Alison Grist

These films were specifically targeted for the top 200 bods at the BBC, so I asked my interviewees to not only talk about the ambitions and challenges of their individual projects but to reveal how the rest of the BBC leaders could help them with this project.

I realised I needed to jazz it up, so I cut up some of their sound-bites and edited them together so it was like they were all saying the same sentence. This caused some level of worry to internal communications staff. They thought I was taking the mick, saying management all sing to the same tune. Having interviewed seven of the leaders in quick succession, it’s amazing how similar they do talk, some are blunter than others, but they have been groomed to BBC-speak. I was having a bit of fun but my main aim was to be surprising at the top and to use these edited sound-bites as a speedy way to get a message across and keep them interested.

I liked it, my boss liked it and, more importantly, Mark Thompson liked it. I’m glad we didn’t cut it out to offer them a ‘safe’ option. That would have been the boring way!

Click here to watch a short extract from Fantastic Year on Air and Big Projects.

September 2010: I spent this summer making a selection of films to be played to a live audience in a studio at BBC’s Television Centre. But they weren’t for broadcast; they were to be signed off by the DG Mark Thompson and would be shown at the BBC’s annual Leadership conference. This is an event to inspire, brainstorm problems together and both update and buck up the top leaders across the corporation.

I’d worked for the BBC for many years before going freelance so it does feel like going home whenever I work for the BBC. However, this time I was to work for the Internal Communications department. These would be my very first corporate films!

The first film was a ten minute montage, “A Fantastic Year on Air.” It was essentially an awe-inspiring clips package telling the story of the BBC’s continued promise to provide quality and value for money. It’s amazing how long it takes to put this package together. It’s not the editing that takes the time but the research, trawling through DVDs and ingesting the material. I also had to gauge what the popular choices were with department heads and audiences, not just use my own judgement from my year’s viewing and listening.

The montage was long because it fell into five sections which included world-class journalism, outstanding drama and events which unite the nation and communities. I really enjoyed making these pieces work particularly the last one as I kicked off with Dame Shirley Bassey at the Electric Proms and ended with the BBC Proms with all the spectacular festivals and sporting events in between. I believe the BBC produces stunning events with a class like no other broadcaster and covers sporting fixtures like Wimbledon magnificently. I seriously can’t wait for the Olympics of London 2012.

Other films included more humdrum staff voxpop packages, to show the leaders how the worker bees feel, ‘Why do you work for the BBC? Answer – Well it’s not for the money!’

An interesting film I had to craft together was “Big Projects” where filmed the seven leaders of the seven big BBC projects which will be happening over the next few years. I decided to interview them all in front of their projects – I hate interviewing people in boring offices! – so I zipped about a bit from the Olympic stadium to Salford via Cardiff Bay where the BBC drama studios will be based.

Photos © Source