Leadership Lab hits the news

Bedford College featured on ITN News at Ten, when two media students put their knowledge and skills to the test as runners for an ITV production team, filming in the science lab at Bedford College.

The Leadership Lab programme tracks the views of voters in the run up to the next election. It began two years ago when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister to analyse the changing views of people on the three leaders of the main political parties.

Leadership Lab sees a focus group of floating voters debating the issues that are important to them and voicing their opinions on the party leaders. It gives a snapshot of what the electorate may be thinking about the issues of the day in a marginal constituency.

The programme was filmed in the Science Lab at Bedford College and students Charlotte Nash and Mike Lee, who are in the final year of their two-year National Diploma in Media, became runners for the day. They helped with setting up lighting and filming for the six hour session that was edited on-site and broadcast on that day's ITN News at Ten.

Talking about their work on the programme, Charlotte said: "It was excellent to experience industry standard production and gave me a good insight into TV production. It was brilliant to work with the team and see the different pressures that you would have to cope with. I want to work in TV when I finish my studies so this was a fantastic opportunity for me."

Mike added: "It was a useful experience because it's the first chance I have had to work with people who are in the industry."

Charlotte and Mike are in the final weeks of their course at Bedford College and plan to go on to study BA degrees in TV Production at Bournemouth and Middlesex Universities respectively.

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