Day three of Creative Futures included a very interesting and helpful talk from Sue Jeffries who has worked in the TV and Film industry for more than twenty years. Sue has worked in a number of roles during her time in the industry e.g. Production Manager, Continuity Supervisor, Line Producer and Director so has a wealth of knowledge and experience.
Sue began the lecture by asking the students to consider the following questions:
Why do you want to be in industry?
What do you want to do?
What are you good at?
She then asked various Students what their answers were to these questions and gave some helpful advice on how to get into the industry. Sue said that work experience is invaluable, shadowing, gaining contacts and learning to market yourself are all vital in a competitive industry. A good way into the industry can be through small businesses that produce for the BBC, Channel 4, 5 etc rather than with these large broadcasters. It would also be a good idea to get hold of the BECTU (Media & Entertainment Union) Crew Finder directory which contains details of industry professionals and potential job opportunities. Sue said that if looking for work experience always ask how long the work is for, the number of hours per day and are you going to pay me?
A question was asked how to become a Director. Sue explained that Post Production is a good route to Director. You can't direct if you can't edit! Shadowing Editors and working in a Post Production house as a runner can also be a good way in. Good runners usual work for 6-12 months before obtaining a more specific role.
Another person asked about becoming a Photographer in the industry. Sue said Photographers are needed but they need to find a niche. Broadcasters only seem to have the money for them. If you someone has recently won a commission, then it's good to ask if you can go and take photos for them, you're likely to have to do this for free but it will be good experience that you can add to your portfolio.
For camera roles Sue said that a good show reel demonstrating film making skills is required. I asked Sue if it's possible to get a commission from one of the broadcasters if you have a small business. Sue said a one man band can produce films cheaper for small production companies.
Sue asked how many sub-sectors are there within the industry? She said there are around 12
Tv
Film
Radio
Animation
Computer Games
Multimedia
Adverts/Commercials
Corporate
Post Production
Fashion & Textiles
Photo imaging
Well that's it for the Creative Futures week. CLM are off to Paris this week to do some street photography so I'm looking forward to seeing the results!
Monday, 14 March 2011
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Creative Futures Day Two
The second day of Creative Futures week began with a lecture entitled 'Art, life and change' by Andrew Richards a Teacher/Potter/Family Man. Below are the notes I took from the session:
Andrew started by telling us that "you have to adaptable and think in many directions. No job is for life".
He went on to tell us how on leaving school he wanted to go on and do an apprenticeship. However, he was persuaded to go to college instead (Chesterfield college of art) to study for a higher national diploma in art/ceramics. He gave an overview of the tutors he encountered during his time at college, their personalities and the impact they had on his there. It was two years of joy and deep learning in all aspects of running pottery. Building kilns and developing style.
Opportunities
Andrew explained the opportunities that came his way during his early career.
Camp America 86, 95,96,98,99
• A journey of discovery and a chance to travel across the states at the age of 20
• Being professional teaching arts and crafts in a beautiful setting
• Growing up and also letting go
238 & 138 kids over two camps. Andrew had his own accommodation and earned more money each year he was there. However, he wouldn't go back, feels he's done enough. He believes his experience at the camp taught him patience and how to react to rich kids who have everything.
Running my first business
After college Andrew decided to set up his own business in Edinburgh. He built a wood kiln to make production pottery. The kiln was enormous and if there were technical problems nobody knew how to help him. There's potentially lots of waste if things don't work. Potter Mike Dodd gave advice on how to change his chimney to make it more efficient. This made his life much easier as pottery could be fired more quickly.
Hard work and long hours
Andrew felt he was enthusiastic but naive at first doing every show he could possibly find to gain as many orders as possible. The first 2-3 years was a struggle and he only just brought in enough money to pay bills. It was a roller coaster, some months bringing in up to £5k, other months nothing. After 5 years he was very tired and decided to close the business. Andrew told us an interesting story about how Harrods asked him to produce hundreds of pate jars. He thought he'd hit the big time but unfortunately the person he dealt with moved departments so it was a 'one hit wonder'.
After finishing the business he needed a degree as he had a desire to go into teaching. This would open new pathways for him.
