Broadcasting from Trafalgar Square and NBA house 10/08/12

A couple of friends from back home told me they were coming down to London today so I'd arranged to meet them in the morning. We'd heard about the NBA house through the website www.hoopsfix.com which stated:

"‘NBA House’ a fan oriented, interactive basketball themed event opens up in the heart of Central London today (August 3) through to August 12.

Open to the public and entirely free, inside, fans and guests will have an opportunity to sample the excitement of the NBA and participate in basketball competitions, purchase official NBA merchandise and meet NBA Legends.

Based in Covent Garden, Robert Horry and Bruce Bowen have been confirmed for appearances, as well as the Boston Celtics’ dance team, and Chicago Bulls’ mascot, Benny the Bull."

Me, John Amaechi, Ben Jenkin and Joe Goodhall

Since then there had also been reports of other NBA stars hanging out at the venue and promoting the game so we wanted to go check it out - these athletes included the likes of Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, Dikembe Motombo and John Amaechi.

Before I left however CT and Alex told me they were going down to Trafalgar Square to do some filming for an upcoming project back at Ball State and asked if I could meet them there after so I could feature on their show!

It took me a little while to find the venue of the NBA house but once I got inside I was really impressed. There were competitions going on court with announcers and players of all ages taking part. John Amaechi, one of hand full of British players who had made it to the NBA was there - he is currently in doing the commentary for the Olympic basketball and had taken the time out to come down and help inspire kids to play the game.

The court wasn't open access unfortunately but there were plenty of activities going on as well as photo opportunities. Holding a virtual championship trophy and posing for a dunk seemed particularly popular as well as a shop selling jerseys, balls and other merchandise. They had basketballs scattered around the venue with the imprints of NBA players hands, it was crazy to see the sheer size of some of these athletes. Seven foot two Shaquille O'Neal's hand made mine look like that of a small child.

It wasn't long before I had to leave for Trafalgar Square, but it didn't take long to find the team. They were right at the top of the Square overlooking Nelson's Column and Big Ben. I was welcomed by the group and asked to take a couple of photos and take part in an interview with Aaron which would go out on their show.

As CT had previously explained the BSU sports link team (ballstatesports.com), were working on this project separately to the www.bsuatthegames.com work. They were making a 60 minute feature film on their time at the Olympics and wanted Aaron and I to be in it! 

Despite a few mishaps with members of the public trying to get in the way of the camera, the bells of Big Ben itself drowning out the voices of the presenters and one very annoying drummer filming went smoothly. 

Each member of the group knew their role and were focused on what they had to do despite the many distractions and many, many retakes. I heard some of the guys mouthing their lines and attempting that final bit of revision before they stepped in front of the camera, the desire and dedication to get that professional look and sound to their content really impressed me. CT and Alex directed whilst Pat Boylan and Josh Blessing presented with Michael Nauman filming.

Once the introductions were filmed. Aaron was asked to step up first for an interview,

was set up with a mic and took position next to Pat Boylan. The interview was about what it meant to have the Olympics in our home country and the benefits we had as British student journalists whilst reporting on the Games. 

CT had instructed us both to end the interview by saying "CHEERS MATE" because he and the other American's thought it was hilarious and 'typically British'. As you can see, the interviews were not overly serious or formal, we had fun doing them yet they were carried out in a professional manor.

Alex and CT later informed us that the feature film would be aired on BSU campus and even ESPN! It goes out on youtube on the 5th of October and CT said he would email us the DVD when they'd finished editing.

Aaron is interviewed by senior student and presenter Pat Boylan

With that section of the show completed, we travelled closer to Big Ben to try to find a good place to set up the camera using it as a backdrop. This part of the filming was for the presenting side of a story on an American athlete who's nickname was, ironically: “Big Ben”. 

Taylor Bussick was also directing the behind a behind the scenes film and asked us if we wanted to take part in that too. Over the course of the trip we had seen Taylor floating around with his camera capturing footage on various preparations. He wanted us to give a quick brief on what we had been doing the last couple of weeks - who we had interviewed, what events we had gone too and what we thought of the experience of reporting alongside what was effectively a foreign University in BSU.



Done for the day, our final task was to film a personal thank you message to BSU President, Jo Ann Gora who we owed a huge acknowledgement for giving us the this opportunity. 

Aaron and myself were only told about this collaboration opportunity with BSU two short months ago and now, here we were in central London getting work related experience that we hope will prove invaluable.