BUAS GOING GLOBAL IN YEAR 3 TV

This year has been full of twists and turns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, BUAS Year 3 TV students faced more than most. Initially they were going to build a new weekly news show called BUAS this week, covering news stories internationally, nationally, locally, and on campus, using our new studio on the 4th floor at the new campus. We were also going to participate in a new show with a global partner called World Earth Day live, a very ambitious undertaking, on top of our annual participation in The Global News Relay, co-hosted by Hong Kong Baptist and Fresno State Universities (with between 15 and 20 schools taking part each year). The first two options were quickly cancelled when we had to vacate the campus and the course leader for Earth Day contracted the virus. We had also been cancelled for The News Relay due to circumstances in China. It went away and came back many times before it was a “go”. In the end, Year 3 TV BUAS students took part in two very global television productions. First, The New Normal, a magazine style show hosted by Ryerson University in Canada took place in April. Here our students made a professional show in partnership with students from Canada and Russia. Students worked long hard hours shooting stories and having multiple meeting with our partners abroad at all kinds of hours due to time zone differences. The show was a success and can be found on BUAS Hub and on YouTube. It was part of a series of multiple similar shows shot on the same day around the world covering the topic of the pandemic, with students from Israel, Australia, USA, Canada, Brazil, and many more. Finally, The Global News Relay (GNR) took place, also after multiple cancelations, after-hours meetings, rehearsals, and even live hits with students in Hong Kong and California, and can also be viewed on YouTube (Global News Relay) and BUAS Hub. Following the GNR, the third year Supervisor, April de Haas, took part in an international panel of Media Educators to discuss disruption in education during Covid-19. Here teachers spanning the globe discussed their issues in practical production/media/journalism studies and how we are all solving the problem. As this network of teachers have become a tightknit group after several years of global collaborations, we have now created a Slack workspace where we share information on how we tackle issues, approach courses, and display work (call out for collabs). It was an honour and delight to participate and it can been seen at the end of the GNR on YouTube. A special thanks to all Year 3 TV students who are continuing to work with students around the world on our own shows that are fully “field” productions. During these times, seeing faces from America and New Zealand has been a delight. The team has proven themselves to be hard working creators and we at BUAS can be proud.

by: April de Haas