WINOL Week Seven

I had been sitting on a story that I got from a council meeting a few weeks ago about a local tattoo artist who has been speaking out against a bunch of 'DIY' tattooists who have been operating in the area and putting people at risk of blood-borne infections and, in the tattooists own words, "naff tattoos."

In the intervening weeks I had gotten in touch with the tattooist, met with him and spoken to him for ages about how angry he was about the whole thing. He agreed to be interviewed whenever he had a free period in his shop and even sought permission from a woman he was tattooing to see if it was alright for me to film her.

The opening shot of the package was of a nice, big closeup on the skin, ink and needle, something which I do actually feel kind of proud of. A common complaint from editors in the debrief is how visually dull the bulletin was, something which I feel like I couldn't be accused of this week.

The interview with the tattoo artist was brilliant, but as usual the very best quote came at the end. After we'd packed up, I asked if I could take away a spare needle and tattoo grip for my piece to camera and he seemed more than happy to let me have them - I was thinking that my PTC would be more interesting if I was doing something.

I tried the whole 'walk-and-talk' cut away shot with the councillor, but I've got to admit, I kind of hate it. I always laugh at other reporters when it pops up in their packages and I even chuckle when it comes on in the news. Why is it so incredibly cheesy?

Something that's been bothering me ever since I started reporting is my voice. I feel more confident during PTCs now, but my voice will seemingly always be crap and disinterested. I sound bored during the voiceover of my package, which could not be further from the truth as I actually found this story personally really interesting. It annoys me that I come across this way and I need to figure out a way of speaking that just sounds more engaged. I wish that I'd studied Drama at school or something.

Another issue was again that of libel; the original package had a bit of expo with me talking about how kits bought from ebay can pose a risk of AIDS and Hep to those unlucky enough to recieve the tattoo while such a kit was on-screen, and Brian felt that it was best if we just took it out. I was annoyed that I'd messed that up again following directly on from last week but it's definitely for the best, it was far too suggestive and it's always better to err on the side of caution.

All in all, I was pretty happy with this week. It's probably one of the more visually interesting straight news packages I've done and my interviewee certainly couldn't have been any less dull.