He had an interview with Cardiff University to start on at second year. Andrew ended up with a 2:1 after 2 years. Then had to decide if he wanted to go into teaching or back to being a potter.
During this time an opportunity came up to do charity work in Albania establishing a self sustaining pottery. He then went on to work with Mike Dodd in India at Golden Bridge Pottery. It was a self sustaining pottery run by the local community and many international students visited. Andrew spent a few weeks there and travelled around India for a couple of months.
Professional practice outside of teaching.
Andrew asked himself why am I making pots when I teach? This is Andrew not letting go of his passion, his freedom what he does to relax. You can jump in with both feet (i.e. set up a full time business) which will cost a lot of money or work for 3 days and then do work on other days. It's also advisable to keep costs down in the first few years will help.
Teaching Art & Design AVCE-A Level-GNVQ-GCSE & Special needs
Andrew told us it's a fantastic job, one of the best but has changed over the last decade. Inspections scare teachers and have had an impact on the way you teach. Paperwork required to fulfil criteria has increased significantly. Taken on as PGCE student teacher at Whitchurch, he was thrown in at the deep end. It was exhausting and he threw everything into it in the first couple of years.
He recommended that you collect as much resources as you possibly can. Professional practise different departments, photograph people and techniques. Sketchbooks are incredibly personal. It's a challenge to get the de-motivated to a position of a C grade or above. Careful about child confidentiality when reviewing sketchbooks.
Sticking to deadlines when teaching. You are judged on your results, they count for an awful lot. A good track record can get you into a powerful position. Need to do a lot of research and get involved by putting in the extra hours. Creative people can go off on a tangent so learn to reserve energy (takes time).
A PGCE is a 3 year degree condensed into one year so very hard work!
Social Media
The second session I attended was entitled 'Social Media' by Steve Graves who works in the Glyndwr Marketing Team. Below are my notes:
Social media is happening very quickly. Traditional media has not got a handle on it yet.
Facebook & Twitter are the most widely used tools. These may be replaced in the future, possibly by social networking focussing on smaller sections of society. Some are dedicated to specific areas of business, e.g. education.
Glyndwr generally uses Twitter for information such as fees and specific info as it has a more targeted audience. Facebook is often used for events.
One of the advantages for the Marketing team is that Social Networking has a much wider reach. It can also be monitored so that publishers can see how people are engaging with the content (frequency, volume etc).
Twitter is so effective as it's about short pieces of information, sharing, networking at the very heart of it. Trending - what are people watching and talking about? News stories. Glyndwr follows students, other universities, businesses etc on Twitter as well as creating its own feeds.
It's essential to embrace social networking if you plan to work in the media. It's important that traditional and social media works together. Traditional media should embrace new technologies. Networking is essential.
Businesses don't always get positive feedback on social media sites. However the view is you don't try to censor people. Listen to online debate about your brand.
The future
People are paid to monitor Twitter & Facebook. This will increase over the next few years.
Individuals will blog, Twitter & Facebook. It's as important as picking up the phone and writing emails, it will increase job opportunities.
Tumbler is a combination of Twitter & a blog. Content/sharing based. Will be more widely used in the future/
Celebrities can and will manage their brand via Social Networking, many can change the way they're perceived through it.
Andrew started by telling us that "you have to adaptable and think in many directions. No job is for life".
He went on to tell us how on leaving school he wanted to go on and do an apprenticeship. However, he was persuaded to go to college instead (Chesterfield college of art) to study for a higher national diploma in art/ceramics. He gave an overview of the tutors he encountered during his time at college, their personalities and the impact they had on his there. It was two years of joy and deep learning in all aspects of running pottery. Building kilns and developing style.
Opportunities
Andrew explained the opportunities that came his way during his early career.
Camp America 86, 95,96,98,99
• A journey of discovery and a chance to travel across the states at the age of 20
• Being professional teaching arts and crafts in a beautiful setting
• Growing up and also letting go
238 & 138 kids over two camps. Andrew had his own accommodation and earned more money each year he was there. However, he wouldn't go back, feels he's done enough. He believes his experience at the camp taught him patience and how to react to rich kids who have everything.
