Hi! My name is Sam Hiorns and I’m a Digital Content Creator with the Council for British Archaeology. I found this 3 month placement through the Shout Out Loud initiative to get more young people into the archaeology and heritage sector, supported by English Heritage and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Here is a bit about me and how I arrived here today writing this blog post.

Making videos has been a massive part of my life from a young age. I was fortunate that my mother let me use the family holiday camera to play around with and I quickly developed techniques and found ways of experimenting with practical effects. This passion never diminished, and I continued to pursue learning filmmaking through A Level, taking Film Studies, University, Studying Film and Moving Image Production and taking evening courses in producing feature films at the NFTS.

After completing these, I was now ready and eager to take what I learnt and apply it to the professional world. Sadly, as I was walking out of an interview, the first lockdown was announced and the industry I was trying to break into was frozen.

I was keen to stay creative and active so I was very fortunate to be given an amazing volunteering opportunity by a local charity called The Parks Trust, to video and capture the development of their Great Linford Manor Park project. Through this I was creating Digital Video content for social media, keeping those who were shielding or unable to visit the park, updated and informed about all the new developments on the site. I found this an incredibly rewarding experience and learnt so much about park development and maintenance.

I also volunteer with a local arts resource centre to create a weekly livestream music event to help local bands and musicians as a springboard back into the live music scene by promoting their music online whilst in-person events were still restricted.

I caught a bug of wanting to create content about projects I don’t have much prior experience of so I can bring an outsiders perspective and increase my knowledge and meet inspiring people that I can learn from.

I wanted to keep working on new and exciting creative projects. When I found that the Council for British Archaeology were looking for a Digital Content Creator I thought this would be an incredible opportunity to learn about an industry and charity that interests me.

I’m approaching the end of my third week with the Council for British Archaeology and I’ve learnt so much already. I’ve been able to meet some of the country’s top archaeologists and work with them to create digital content for the Council’s social media. All of them, amazing people. After this placement is completed, I’m really encouraged to look into other ways I can use my skills in the archaeology sector.

I would say for anyone who is in a similar position as myself to stay positive, motivated and keep yourself creative.