About Ellie Brown
My name is Ellie Brown, I’m studying BA Journalism at the University of Sunderland. This involves a mix of writing articles, and recording stories to camera.
I’m actively developing my skills in videography, making photo sideshows, and promotional pieces - which included creating videos during my internship with The Cultural Spring.
I’m also a radio presenter at the community radio station Spark in Sunderland - with over 40 hours of air-miles. I’ve been developing my technical and vocal skills during this time, and loving the journey.
Spark & Radio
Currently, I am a radio presenter on Spark. You can listen to me on Spark Breakfast - Wednesday mornings (8am-11am).
Weekly, I plan my own show prep; including the links, audience interactions, and features. I work with my producer Georgie Woodburn to fine-tune it, and she impact produces throughout my breakfast show so I know what to work on from link to link.
I’ve come a long way in honing my on-air personality, and my technical skills have come on leaps and bounds. Previously I had not had any radio experience, so it’s been a big learning curve.
My favourite feature is ‘Spark Bark’ - a quiz about dog breeds.
College
During my time at Sunderland college, I studied media as part of a BTEC qualification, where I achieved a final grade of 3 distinction stars. I learned about the processes of production of different media (short films, podcasts, news packages and photography) and made my own.
My best piece of work from college was my short documentary called Football to Film where I Interviewed various people around the North East and Sunderland about the connection between the sport and media. Dealing with such a big project not only developed me technically, but I had to keep organised and communicate with everyone for it to run as smoothly as it did.
Cultural Spring - Internship
Alongside my first year at university, I was an intern at the Cultural Spring. Over the eight months, I held a very diverse role in the company, helping each member differently according to their needs; from supporting the planning of events, to bringing that extra pair of hands to help.
During the last few months I worked with production company Second Draft to produce a series of videos for one of Cultural Spring’s projects. We filmed each event and edited together; it was amazing to have Mark Stuart Bell and Glen Colledge as mentors as I learnt so much technically, but also what it’s like being part of a team producing video content.
University
While at university, I have majorly developed my writing, audio and video skills. I have had various stories published on the Spark website, with a keen interest in women's sports and exhibitions around Sunderland, specifically in Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.
One key piece of work has been my video package about how Radio 1’s Big Weekend coming to Sunderland will impact the city as a whole. This piece of work was published on Mag North, giving me a taste of the process of getting my work out in the industry.
Another piece of work I learnt a lot from was creating an episode of the podcast Word on Wearside. I interviewed three sports enthusiasts based in the North East about the gap between men’s and women’s sport, especially in football. Making the episode involved the help and expertise of my lecturer Jay Sykes, who specialises in audio production.