The BBC Academy Podcast

This is the second part of our 4K podcast with Philippa Law, technology engagement officer for BBC Research and Development (R&D).In our last podcast, 4K and UHD: Why does it matter?, we broke down what 4K and UHD mean for your production. This week we talk more about the practical aspect of filming in UHD - the kit you'll need, data storage and the production workflow.Philippa speaks to Mark Harrison, director of the BBC Technology Futures Group, John Heraty, a broadcast trainer within the BBC Academy, and John Kent, head of digital at Lambert Productions.Some productions have already started to film in 4K for television, including natural history series like Shark and Life Story, drama such as BBC One's The Coroner, rugby and football matches through BT Sport, and golf through Sky. Although, at present 4K isn't broadcast in the UK.John Kent talks about the process of filming the 10-part series Secrets of the Brain for a new channel showing content in 4K in the Netherlands.John talks not only about the costs of the cameras, which can seem relatively cheap in production terms, but the cost of additional equipment, such as lenses and data storage, which can skyrocket and really put a hole in your production budget. Also, the current process of transferring data is very costly in terms of money, space and time.The panel talk about the kind of programmes that have been shot in UHD, including series with high legacy values such as natural history and science series. UHD delivers such high resolution that an editor can zoom in without compromising quality if the final film is created for HD viewing.Our experts discuss 4K’s popularity, where it’s going in the future and how programme makers will have to change their attitudes to projects and technical advances. Plus, should we really be looking ahead to 8K?

It seems that the 4K and ultra-high definition revolution is just around the corner. But what will this mean for broadcasting? And is adopting 4K for your production really necessary?In the first of two podcasts, the technology engagement officer for BBC Research and Development Philippa Law speaks to Mark Harrison, director of the BBC Technology Futures Group, John Heraty, a broadcast technology trainer with the BBC Academy and John Kent, head of digital at Lambert productions.Ultra HD and its close sibling 4K has eight times the resolution of SD (standard definition) and four times HD. With 3840 x 2160 pixels, UHD’s level of quality makes it very difficult for the human eye to actually make out pixels on close inspection. This development gives broadcast images a definition that comes extremely close to reality.UHD will bring a broader range of colours. Some colours, particularly sienna and red, have tones within their spectrum that simply do not show up on current HD screens.Some productions have already started to film in 4K for television, including natural history series like Shark and Life Story, drama such as BBC One's The Coroner, rugby and football matches through BT Sport and golf through Sky. Although at present 4K isn't broadcast in the UK.The panel answer questions on how these developments feed through to consumers, from UHD televisions to 4K on smartphones, and John Heraty talks about the differences between UHD and 4K.John Kent gives an overview of how filming in 4K affects the television production process, going into more detail in the second of our podcasts.

The BBC Academy's Najiba Kasraee is joined by BBC Swahili service editor and presenter Zuhura Yunus, BBC Russian's Renata Tairbekova and Mahjooba Nowrouzi from the BBC Afghan stream.They talk candidly about the challenges of being a woman in the newsroom and offer advice on how to progress while maintaining a work/life balance.These four journalists, all based at the World Service's London headquarters, talk about the challenges and advantages of being a female journalist in their home countries as well as in the UK. They offer advice on networking, with Zuhura and Renata challenging perceptions that men make the best networkers.You'll need confidence. As Renata says, it's something every journalist should have: "If you can't go out on the street and do a vox pop, you're probably not going to be a journalist."Renata and Mahjooba talk about how being a parent can affect your career, from taking time out for maternity leave to needing to leave work on time to pick up children from childcare. They talk about the need for a working mum to be organised, have a great support network and be resourceful when working around the inevitable childhood illnesses.They each offer tips for women wanting to develop a career in journalism. Advice includes taking on board criticism and building on your mistakes to keeping your contacts and network organised, for your work and home life.

The year is nearly over, but not before the BBC Academy Podcast review of the year!We've had another fantastic year catching up with the likes of award-winning writer Mike Bartlett on his hit TV series Doctor Foster, Sarah Solemani on going from acting in comedies to writing them, and radio presenter Noreen Khan on getting more black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) talent on air. We’ve also had a great 12 months chatting to unforgettable on-screen talent including Chris Evans, Christian O'Connell and Emma Barnett at the Radio Festival 2015.We've spoken with some rising stars in their field like Destiny Ekaragha and Kascion Franklin. Destiny gave us an amazing insight into what is was like to make her TV directorial debut in Danny and the Human Zoo, the BBC’s one-off fictionalised special on Sir Lenny Henry’s childhood years.Here's to bigger and better podcasts in 2016!

Downloadable to your device, ebooks can contain text, images, video, audio and other multimedia, creating many exciting storytelling opportunities for content producers. D-Day’s Last Heroes, A Guide to Your Cat and The Road to Milk Wood are just a few of the ebooks based on BBC TV programmes. We find out about the practical aspects involved in creating interactive ebooks with Anya Saunders and Pasquale Tropea, part of the team working on these BBC ebooks, as well as Hazel Marshall, a digital storytelling expert and trainer.The panel talk about why you might want to create an ebook, how to make best use of great material that doesn’t make the final cut for the programme, reaching new audiences, and leaving a digital legacy long after the programme has been broadcast. They cover some of the editorial, technical, design and compatibility considerations involved and how the storytelling process differs to that for a television programme.