Running my first business
After college Andrew decided to set up his own business in Edinburgh. He built a wood kiln to make production pottery. The kiln was enormous and if there were technical problems nobody knew how to help him. There's potentially lots of waste if things don't work. Potter Mike Dodd gave advice on how to change his chimney to make it more efficient. This made his life much easier as pottery could be fired more quickly.
Hard work and long hours
Andrew felt he was enthusiastic but naive at first doing every show he could possibly find to gain as many orders as possible. The first 2-3 years was a struggle and he only just brought in enough money to pay bills. It was a roller coaster, some months bringing in up to £5k, other months nothing. After 5 years he was very tired and decided to close the business. Andrew told us an interesting story about how Harrods asked him to produce hundreds of pate jars. He thought he'd hit the big time but unfortunately the person he dealt with moved departments so it was a 'one hit wonder'.
After finishing the business he needed a degree as he had a desire to go into teaching. This would open new pathways for him.
He had an interview with Cardiff University to start on at second year. Andrew ended up with a 2:1 after 2 years. Then had to decide if he wanted to go into teaching or back to being a potter.
During this time an opportunity came up to do charity work in Albania establishing a self sustaining pottery. He then went on to work with Mike Dodd in India at Golden Bridge Pottery. It was a self sustaining pottery run by the local community and many international students visited. Andrew spent a few weeks there and travelled around India for a couple of months.
Professional practice outside of teaching.
Andrew asked himself why am I making pots when I teach? This is Andrew not letting go of his passion, his freedom what he does to relax. You can jump in with both feet (i.e. set up a full time business) which will cost a lot of money or work for 3 days and then do work on other days. It's also advisable to keep costs down in the first few years will help.
Teaching Art & Design AVCE-A Level-GNVQ-GCSE & Special needs
Andrew told us it's a fantastic job, one of the best but has changed over the last decade. Inspections scare teachers and have had an impact on the way you teach. Paperwork required to fulfil criteria has increased significantly. Taken on as PGCE student teacher at Whitchurch, he was thrown in at the deep end. It was exhausting and he threw everything into it in the first couple of years.
He recommended that you collect as much resources as you possibly can. Professional practise different departments, photograph people and techniques. Sketchbooks are incredibly personal. It's a challenge to get the de-motivated to a position of a C grade or above. Careful about child confidentiality when reviewing sketchbooks.
Sticking to deadlines when teaching. You are judged on your results, they count for an awful lot. A good track record can get you into a powerful position. Need to do a lot of research and get involved by putting in the extra hours. Creative people can go off on a tangent so learn to reserve energy (takes time).
A PGCE is a 3 year degree condensed into one year so very hard work!
Social Media
The second session I attended was entitled 'Social Media' by Steve Graves who works in the Glyndwr Marketing Team. Below are my notes:
Social media is happening very quickly. Traditional media has not got a handle on it yet.
Facebook & Twitter are the most widely used tools. These may be replaced in the future, possibly by social networking focussing on smaller sections of society. Some are dedicated to specific areas of business, e.g. education.
Glyndwr generally uses Twitter for information such as fees and specific info as it has a more targeted audience. Facebook is often used for events.
One of the advantages for the Marketing team is that Social Networking has a much wider reach. It can also be monitored so that publishers can see how people are engaging with the content (frequency, volume etc).
Twitter is so effective as it's about short pieces of information, sharing, networking at the very heart of it. Trending - what are people watching and talking about? News stories. Glyndwr follows students, other universities, businesses etc on Twitter as well as creating its own feeds.
It's essential to embrace social networking if you plan to work in the media. It's important that traditional and social media works together. Traditional media should embrace new technologies. Networking is essential.
Businesses don't always get positive feedback on social media sites. However the view is you don't try to censor people. Listen to online debate about your brand.
The future
People are paid to monitor Twitter & Facebook. This will increase over the next few years.
Individuals will blog, Twitter & Facebook. It's as important as picking up the phone and writing emails, it will increase job opportunities.
