Interview prep.

This was my checklist for the interview questions:
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1. Current portfolio of work.

VIMEO/blog strand.


2. a) Emerging practice.

- Develop my skills within film both pre/post production, including art direction, camera handling, studio set-up, animation, editing, and project management.

Render technical understanding as closely to professional/industry requirements as possible.

b) Career aspirations.

- No specific realisations as yet with regards to a specialist position. → I enjoy being involved throughout the whole working process and my knowledge of the industry thus far is limited, but would love to work as part of a small/emerging film company where there is multiple input and cross-over of roles within the team, ideally for jobs within the music industry.

c) Level 3 practice.

- Develop my technical understanding within film as closely to professional/industry requirements as possible.

- Summer prep:

Summer collaboration with digi media students on 10-minute film, which will be used as a training device for people who treat depression.

- Produce 2 polished films for both projects next year, submit to festivals/competitions.


3. Placement opportunities.

PRACTICAL.

- Left Eye Blind - a young collective based in Leeds. Currently trying to secure placement.

- Oblong - producing graff doc, again based in Leeds.

OTHER POSSIBILITIES. (funds dependent)

- Academy Content films. Based in London, renowned independently for its professionalism and high-end skills as a production house.

- Annex Films is one of London's longest running commercial production companies with 34 years in the business.

- Another Film Co. Award winning, London based production company, again really established and respected. Would love to work for such a company.

- Also looked at Post-Production companies in London, such as CONCRETE, PEPPER, RED EARTH, and FIFTY FIFTY.


4. Other strategies.

- Develop a more professional identity. A showreel would be good to condense my work down into short and concise snippets. I will have to think about the work I produce in the future and how it could fit into such a layout.

- Continue to upload onto Vimeo, try and get feedback and publicity for my work, and build relations with a wider network outside of the college bubble.

- Collaborating with other practitioners/graduate/students on projects.


5. Does my portfolio work?

- Ultimately needs more work in it.

- Consider a web presence/showreel in time for a more professional presence.

- Vimeo very useful, need to push to the right areas and submit work to festivals/competition strands to get more hits.

POST PRODUCTION

Here are some companies i've looked into that specialise more in post production.
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Red Earth Studio is an independent production company displaying a portfolio of work ranging through documentary production, live sport events, corporate film-making and digital media content creation.

Broadcast work includes globally distributed programming for Discovery, Sky, Bravo, Fox, Spike TV and Al Jazeera; sport content includes Powerboat World Championships, Formula Renault Motorsport and Aero GP; corporate clients include LG , Adidas, Unichem, Swarovski, Reebok, Majestic, Wilson, The FA and, since 2004, full production services to McDonald's, capturing their involvement in the Grassroots Football scheme, in association with The FA.

SHOWREEL.

Red Earth Studio
27 Phipp Street
London
EC2A 4NP

www.redearthstudio.com
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Fifty Fifty Post Production formed in 2003 by Sally Pacy and Tim Whitehead to provide post production services to the broadcast, advertising, and corporate TV markets. Client base includes NBC Universal and the Discovery Channel.

24 D'Arblay St
London
W1F 8EH

www.fiftyfiftypost.com
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Concrete Post Production, another top notch high end company based in London. Facilities include Finishing & Visual FX, Graphic Design, and 3D animation.

Concrete
34-35 Dean Street
London
W1D 4PR

www.concretepost.co.uk

SUMMER COLLAB

I've been given the opportunity to collaborate on a project over the summer by a friend from Digital Media and one of his classmates - from what i can gather so far it is to produce a ten minute film that will be used as a training aid for people who treat depression and suicide, funded through Manchester University, although im not 100% sure on the exact details yet.

It sounds like a really interesting and worthwhile project. I hope it goes ahead and i can be involved right through, will post what happens with this soon.

ANOTHER FILM CO.

Another Film Co
4th Floor, 14-17 Wells Mews
London
W1T 3HF
UK

Contact Nicky Flemming:

t. +44 (0) 207 307 7750
f. +44 (0) 207 307 7755
e. nicky@anotherfilmcompany.com

Award winning film company, again based in London, set up in 2001 by Steve Reeves and Tim Marshall. Shreeve's commercial credits include BA, Mastercard, Sony, Nokia, Royal Navy, One2One, BT, Diet Coke, and the now infamous Agent Provocateur spot featuring Kylie which won the BTAA Best Cinema Commercial, and is the most watched viral film ever with 360 million viewings.
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ANNEX

Annex Films is one of London's longest running commercial production companies with 34 years in the business. Since 1984 the company's Executive Producer, Fred Robinson, has led Annex through a diverse range of award winning campaigns, receiving accolades including Cannes Gold Lions, D&AD Pencils, British Television Award Golds, CLIOS and Irish Awards.

