How Are Ye UCC TV - Interview with Max Bell and Alison O'Mahony
By Claire Watson (Features Editor)
“UCC is my home.” Despite the cheesiness, Max smiles. Alison nods in agreement, taking in her surroundings. She adds that “UCC is very familiar, it feels so warm.”
We sit on the ground floor of the Hub, sipping Roots coffee out of our reusable cups, nibbling on brownies and lemon cake. As always, the sun pours through the large windows and across all the students that, like us, have met for coffee. There’s the constant clacking of keyboards that falls like white noise into the background. Students are laughing, busying themselves with group projects and study sessions, or finding fun ways to procrastinate. The student voice is at the heart of it all, which is why Max and Alison love the work they do.
Any time you see a camera and a microphone on campus, there’s a good chance Max and Alison are the ones holding them. Going into the Hub, you’ll have seen their videos explaining the laptop loaning system the building offers or UCC’s moves towards a plastic-free campus. UCC TV has become a great lens on student life. By both representing and engaging with students, the team brings our voices to the forefront.
Max began creating content for UCC through his placement in Digital Humanities. For many, work placements in this field are generally set in computer science. “But there was no one in media.” He explains. “There was a university videographer and a university photographer that covered events, but not social media.” Through AVMS, Audio Visual Media Services, Max was able to fill this gap. It wasn’t long before Alison became a part of the team, interviewing and interacting with students to capture their voice.
I first met Max back in 2022, during Green Week. He says “We needed students - students talking about student issues.” He and his team took to interviewing students across campus understanding what they knew of climate change and how they felt we could overcome this crisis. Reflecting on this moment, there’s a strange yet brilliant connection that’s carried from that moment to now. As Alison goes on to state, “People know us now.” It’s nice being able to change it up a little, and be able to interview the interviewers.
This desire is shared by Max and Alison, and all the students that have participated, and will participate, in their content. Whether it's by engaging with students or by creating content with a student audience in mind, community is what inspires them. Reminiscing on a past project, Alison says, “It’s nice to get to know people. You’re trying to get all walks of life and you need people who are uncomfortable in an interview.” Max adds, “You meet amazing people everyday. There’s always someone new.”
Authenticity is a core element in capturing the student voice. In order to do this, you need to be approachable. Balancing production value with approachability was a learning curve for the pair. Starting out, Max explains, the team used tripods, light reflectors, and large cameras to produce their videos. He says, “technically speaking, it hit every note… but it’s so unapproachable.” The team took the time to scale back, learn how to create their content using as little as possible. Alison notes that while the high-tech has its value, “if it’s a phone, they’re [students] going to say what they want.”
I asked what it was like for them to work with UCC. I had wondered if there were certain parameters that they were to abide by to share an image of UCC, that was filtered through its own values. Thankfully, this is not the case. Max explains that they have the opportunity to “push the boundaries of what is going up on media.” To share “Honest comments, honest stories.” In their New Year’s Resolutions video, students laugh about skipping lectures, readings, and just hoping to pass and make money.
The two uplifted the inner workings of UCC, from the support they receive from AVMS as UCC TV, to the people that they have worked with in creating their content. Max explains that there’s “a range of people and skills” behind each project, “but it’s all of these people coming together.” That’s when the magic happens. They extended their admiration to the Student Union and the committees behind Clubs and Societies. “The work they put in that you don’t realise!” Alison expresses. Going forward, the two want to engage more with clubs and societies. Max states, “I would like to help out clubs and socs - if a bit of media can help out their passions.”
The pair are brilliantly creative, pushing the limits of what is expected of student media. Entertaining videos such as “Escape the Orb,” engage with the student perspective by realising the jokes made by students. The video format that plays on aesthetics and tropes that are at once familiar and nostalgic to students.
Their video titled, “The 7 Sins of Greenwashing” is a brilliant satire that aims to educate students on how corporations cover up environmentally damaging practices, by offering an allusion of sustainability. The team began working with Cian Pierce, former Arts and Literature Editor and Social Media Manager of this very paper, who they knew could bring a theatrical element to their work. Max laughs as he recalls Cian’s decision to go under the bench in the Boole lecture theatres - a fate no student should have to endure. Involving actors allowed the team to produce skits, providing a new format to reach students with.
“Collaboration is key.” Alison smiles, talking of their latest project. Alison took to interviewing students, alongside Communications and Engagement Officer Sinéad Roche, about their New Year's resolutions. Alison explains the joys of working with someone, especially someone as electric as Sinéad, and to be able to banter with them. The video is a pleasure to watch, as in capturing the laughter of Alison, Sinéad, and all the participants, the life of UCC is allowed to shine. It starts the second semester on a light note, urging students to not take things too seriously, but also to not let go of their ambitions.
On ambition, the pair had a lot to share. Max begins by sharing his own experiences as a student, of coming onto UCC’s campus and viewing himself as one of many students. “You don’t think you’ll get that position,” he says. “You’re a student.” It’s easy to think there is little more to college than just lectures and assignments. But by putting yourself forward, you can create the experiences you want to enjoy. Alison advises, “if you follow what you’re passionate about, you’re going to find your way. Even if you don’t achieve it, if you follow it you’ll feel fulfilled.” Part of ambition is staying true to oneself. She continues, “It’s really nice to do something and not have to think about it. You don’t show it to anyone, you don’t post it online, you don’t get praise; just do it for you.”
I asked what the future had in store for UCC TV. Max explained that he’d like to make “an appreciation video for the library,” now that his time with UCC is nearing its end. He wants to capture the building’s stories; “how it used to be, how far it’s come. People don’t appreciate it enough.” But the team is excited to expand their subject matters. Max goes on to say, “there are dates, there are events.” Max praises Alison’s timelining of the year, so that the pair have their finger on the pulse of student life. They’ll happily listen to suggestions from other students of what they’d like to be covered. Max says, “Students who know their own university come up with the best ideas.”
Importantly, UCC TV’s goal is to “document the good that’s happening. It’s hard to always read negative media.” For me, UCC TV has been a great reminder that college is not just a string of deadlines one after the next.
Finally, we touch on the bitter-sweetness of being final year students. “Until your final year, you don’t realise how fragile your student life is.” We laughed about trying to appreciate every corner of UCC in our final semester here. Only now, writing this article, I realise that my voice won’t forever be a student voice. While we all resolved to use the library more, if there’s one thing that you should be utilising, it’s your voice.