Tumbler is a combination of Twitter & a blog. Content/sharing based. Will be more widely used in the future/
Celebrities can and will manage their brand via Social Networking, many can change the way they're perceived through it.
Monday, 7 March 2011
Creative Futures
This week is 'Creative Futures' it's designed to provide us with an insight into the realities of working in the creative industries as well as giving us an opportunity to meet and network with industry professionals to help develop our future careers.
The first speaker of the day was Dr Stuart Cunningham who is the Academic Leader for the Creative Industries. His presentation provided an holistic view of the creative industries in the UK. Below are the salient points from the presentation.
He explained that there are 400+ creative businesses in the Wrexham area and over 3000 within a 1 hour drive of the university. The good news is that the industry is easily accessible and highly scalable.
Creative industry facts:
Creative people understand entrepreneurship and enterprise.
The second speaker of the day was Barry Purves an established animator who gave a presentation entitled 'Passions and Passports'.
Portfolio, CV & Showreels The final speaker of the day was Harriet Buckley who spoke to us about portfolio, cv and showreels. Harriet has experience in reviewing cv's, showreels and also applying for a number positions so had some great advice for the students. A businesss card, live portfolio website and showreel are must haves. After applying for a position if no response is received then it's a good idea to follow up with a phone call.
The first speaker of the day was Dr Stuart Cunningham who is the Academic Leader for the Creative Industries. His presentation provided an holistic view of the creative industries in the UK. Below are the salient points from the presentation.
He explained that there are 400+ creative businesses in the Wrexham area and over 3000 within a 1 hour drive of the university. The good news is that the industry is easily accessible and highly scalable.
Creative industry facts:
- The UK creative industries make up over 7% of the UK's GDP. It's the largest in Europe although there is increasing competition from France, Canada, the Middle & Far East.
- 1,165,500 people are employed in 157,400 businesses and there are 805,700 people in creative occupations outside outside the industry, 19,000 in Wales
- Consistent employment growth
Creative people understand entrepreneurship and enterprise.
- Without creative content technology achieves little
- Creative talent is highly mobile and it needs to be retained for the benefit of the UK
- 80,000 Brits work in Hollywood (twice the number that work in the British Film Industry
- Ability to communicate
- Focus on clients, customers, audience and participants
- Central importance of creativity for achieving business success
- A key strategic priority for the UK economy
- Welsh National education priority -Digital economy-Printing technology-Product design and rapid prototyping-Visualisation
- UK is the largest publishing industry in Europe
- UK has the largest number of games development companies in Europe
- 3rd largest filmed entertainment market in the world
- By 2014 £56 billion of entertainment revenues
- Embracing technology and challenging creative ambition
- Cementing Wales and the UK as worldwide creative leaders
- Maintaining skills and expertise
- Work to create content for an increasingly media hungry market
- To stand out from the crowd
The second speaker of the day was Barry Purves an established animator who gave a presentation entitled 'Passions and Passports'.
Barry began by showing a film clip from the 'Sound of Music'. It was the lonely goatherders scene where Maria (Julie Andrews) and the children put on a puppet show for Baron Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). Barry explained that the scene changed his life as it introduced him to the world of puppets. He informed us that his favourite film is 'Mary Poppins' and he particularly liked the scene at the end of the film where she speaks to the parrot carved into her umbrella. We also watched one of his favourite animations called 'John & Karen', it's a short heart warming tale about the relationship between a polar bear and a penguin.
It demonstrated how the subtle use of animation can make all the difference to the story. Barry went on to show us one of the first animations he created entitled 'Next' it was basically the whole of Shakespeare's works in 5 minutes. We also watched another film entitled 'Overtime' created by a group of French students in 2004. Barry ended the presentation by showing us a number of his favourites images (E.g Warhorse & Swan Lake). Overall it was a very interesting and engaging presentation from Barry. He is very passionate about what he does and I'm sure the animation students in particular would have got a lot out of it.
Portfolio, CV & Showreels The final speaker of the day was Harriet Buckley who spoke to us about portfolio, cv and showreels. Harriet has experience in reviewing cv's, showreels and also applying for a number positions so had some great advice for the students. A businesss card, live portfolio website and showreel are must haves. After applying for a position if no response is received then it's a good idea to follow up with a phone call.
