desk and setting its editorial agenda, I worked on special, creative projects that included a live Labour Party leadership debate. This digital broadcast generated national headlines ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s election that year, and won my team an internal award.
I also worked on the Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards, which ‘celebrates the achievements of remarkable people making the world a better place’. Nominated by the public, the winners are from all over the UK. The event pulls in royalty, politicians, celebrities and leading figures from sport, science and the arts. Broadcast on national TV, the ceremony has a viewership in the millions.
After working full-time at the Mirror for a year, I was given the opportunity to open a U.S. office in New York and lead our video coverage across the pond. Several months after establishing this presence, audience growth was up 12m unique visitors - according to Comscore.
On the side, I write articles covering anything from Kansas City barbecue to the U.S. midterms.
Freelancing with a production company, I worked on a music promo for the critically-acclaimed British band Editors. The spaghetti western was shot in Spain’s Tabernas Desert and was directed by Ben Wheatley. The final cut was used as the band’s video for the song Formaldehyde, a track from their fourth studio album The Weight Of Your Love.
I was selected for a prestigious placement with the BBC World Service following my master’s degree in 2013. I worked on an African focused radio show called BBC Newsday, which covered news, business and sport while broadcasting to hundreds of millions of people around the globe.
Freelancing with a production company, I shot promotional footage for Nissan’s new Zero Emission car, the LEAF. At London’s O2 Arena, I filmed glamour shots along with sequences of the Half LEAF, a prototype of the vehicle that had been sliced in half.
I cut a series of social-first promo videos for international travel and music company Beats Travel ahead of a summer event in Croatia. The result? Slick Facebook and Instagram friendly branded content.
