Wrexham Christmas Light Switch On

This was another huge event that I again was directing. This time the crew was huge. Myself and Holly Cooper took the static side of stage camera to catch most of the action, as we always do. Another of the film teams was David Fisher and Ayse Kaya, who were placed in the space above the butchers (The Meat Man). They had cleaned the window and set up the camera to look down on the event. They were also in a perfect spot to capture the fireworks coming over the buildings. Paul Lowndes was with Frank Hagger and Dave Hale was with Tommy Needham. Both of these crews were floating around to capture the atmosphere of the crowd and to get close-ups of the stage. Paul and Frank had the specific job of getting the fireworks display. We also had a massive photography team, including Sue McGrane, Juliet Dover, Will Arun, Ryan Ankers, Jessica Combe, Kathryn Lunt, Steph Bate, Jessica Kilvert, Dawn Field, Katie Cowell and Catherine Findley.

This is the running order we recieved prior to the event:

The whole crew, ready to go !!

Wrexham Christmas Lights Switch On, Queen’s Square, Thursday 22nd November
Running Order (approx)
1.00pm - Access to square from this time onwards
1.30pm - Mobile Stage Arrives
2.00pm - PA Lights Setup
3.00pm - Volunteer / Steward Briefing
4.00pm - Soundcheck
5.15pm – 5.20pm Event Opens – Calon Fm Host CONFIRMED
5.20pm – 5.40pm Tudur & Ali from S4C’s STWNSH CONFIRMED
5.45pm - 6.00pm Delta Academy Performance CONFIRMED
6.00pm – 6.05pm Calon Compere introduces The Mayor CONFIRMED
6.05pm - 6.10pm Mayor Speaks
6.10pm – 6.15pm Calon Compere introduces Panto Cast CONFIRMED
6.15pm - 6.30pm Panto cast CONFIRMED
6.30pm – 6.35pm Calon compere announces comp winner, s guest, lights
6.35pm - 6.45pm Switch-on with GARETH THOMAS
+ FIREWORK DISPLAY CONFIRMED
6.45pm - 7.05pm Heal The Last Stand CONFIRMED
7.05pm Event ends Set down and area cleared by 10.30pm
Notes:

Power is supplied on site from a mains source (liase with WCBC electrician)

Mobile, covered staging is provided – own production required.

Scale drawing of site inc access /egress points available upon request.
All contractors / service providers must have necessary insurances in place and be able to provide up to date copies of those insurances for inspection prior to and at anytime during the event.

We encountered a lot of problems on the day of filming. First off, as it was the end of November, it was a truly miserable day and it rained non-stop. This meant that it was touch and go as to whether or not we could risk the equipment. We over came this by sourcing umbrellas for the film crews. We had runners in place to help with keeping the crews and equipment dry and safe. Once we decided we could go ahead, we went up to the room where team 2 would be filming. This is where we encountered our second problem of the evening. The battery on one of the film cameras was completely juiced out. luckily there was a charger at hand to top it up before the fireworks. The plan was for Paul and Frank to use that battery and stay indoors until it was charged. Most of the photographers had DSLR's capable of HD footage so everybody pitched in. Kathryn and Ryan especially helped, as they were meant to be filming on Canon 5D at the top of St. Giles church. Due to the weather, this had to be abandoned. This meant they could join the street crew and do filming and photography.

©Sue McGrane. Dave, me and Holly, Setting up.

We got set up in our locations and everything got underway. It was absolutely freezing but I enjoyed the event itself. As I was directing this project, I occasionally left my post to check up on everybody else. I went up to see how Ayse and Dave were getting on. Everything was running smoothly with them and they had no problems all night. Dave Hale and Tommy had some interesting ideas for composition and cutaways that they ran by me. They worked extremely well as a team and are both talented cameramen. Paul and Frank also knew what they were doing. I used my time circulating to get feedback and relay messages to other teams. Will had a problem as he wanted to use his tripod, due to the low lighting. I advised him against this, as there was far to many people around. As a compromise, I helped him find the correct settings. I made sure all the photographers were in the right places at the right times to capture the specific moments they were meant to. Everything went incredibly well given the circumstances. I was very proud of our team.
When we came to upload the footage we had a massive issue with storage. Luckily the university allocated us our own Mac to use for editing. We moved it into our own space, a little office we created. This made us look a little more professional. We wiped the Mac and put the footage on there but ran out of space. The main camera footage was uploaded first and this is where we ran into problems with space. Our technician, Simon, then came along to do a restore to get rid of unwanted files from the machine. Unfortunatly, he accidentally wiped the footage we had just transferred. This meant the core footage and sound we had recorded had gone and we had no way of getting it back. This was a major setback. Luckily we had taken the Fostex with us. This is a device that records sounds straight from the sound desk. Jess Kilvert had some sound effects of crowd that she let us use. This meant that the sound was sorted, we just lost a lot of footage. We realised that it was going to be a massive editing job now so decided to set up an editing rota. This is the rota:


This is the editing rota we have set up for the Light Switch On.
Monday 26th - All day
Beckah
Kathryn
Ryan
Juliet
Tuesday 27th - AM
Kathryn
Beckah
Tuesday 27th - PM
Ryan
Juliet
Wednesday 28th - AM
Tommy
Beckah
Wednesday 28th - PM
Tommy
Beckah
Sue
Thursday 29th - AM
Beckah
Holly
Thursday 29th - PM
Holly
Beckah
Jess K
Sophie
Friday 30th - AM
Tommy
Will
Sue
Friday 30th - PM
Tommy
Will
Ryan
Monday 3rd Dec - All day
Sue
Beckah
Kat
Ryan
Tuesday 4th Dec - AM
Beckah
Ryan
Sue
Ayse
Tuesday 4th Dec - PM
Sue
Ayse
Beckah (popping in and out)
Kat (popping in and out)
Wednesday 5th Dec - AM
Ayse
Tommy
Beckah
Sophie
Wednesday - PM
Tommy
Beckah
Sue
Holly
Thursday 6th Dec - AM
Sue
Holly
Thursday 6th Dec - PM
Sue
Holly
Beckah
Kat
Thursday 6th is the deadine. On friday it will need to be exported and uploaded to YouTube.
This rota is based on who was at the meeting and told us when they are available. People who were not at the meeting, please just come along and help out when you can. Any problems with days you cannot come in, let us know.

At first, everybody stuck to the rota. Towards the end, however, myself, Sue and Holly did the bulk of the editing. It was serious hard work as we had so much content and a specific time cap. We managed to get everything edited together in time. Andy Argyle then joined the Collective as we needed help sorting out the sound levels. He did a brilliant job of it and we got it exported and uploaded in time for all of the clients to view it. I believe this was a massive success and well done to everyone involved.

A Sense of Space Exhibition

This was, by far, one of the biggest projects we have taken part in with the Collective (aside from the carnival). We were approached by a number of the people involved to cover the event. Myself and Sue McGrane actually went along to the meeting to help set up the exhibition and how it would best be filmed. We were involved with the artists, such as Angela Davies, who ran the actual exhibition, as well as the people providing the entertainment. These include Heal the Last Stand and the Wrexham Community Choir. We were asked to cover the grand opening of the exhibition in Wrexham's Peoples Market.
I was in charge of the film crew on this event. We had four Panasonic film cameras to cover this vast event. I was using the static camera, set up an a tripod, to capture the bulk of the action. I then instructed Ayse Kaya, Ryan Ankers and Yale student Emin Atilgan to be in certain places to capture certain aspects of the event.
All in all, the coverage of the event ran smoothly. Ayse and Ryan then edited the video.

The Big October Bash - Oswestry

This was a charity event in aid of Hope House at The Venue in Oswestry. Myself and a fellow member of the collective were invited there to take pictures by a member of the headline act, Monsta Ball. We were under instruction to act as press and paparazzi, as this was a celebrity fancy dress themed night. I was nervous and excited as it was my first time covering an event photographically for the collective. Our first job was to stand outside around the red carpet and catch the people as they came in. This was something completely different to what I have done before. At first I found it hard to get the images to be exposed correctly, but thanks to the help of some member of the Oswestry Photagraphic Society, I managed to work it out. One of the red carpet images is left of this text.
We then moved inside when the event got underway. A radio DJ from the local station, Signal 107, was presenting. There was a fashion show and a number of other great performances from gymnasts and a raffle.
    I really enjoyed this experience and it made me realise that I would like to cover more events from a photographic point of view. I know that I work well under pressure, so having a time limit by which to have the photographs edited made my work stronger. I got some fantastic feedback from the organisers and all involved. It was a brilliant night and my images have been used on the website of the band and the designers. My images can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.372838279467936.90350.265825453502553&type=3

Wrexham Community Choir at Wales vs England Rugby League Game.