Other tips from Harriet were:
- Don't be too brutal with editing work
- Sound and music added to animation can boost your work although some reviewers will turn it off
- Showreels should be short and sweet (i.e. best clips of your best work)
- Don't included anything on a showreel that needs to be explained
- Be prepared to create a dvd showreel as well as a website
- A dvd is a physical reminder of your work
When creating a portfolio think about your USP (unique selling point) and concentrate on your technical skills. Life drawings are invaluable, being able to draw detail such as hands a feet will demonstrate that you can draw almost anything.
When submitting a portfolio electronically Harriet said it's best to ask permission before sending large file sizes. Also get feedback from friends and other students before sending anything. When writing an application leter keep it to one side of A4 and your CV t o a maximum of 2 sides of A4 and always check the grammar and spelling!
Overall the presenation was very information and contained lots of useful information that will be invaluable when applying for jobs.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Horror...... our latest film assignment
Well today I had a very busy day at an abandoned abbey near Talacre. This was the chosen location for our latest film assignment. It doesn't yet have a title but the genre is going to be horror. The story is reality based - Sue, Gemma and I all play ourselves. We've just received our latest assignment and after a discussion at the Uni we're at a loss to come up with any valid ideas. Gemma has a brainwave after seeeing a caravan outside the window she's staring out of. "Let's do a documentary about Caravans!" she says. In the absence of any better ideas we reluctantly agree. So we've decided on the genre and the location is a caravan park near Talacre in North Wales. We arrange an interview with the caravan park owner and make our way over there. After a short interview (the caravan owner is not interested in answering our questions) we decide to go and explore. After following path leading out of the park we end up in a field with a brick wall running next to it. I notice a hole in the wall and suggest to the others that we go and explore. So we all make our way over the wall and into a wooded area. After exploring for a while we come across a graveyard and then what looks like an abandoned abbey. Unfortunately for us strange things start to happen and each member of the group ends up disappearing one by one.... I will post more details of the film once it has been completed and reviewed by our tutors (**See update below**).
We all had a fantastic day filming, it was hard work but very rewarding. The weather in the morning of the shoot was perfect as it was very foggy, this added to the mood greatly. It was good experience experimenting with the lighting, we had to be quite inventive with the torches we carried. We had to produce enough light to film (as parts of the abbey were very dark!) whilst maintaining the mood without making things look too artificial which was quite a challenge. Overall it was a brilliant day, there was some superb acting by Gemma and Sue (and hopefully myself!) and Dawn and Carys were great in helping to film, direct and record the sound. It was a great experience working with the group, we allocated tasks according to peoples strengths and weaknesses but also everyone chipped in when required to do so.
Unfortunately after reviewing the footage it was recognised that some of the scenes were too dark and there were a few continuity errors. We therefore decided that a second days filming was required to correct these issues. Sue, Gemma, Dawn & I therefore headed off to Talacre again but this time we took more torches to help with the light situation. It wasn't a foggy day but most of the re-shoot was inside so it didn't cause us too many problems and we were very pleased with the results. A fantastic job was done by Sue (opening) and Gemma (closing) in post-production with the credits which make the whole production look a lot more professional. Next time I would like to shoot in HD if possible as due to the conversion process (mpeg to Quicktime format) some of the quality was lost. However, I'm very happy with the outcome of the film and I think it's our best production to date.