Their online portfolio is outstanding. Laurie Hill is a multi-award winning short film director, and was recently added to the roster in commercial and music video representation. He was a finalist in the Jerwood Moving Image Awards 2008, won the Getty Images / Short & Sweet short film Challenge 2008 as well as being selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2007.

On the success of his most recent film ‘Photograph of Jesus’ Laurie has been featured and interviewed for international industry magazines Shots and Boards.

Bill Bungay, Creative Director at advertising agency, Beattie McGuiness Bungay has said of Laurie’s film…

“'Photo Of Jesus'. Firstly - it is an exquisite piece of animation (it's hard to see how this film could be improved). Secondly - the engaging story line utterly nails the depth and breadth of the Getty Images archive and, with my ad man hat on for a moment - it's hard to see how Getty Images could make a better, more representative film than this.”
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OBLONG.

I worked at Oblong for my Send & Receive but havent been back for a while as we've had a fair bit on at college. There are always opportunities to get involved, namely the graffiti doc i was involved with filming back in April. I will be able to commit more time to this when i return from working back home.

Beulah Hall
2 Beulah Mount
Leeds LS6 2JZ
Telephone: 0113 2459610
Email: us@oblongleeds.org.uk

LEFT EYE BLIND.

Are a young collective based in Leeds that i'd love to get some experience with. They've co-incidentally recently signed with Academy so are obviously doing very well. I've been in touch to try and secure a placement but have heard nothing back yet.

ACADEMY FILMS

Academy Content was set up to respond to the growing global demand for branded entertainment. Based in London, renowned independently for its professionalism and high-end skills as a production house.

It hosts a multitude of extremely talented people. There are 12 individuals/collectives signed to them, namely Tom Haines, Nick Gordon, and Jonathan Glazer, - who are all responsible for some top notch productions. Glazer in particular has been one of the world’s leading commercials and music video directors for a number of years now.

Academy Films
16 West Central St
London WC1A 1JJ
Tel: +44 (0)20 7395 4155
Fax: +44 (0)20 7240 0355
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Roni Size, Brown Paper Bag - directed by Nick Gordon.

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Jamiroquai, Virtual Insanity - directed by Jonathan Glazer.

LEVEL 3.

"I feel i've definitely got a head start on gaining contacts within the industry. I think this is because the penny dropped at the start of the second year, and i realised that in order for me to make a career out of this is need to get my work out there as far and as wide as possible.

From what i can gather so far, the industry wants someone who has a wide breadth of different skills; this means they don't have to employ three people to do one task. This ultimately reduces their costs, which is what they want during the credit crunch.

They also want you to have a web space, if you don't have a central point of contact and a place that your work can be easily accessed then the work may as well not have been created."

(Matt Saunders, work placement evaluation).
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Matt's, phil's, and will's evaluations were good reads and i thought the above point was particularly pertinent. Having a web presence seems much more important now, and i will have to think about how i want to build mine. Need to start producing some decent work to put on it..

Resources.

NETWORKS.

Leeds Media/Screen Yorkshire/Design Council/recruitment agencies (Orchard)/Arts Council/VAL/ESA/Leeds visual arts forum, etc.

"Its not what you know, it's who you know"

to DO'S:

How will i secure a placement?

Establish a placement that is realistic and practical, i.e location, timescale, is it actually relevant? How am i offering, and how do i present this?

Research creative industries of today, pinpoint any opportunities that may be applicable. Also read Level 3 evaluations to see what they experienced.

Develop my portfolio and develop how i am marketing myself. (Showreel/Vimeo/Website)

Go and get in touch.

PREPARATION.

"Learning to become a Visual Communicator is as much about understanding the culture of the workplace as it is about learning skills."

Definitions of a placement:

- work placement/work based learning/work experience.

- any engagement with practitioners that informs understanding within the creative industries.

- talking to professionals/visits/research/traditional placements/working with clients/volunteering.