Sue Mcgrane, who established and organised the collective, has worked closely with the Wrexham Community Choir previously and has connections with the people that run it. She was approached by the choir and asked to film their performance at the rugby game. We encountered a problem straight away. The rugby game was to be televised live and the BBC had the contract and rights for this.We let Wendy know that there might be a problem and she chased it up. The BBC were kind enough to let us film. However, there were terms and conditions.Firstly the BBC would only allow two of us in with recording equipment. this meant that we were limited to one Panasonic film camera, one boom mic and a Canon DSLR, capable of capturing film. This limitation of equipment also limited the amount of footage and the variations of angles etc. We were then informed that the two people would not be allowed pitch side during the actual performance. We were, instead, granted permission to perform the rehearsals on the pitch. We decided that we would just play it by ear, as it was useless trying to plan much as none of us, including the choir members, had any idea what was going to happen on the day.

    We arrived at the sports hall on campus early to ensure we got all the information as it became available. Nobody still had any idea of what was going on. Suddenly, it was announced that we had to make a move and get over to Glyndwr Racecourse Stadium for rehearsals. We were whisked over there and barely had time to set up the tripod, camera and mic before the rehearsals began. it was all very rushed but we were then told we could still film the performance, just not pitch-side. We had to stay within the barriers. This news was a great relief as we did not have sufficient quality footage. When we were allowed back in for the actual match, we made sure we got a pitch-side seat in order to film. We filmed with the Panasonic and Canon, using on deck sound. After the choir had performed, I had a chance to do some sports photography. I used the Canon with a zoom lens and enjoyed myself trying to get good images. I have used some of my images to illustrate this post.

Wrexham Carnival, Peace Day, Zine Fair and SWICA Workshops

This is the first event I helped cover with the Wrexham Film and Photography Collective. Over three days, around 12 of us covered four different events. I was in film crew two, along with classmates Kathryn Lunt, Ryan Ankers and Will Aron. As part of this team, I covered the SWICA Workshops at Bryn Alyn School. This was our first assignment of the week and I was really excited to start. SWICA is the South Wales Intercultural Community Arts group. They originate in Cardiff. They create arts opportunities across the North Wales region and celebrate multicultural arts. On the day of filming, our job was to capture the children of the school whilst in a dance workshop with a member of SWICA. These workshops where intended to be a two day event but we ran into problems on the first day. The workshops were meant to be at a community centre in Plas Madoc. We arranged travel and drove to the community sentre only to discover that the workshops had been moved to Bryn Alyn School. We were not informed of this so we then had to get into contact with the organisers of the workshop. We then made our way over to the school. When we got to the school, they had no knowledge of us being there. We had also arrived before the SWICA team.This meant that we had to wait for them to arrive to confirm us. This is where we ran into our second problem. As the teachers at the school had no knowledge of us being there, there was in issue with consent. As the children participating in the workshop were under the age of 16, we needed written consent from the parents to film and photograph them. SWICA had also overlooked them. After a while discussing our options, it was decided that we would not be allowed to film that day. The good thing about this is that it has made us realise that we have to be aware of this on every job we take up. We managed to get some consent forms sorted and delivered to the school, courtesy of Steffan Jones-Hughes at the Arts Council to be given to the children for the next days worth of filming. This meant that, with enough returned forms, filming could go ahead the next day. .It was unfortunate about this set back and how long it took as the other film crew were snowed under and under-staffed covering the Peace day events at St Christopher's School.
     We arrived the next day at the time they asked us too and were given the go ahead to film. This was a relief and were glad of it. We discussed as a team how we would set up. We had one Static camera set up in the corner of the room with a boom mic and one handheld to capture cutaways and different angles. We took it in turns in our team of four alternating between operating both cameras, operating the boom, and shadowing the hand held camera operator. We thought this was best as then everybody got a turn at doing each thing. I feel that this technique worked extremely well.

Next came the editing stage. I did not have much input when it came to editing due to illness. We needed to edit the footage and create a DVD cover, as requested by the school. We also created a YouTube page for us to display our work. The link for the channel is below, along with the video from this project. http://www.youtube.com/user/WrexhamFilmPhotog

