Kiana Dhanjal's story
Kiana Dhanjal's story
We sat down with Kiana BA (Hons) Film and TV Production graduate to talk about her time at Buckinghamshire New University (BNU). Kiana now works as a Junior Camera Assistant for , an outside broadcasting company.
"I have worked for EMG for 2 years now and started at the bottom of the company as a warehouse technical assistant helping engineers with kit, loading and unloading trucks and the occasional onsite assistance. After 9 months of this I moved up and into the camera department into the role I’m in now. I’ve worked on a wide variety of jobs such as the King’s Coronation, Sky Cricket, BAFTA awards, BBC Match of the Day and the Ryder Cup! In my role I typically assist the camera guarantee on the job, sometimes prep jobs and operate on the cameras."
When asked why Kiana chose to study at BNU, she said: "At the time it was the best course close to home for what I wanted to do. When I looked around the university I’d noticed it had a large amount of facilities that would aid my degree and that’s when I made the decision BNU was the best place to be."
I loved basically everything. The lecturers that taught us were industry professionals who had a vast range of experience and skills to share with us that were transferable into the job I’m in now. They always made time for us to ask questions and request feedback and assistance when needed. The equipment was also amazing and we had training in how to use the kit correctly.Kiana Dhanjal Junior Camera Assistant for EMG UK
Kiana was asked what skills she had gained through her course which have helped in her role as a Junior Camera Assistant at EMG UK, she said:
"Particularly I’ve used the OB skills part of the course. I work in Outside Broadcasting so the truck facility we had access to was the place I learnt the most and is the most transferable. A lot of the film projects where we were filming with the cameras and operating them were some of the biggest things too. That is very specific to my career, and it gave me the practice I needed to be able to do it out in the industry.
I also have the networking skills from the course. We had lots of guest speakers and mixed with the other courses such as the music and audio production course which gave us a larger network for the future."
Kiana said she would recommend this course for "so many reasons!", and added: "The facilities available with kit and the OB truck, the lecturers that teach the classes have some of the best industry experience and knowledge to move you forward in the right direction, everyone is there for the same reason so you can get really stuck into your projects.
There are lots of opportunities for work experience if we want to do it which was shared with us regularly when they came around. You get to collaborate with other courses too which actually boosts your marks in assignments if you collaborate with them often! They have good guest speakers in to talk to you about what the industry really is like, some specific areas too."
