Meet: Ben

Ben joined Oaklands College in 2018, enrolling onto the Level 3 Diploma in Media Production & Technology. 

Currently in his second year, Ben has been one of the standout students within his cohort, securing a large variety of work experience opportunities through his own initiative.

Tell us about the work experience you have gained so far and how you secured them?

“When I was in Year 10 at secondary school, I went to a small production company called Black Dog, who were based in Great Amwell, Hertfordshire. My experience there helped me develop and work on my skills with small animations for a number of their clientele, including Amazon, Tesco and DHL Opticians.”

Ben’s experience working voluntarily within the industry has provided him with a transferable skill-set which will benefit him in not only his studies, but future employment opportunities.

“Last year I worked for the ‘Animation Guys’, who are based in Islington. From my experience working within the company I was able to develop my existing skill-set, whilst also learning new techniques such as story-boarding, animations, whilst working on a 1-minute short animation project set for me by my colleagues.”

Since interviewing Ben, he has been approached by successful Lighting Director and Content Agency Producer; Stuart Pring. Stuart has offered Ben the opportunity to shadow him and his team at the famous Abbey Road Studios, filming a BRIT Awards segment for the “Rising Star” accolade.

Alongside his voluntary work experience, Ben has also put himself forward as the Student Representative for his Media Studies class. 

“I am lucky to be the student rep for my class. When our tutor introduced the idea to the class I was really enthusiastic about putting myself forward for the role. I attend regular meetings with other student reps from the Creative Industry section, including Performing Arts and Music.

My role as a student representative is to be the spokesperson for my fellow classmates, feedback their views and opinions to ultimately work with the college to improve our overall learning experience.”

Ben’s work experience and proactive thinking does not end there, after a busy Summer building up his portfolio:

“Last Summer before starting at Oaklands College, I joined the National Citizens Serviec (NCS), a four week programme involving 15-17 year old students. As part of my role, I worked closely with Hertfordshire Mind, where I was tasked with producing a mental health video for one of their campaigns.”

Ben’s hard work and enthusiasm again shone through, as he was offered the role of Communications Leader for the East Anglia National Citizen Service Trust, a role that he still occupies today.

As well as his voluntary work for the NCS, Ben was also selected amongst 60 applicants from a pool of over 300 students onto the Leaders programme.

Finally, tell us all about your experience so far at Oaklands College? 

“Oaklands College is completely different to what I experienced at secondary school, it’s a lot less like a teacher-student oriented and your lecturers at college treat you as colleagues and adult learners. Also, their wealth of industry experience is really beneficial to us as students, I would recommend Oaklands to anyone.”

Ben is currently in the process of finishing his second year and aspires to study Visual Effects at University level.