On the last day of the three days events came the finale in the form of the Wrexham Arts Council Carnival. This consisted of the Zine Fair, the Peace Day finale and the SWICA parade and street performances. The Zine Fair was in the Oriel and I was not on the film crew to cover this. The same crew that covered this covered the Peace Day Finale as they had been involved with that all week long, as we had with SWICA. Peace Day finale was a fair on the library field, including live music by local bands on the bandstand, to promote peace in the community. I was working on the parade and street entertainment, due to my previous work with SWICA. I was with the same team and we were produced by Dave Hale. He gave us a lot of hints and tips and was around during the day to help us out. We got to the Oriel early to film the SWICA crew rehearse and get ready. This was good as it gave us a backstage view and more footage for the edit. Next came the parade. When we arrived, we did not really know the parade route due to a miscommunication. We found out the route plan and decided on a static camera and a hand held. We also decided on a 'leap-frog' technique to ensure we captured all of the action. This meant that we would position ourselves in different locations and when the parade had passed us, we would run onwards along the route so that we were in front of the other two, then they would do the same. the Hand held camera was for filming cutaways such as crowd shots and feet shots. I was with Kathryn on the handheld. When the parade ended in Queens Square, we decided to use the same approach with the street performers. We set up one camera on a tripod with a boom mic and kept it rolling to capture all of the footage. The handheld was used for filming different angles and cutaways for editing. Dave and his film crew cam over and helped out by grabbing some interviews with the crowd, performers and organisers. It was a long day but it went extremely well and I really enjoyed my first week with the collective.
 

I edited the whole of the footage for SWICA's involvement in the carnival. I have realised now that i have more of a passion for film than I do for photography but still love to take good photographs. Editing has become a stronger point for me and taking creative control over this project has really helped me to develop my skills. This edit took me between 4-5 weeks and after this, it has been decided that I will become chief of editing within the collective, overlooking and tweaking all of the edits. I am really pleased about this news. This edit was also put into the main edit that went to the Arts Council.





In total, 5 films were made for the events over these three days. I was also involved with the filming of the footage in the Wonderbrass Video.

The Wrexham Film and Photography Collective

In September 2012, I was contacted by Sue McGrane, via Facebook, with regards to joining a collective of film makers and photographers. As part of this collective, I have had a lot of opportunity to take on outside projects and gain a lot of experience in handling filming equipment  capturing with DSLR and in the editing and digital processes involved.

Time Lapse - Digital Process

For this project, I have been asked to create a video that shows compression of time. Some useful websites i was given were: www.time-lapse.co.uk/showreel.htm

My Percussive Rhythm Project

After researching all the different possibilities, I have decided to experiment with three environments of percussive rhythm. These are; my local gym, my kitchen and a playground. My plan is too go to each of these places and try and see how many different sounds I can get, with the most variation. I will then log these sounds in order to see which environment would give me the greatest soundtrack. I will then go back to the place with a detailed plan of what sounds i need to get and how long to get them for. this will make me fully prepared for editing the sound and images together to create my percussive rhythm soundtrack. I may incur some problems, such as gaining permission to film in my gym and weather for the park. these are also things i will need to take into consideration before I film.

John Cage

John Cage is an American composer. His most famous work is 4'33 (four minutes and thirty three seconds). This was first performed in 1952 and it is performed with the absence of deliberate sound. This was not, as people seemed to think, over 4 minutes of silence. In fact, what the audience where listening to was environmental and ambient sounds. from this contraversial piece, Cage wrote a number of dance works known as sontanas and interludes.

Sounds of the Gym

Sounds of the Bathroom

Stomp

Stomp are a choreographed percussion group who take everyday objects and make unique rhythms with the sounds that they make. They have used a lot of different subject matters to create a huge variety of unique percussive rhythms.


I thought it would be beneficial to look at this performance group as part of my research because of the wide range of "instruments" they use. It will help me think of other things I can use to create my sequence.

Sounds of a Kitchen

Here are two examples of using a kitchen as an environment and subject matter for percussive rhythm.

Coca Cola 2012 Advert

This is the advert that was made in the build up to the Olympics in London 2012. It uses sounds of athletes and bottles that link together. These sounds are then laid over a soundtrack with vocals to create a song. The slogan "Move to the Beat" shows that this is the best of the Olympics.

List of Environments for Percussive Rhythm

This is a list of environments in which the Percussive Rhythm brief can be fulfilled.

1. Pub/Bar - Chatting, clinking glasses etc.
2. Bathroom - Splashing water, flushing toilet etc.
3. Garage - Horn beeping, engine revving etc.
4. Garden - Lawnmower, BBQ sizzle etc.
5. University - People chatting, scissors chopping etc.
6. Park - Children Laughing, bouncing balls etc.
7. Supermarket - Bleeping checkout, trolley wheels etc.
8. Gym/Sports - Running feet, machines beeping etc.
9. Town Centre - Shouting, bags rustling etc.
10. Zoo - Animal noises, people noises etc.