Radio 1 Newsbeat presenter Tina Daheley talks to sports presenter Manish Bhasin, the commentator and retired England footballer Lucy Ward, BBC Sport senior producer Pete Andrews and Julie-Pia Aberdein, digital executive producer for Manchester United Football Club.Recorded at the 1Xtra sessions, part of 1Xtra live, in Bradford on 2 October 2015, the panel talk about how they worked their way into the industry and turned their passion into a career.Manish's break came at BBC Radio Leicester; Lucy through her time as a professional player; Julie's through a sideways move from television to digital media for one of the world's most famous football clubs.They each talk about their role: Pete on how he directs the action on match days, sometimes controlling up to 23 cameras while ensuring they never miss a goal. Manish talks about presenting football news for stations around the world, and Lucy about learning how to keep talking while someone is having a word in your ear-piece!The panel give their advice for those wanting to break into the highly competitive world of sports broadcasting and digital media. They cover how to get experience, deal with rejection and build your confidence. Tips include having a much wider interest in sport than just football, having ideas to bring to an interview and having the perseverance, and drive to keep on going.

Radio always gets a bit of a ribbing compared to television (it’s only a bit of audio, where are all the pictures? etc). But actually, let’s be honest, we all love radio.Millions tune in every morning to breakfast shows, drive-time programmes, broadcasts in the middle of the day… so we obviously haven't fallen out of love with it. Radio is not dying this death that someone always predicts.Presenter Emma Barnett hits the nail on the head when she says: “We, the British people, love it so much - hence we have ‘a gazillion stations’ and even says we’re “tribal” over it, and I agree. Radio 1, Kiss, Capital FM, Absolute Radio, Heart Radio, Magic, Smooth, The Hits… there’s a station for everyone and everybody has their camp.We were at the BBC Radio Academy’s Radio Festival not too long ago and spoke to three big players in the radio game: BBC Radio 2 breakfast presenter Chris Evans, BBC Radio 5 live’s Emma Barnett and Absolute Radio’s Christian O’Connell. Hear what they had to say about the medium that continues to defy the odds!

Executive producer Will Trotter, producer Sandra MacIver, director Matt Carter and Jon Boyce, who provided technical expertise, join the director of BBC Birmingham and the BBC Academy, Joe Godwin, for this masterclass on BBC One's The Coroner, recorded on 12 November 2015. The Coroner is produced by Birmingham's drama village - producer of Doctors, WPC 56 and the worldwide successes Father Brown and Land Girls.The 10-part series follows the coroner, played by Claire Goose, as she investigates unresolved deaths in the fictional seaside town of Whitehaven. This while having to contend with working with her ex and dealing with a troublesome teenage daughter.In this podcast you'll hear how the production has been a trailblazer for BBC drama production by being the first to film using 4k resolution cameras.Executive producer Will Trotter talks about how the premise of the drama was thought up and working in tandem with BBC daytime commissioning and with co-funder BBC Worldwide.Sandra and Matt talk about how to balance taste and decency in a daytime drama featuring dead bodies. They also give tips on filming on location, working with the locals and how to stretch a TV drama budget to achieve high filmic production values.

In a time when it seems young people are only in the news for the wrong reasons - stabbings, cyber bullying and binge drinking - here is something positive that will give you an insight into the thoughts of young people these days. And all from the horse’s mouth too, as the saying goes.Podium.me is a platform set up by Camilla Byk and Annabel Merrett where all the work is done by young people aged 25 and under. It was set up in the wake of the London riots in 2011. Camilla spoke to some teenagers who were part of the cleaning crew and one 15-year-old told her: “No-one cares about what we think; no-one really listens to us.” So a year later Podium.me was born and it is exactly that: somewhere they can get their voices listened to.And it’s not just young people listening in either. This is the place for you if you want to know what young people are thinking about and what issues affect them.It is a relatively new platform having only been set up in 2012, but has already made waves, having won a bronze award in the creative innovation category at the Radio Academy Awards 2014.Anyone can join the ‘Podium family’ and you don’t need to have any broadcasting experience. They’ll give you all the support and help you need and, who knows, your first piece of work for them might be retweeted more than 2.8 million times, like Stephen Matthew's piece on being a young Syrian refugee living in the UK.Hear from three members of the ‘Podium family’ in this podcast - Imogen Eason, Michaela Grant and Jamie Sommerville - on how they got involved and what each of their roles entail.

Amy Kean is a media futurologist and the head of Havas Media.Media futurologist, you say? Yes it is a real thing. What does she actually do though? Amy looks at current data and trends and from those she draws conclusions about how we should behave in the future.Technology is really changing how we live our daily lives and the thing that has changed it the most in the past few years is without a doubt, the smartphone. We as consumers are increasingly demanding. We don’t want to just watch music videos, we want to BE in them.Cue UK-based recording artist Squarepusher’s answer to this. He released a virtual reality (VR) video to mark the release of a song that can be experienced with a VR headset, mobiles, tablets and YouTube’s new 360º platform. So by using something like Google cardboard and your smartphone or tablet you can feel like you’re IN the video. And no, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.We are no longer happy with experiencing things in one dimension. We want more. We want multi-sensory experiences, whether that be fireworks you can taste (London’s 2014 New Year’s Eve fireworks) or a fairground ride that each person can control with their mind to get a completely different experience depending on their reactions to it (Neurosis).In this session recorded at The Radio Academy’s Radio Festival, Amy talks about the many ways radio might use these technological advances and asks how it might look in the future.