We all had a fantastic day filming, it was hard work but very rewarding. The weather in the morning of the shoot was perfect as it was very foggy, this added to the mood greatly. It was good experience experimenting with the lighting, we had to be quite inventive with the torches we carried. We had to produce enough light to film (as parts of the abbey were very dark!) whilst maintaining the mood without making things look too artificial which was quite a challenge. Overall it was a brilliant day, there was some superb acting by Gemma and Sue (and hopefully myself!) and Dawn and Carys were great in helping to film, direct and record the sound. It was a great experience working with the group, we allocated tasks according to peoples strengths and weaknesses but also everyone chipped in when required to do so. Unfortunately after reviewing the footage it was recognised that some of the scenes were too dark and there were a few continuity errors. We therefore decided that a second days filming was required to correct these issues. Sue, Gemma, Dawn & I therefore headed off to Talacre again but this time we took more torches to help with the light situation. It wasn't a foggy day but most of the re-shoot was inside so it didn't cause us too many problems and we were very pleased with the results. A fantastic job was done by Sue (opening) and Gemma (closing) in post-production with the credits which make the whole production look a lot more professional. Next time I would like to shoot in HD if possible as due to the conversion process (mpeg to Quicktime format) some of the quality was lost. However, I'm very happy with the outcome of the film and I think it's our best production to date.
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Stoke your Fires
I 
visited the 'Stoke Your Fires' moving image festival today with my fellow students. Based in the city of Stoke the festival has been running for three years. It's main focus is animation but this year film and digital media was also included. We were firstly shown 8 films from the awards shortlist, these were as follows:
visited the 'Stoke Your Fires' moving image festival today with my fellow students. Based in the city of Stoke the festival has been running for three years. It's main focus is animation but this year film and digital media was also included. We were firstly shown 8 films from the awards shortlist, these were as follows:Best Short Animation - Specky Four-Eyes Jean-Claude Rozec, France -
Best Professional Animation - Save our Bacon Peter Baynton, UK
Best Fine Art/Experimental - Birdboy Pedro Rivero & Albert Vazquez, Spain
Best Student Animation - On the Water - Yi Zhao, The Netherlands
Best Short Film Drama - Intercambrio - Antonollo Novoulno, Italy
Best Short Film Documentary - Identity Petrazalkar Juraj Chipik, Slovaki
Best Student Film - Entropy Alexander Thomas, UK
Best 'Made in the Midlands' - Run Anderson West, UK
My favourites film was 'On the Water' by Yi Zhao. This was about the journey through life and propelling oneself forward through its trials and tribulations, ups and downs, the joys, the losses and finally death. It was an emotional animation and in my opinion a powerful way of telling the story about the events that everyone experiences throughout their lifetime.
In the second session of the day a panel of media professionals spoke to us about their careers and projects they're currently working on. Chris Rhodes from 'Hit Entertainment' talked about a new animation series he is producing called 'Mike The Knight'. He told us that much of the CGI animation is now produced outside the UK due to a number of reasons (e.g. tax breaks & budget).Chris also spoke about compliance within childrens programmes and how reviewing content before it is broadcast is an important aspect to his job. The second speaker was called Hans, he is the 'Head of Pipeline' for MPC London. He told us that his team pieces together all of the separate parts that are produced by the different areas of his business, resulting in the final product. Another speaker talked about his role as Producer of a new children's programme called 'Ra Ra The Lion'.
The final speaker of the day was Gruff Owen. He is a 2d Supervisor from a company called 'Double Negative'. Gruff has worked on many films during his time at 'Double Negative' including some of the Harry Potter and X-Men films. However, today he spoke about the film 'Paul' that has recently been released at the cinema. The main character 'Paul' is completely CGI (apart from a couple of short scenes where a puppet was used). Gruff explained to us in detail how the character was created and the techniques used to bring him to life on the screen. He also told us about the importance of photography and the use of light within the studio, where much of the filming within the vehicle was shot.
Overall it was an interesting day at the festival. Although I felt it would have been most beneficial to the animation students.
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Light painting
Had some great fun in the studio today with Gemma and Sue experimenting with 'light painting'. Firstly the camera was placed on a tripod, I then set a long exposure (initially 6 seconds). After turning off the lights in the studio and beginning the exposure we then proceeded to dance around in front of the camera with our torches (one LED torch, one with a standard bulb) , the results were fantastic.
We also lit some sparklers and interspersed these with the torches to create an interesting effect. A longer exposure was set for these shots as the sparklers did not give off that much light.
After finishing the light painting Gemma decided to take a photo of her face with the torch pointing at it, these looked great so we decided to take a number of pictures of varying exposures. The results are below..... very sinister!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)