These are just 10 of the vast amount places and subjects I could use for my answer to this brief. I am keen to visit these places to see which is the most rich for varying and rhythmic sounds.

Summer Projects

After receiving my summer pack from university in the post, I read through them thoroughly and discussed the projects over Facebook and text messages with my course mates. I find this helpful as it helps me to understand what needs to be done and I find inspiration from them.

I have made some notes and higlighted the relevant parts in order to plan and develop my projects correctly.I am going to buy a new sketchbook for these projects and I intend to write out a detailed plan for each brief.

Overall Evaluation

I found the trip and the creative futures week very informative, as a whole. I got some generally great advice that I will take on board and already have started to. During creative futures week, I liked the fact that i could choose which talks I could go to. In London, I couldn't. There were other places available that I would rather have visited, such as the BBC. There were also a few places that cancelled, like Framestore, that i was really keen on visiting. I think this has been beneficial to my studies and am glad I attended both.

You will find no work for other modules on this blog as they are in a sketch book ready to be handed in at the correct deadline.

The Mill

Research prior to visit:
 The Mill has offices in New York, London and LA. We will be visiting their London office whilst on the industrial visit. They are another VFX company. They have worked on various films, music videos and advertisments such as Muller Light, Hadouken - Parasite, Marks and Spencer, David Guetta and KFC to name a few of their vast portfolio.

http://www.themill.com/blog.aspx This is the blog that the Mill writes on constantly. I will keep looking at it and checking to see what new things come up.

Showreels :
http://www.themill.com/showreels.aspx

Contact:

40-41 Great Marlborough Street Soho, London, W1F 7JQ

Google Maps

TV and Film, Brand Services, Beam 40-44 Clipstone Street London, W1W 5DW

Google Maps

Tel: +44 20 7287 4041 Fax: +44 20 7287 8393

After the Visit:

When we arrived at the company, they were not aware of our visit. This meant that we were just sat around waiting for quite a while. Afterwards we just got a tour of the building and a business card. I feel like I didnt take anything beneficial from the talk and may need to contact them further to get any information.

Other networks

I have created my own flickr account to showcase my projects and other work I have created. Here is a link to my flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dynamitephotog/ . Flickr has become a very popular and useful tool used by photographers. I enjoy using this site as I see varied types and styles of photography. It is also an easy platform on which I can store and show my work.

I have my own facebook account but never really put it to much use. After speaking to everybody in my talks in London and at Creative Futures, I decided to create a page for my photography and film works. Here is a link - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dynamite-Photography-Film/265825453502553

I also learnt that blogging is another good way to get myself known. from then on i started to use tumblr and will soon be making another blog on blogger. Link - http://www.tumblr.com/blog/apologiseforthesummertime
I intend to make a separate tumblr just for my work and inspiration.

A few more sites I intend to use to showcase my work are pintrest - http://pinterest.com/ , Linked in - http://uk.linkedin.com/ and google+ https://plus.google.com/up/start/?continue=https://plus.google.com/&type=st&gpcaz=42672086

I have also found sites that may help me find a job and actively use them to search for internships and upcoming placement opportunities. http://www.studentgems.com/ Student Gems is a network in which employees can find students with the skills sets that will fulfil their needs and offer them temporary work to help on projects. It is a really good way to gain experience and skills. It is also a great way to get contacts.http://www.enternships.com/ Enternships is similar and carries the same benefits. however, rather than getting temporary paid jobs, students are offered longer internships. I am currently trying to find relevant work for over the summer so that i can gain more skills and get myself known.

Twitter

Twitter is a social networking site. Before the London trip and creative futures week, I only used it to follow celebrities and my friend. since then i have found it to be a useful place to get my work seen and gether feedback.

Link to my Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BeckahDynamite

Other useful people to follow:
@gettyimage https://twitter.com/#!/GettyImages
@amazingpics https://twitter.com/#!/AmazingPics

Double Negative

Research Prior to Visit:

Website - http://www.dneg.com/ . Double negative is a Soho based visual arts company, established in 1998. Since then, it has grown to be the number 1 provider of visual effects in Europe and they now have an office based in Singapore, which opened in 2009. Double Negative have won several Visual Effects Society awards, most recently for Inception. Double Negative have also won many more prestigious awards such as an Academy Award, again for Inception and a BAFTA for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

The company has worked on a lot of projects, some large and some small. These include; Captain America, Paul, Scott Pilgrim, Inception, Sherlock Holmes and The Fast and the Furious. The list is extensive, as is the list of awards won by the company.

Showreel - http://www.dneg.com/showreel/

Double Negative offer a wide range of job opportunities. On their website, the list of job roles is quite long and includes; Runners, Junior Programmers, 3D Designers, Production Booking Assistant and Database Developer. The website also tells a prospective applicant exactly what they need to do to apply.

Contact Details:

LONDON

Double Negative Visual Effects
77 Shaftesbury Avenue
London
W1D 5DU
google map

5th Floor
45 Mortimer Street,
London
W1W 8HJ
google map

t: +44 (0)20 7534 4400
f: +44 (0)20 7534 4452
info@dneg.com

After the Visit:

During the visit to Double Negative, we watched how the designers built up the sequences in the film Captain America. In this film, the company produced 630 shots which 200 artists worked on over the course of production. Some of the sequences they worked on were the crypt and Schmidt’s office. They built up virtual vehicles, environments an also did the visual effects.

During the build phase, artists had to research in detail everything and base the visuals on their reference material. Planning for everything is also a must. In this industry it is better to over design than under design, meaning that artists had to design for all weathers. There were some part sets made for filming, such as the train in the alpine sequence. To make this all fit together, designers had to sculpt to the original shape and make the interior and environment identical. Green screen acting was used for this part so keying out the green and making it look realistic was a challenge. In the pod fighter sequence, almost everything was CG, such as the clouds and the pod fighters themselves.  There was a lot of science in this.

After seeing all the work that is put in to CG and visual effects, it seems to me to be a very hard job. It can be repetitive and a long process but is very valuable to the film industry. I am not really looking for a job in this area but it was very insightful to look at different processes of film making.

After seeing what work the company do, we were given a brief talk on the history of Double Negative. It is very easy to develop a career within the company, with most senior people having started out as runners in the early days of the company. The people they recruit at the company are normally hired for the long term. Training and development is given to help new starters thrive and build the skills they need to get ahead. The projects they work on are mainly film with an even mix between huge blockbusters and smaller independent films. Current projects the company are working on are; Dark Knight Rises, Total Recall, Man of Steel, Skyfall and Rush. The spokesperson then told us how to apply. An applicant would need to have a showreel, no longer than 2 minutes, showcasing their best work. He told is it is vital to grab a prospective employer straightaway and show them why you would be valuable to their team. This piece of advice can be transferred across all platforms and job roles. I found this very helpful in furthering my career. It has made me realise that my passion and strengths are what will help me thrive. This was a very helpful talk and I really enjoyed it.

Life in the Afterworld

This talk was about freelance photography and was given by Alison McClean of photofoundry. She taught me to gain some business experience as it would be crucial to further my career. She also says it is beneficial to get a part time job as I would struggle on freelance alone. Most of the information given in this talk, such as making websites and creating links had been reiterated before in previous talks. To me, this just shows how strong this can be to help me on my way. I found out about a website called family stock. This has been a great addition to my knowledge as it means I can look at briefs for extra-curricular work and build up a stronger portfolio along with more skill. Linked in was also useful as it means I can now tie in all of my social network account to make them easier to manage and maintain. This has been one of the best talks I have been to and will help me so much over time. 

Digital Fluid Film

Dan Fox studied Creative Media at the University. This talk was on the transition of Film to digital. It was a very interesting talk, teaching us about the fluidity of digital filming. A key piece of information given was that imagination makes possibilities. I believe this to be true and will be a quote I work towards. This talk was very informative as it toght me about the technology behind film and the advancements of it. However it did not help me think of my future. It was still a valuable lesson to learn.

Gin and Tonic

Tim Mckracken, the founder and director of Gin and Tonic design company, graduated from Glyndwr in 1996. I did not get anything useful from this talk as, again, it was all about him and how he got to where he is now. I could not take anything that could be relevant to me from this talk.

Putting a portfolio together

Jason Minsky is an ex student of Glyndwr University and now works in marketing and advertising. This was not a very helpful talk as I thought that it was more based on the speakers personal work and experience. The only piece of information I gathered from this was to make link and make sure that my portfolio is about me. I also learnt that applying for anything of interest can be helpful to me.

Ffresh

Berwyn Jones works for Ffresh, which is a student moving image festival in Wales that was established in 2002. It provides a link between students and the industry and awards are considered a good thing to achieve. Submissions start in the summer and next year the festival will be held at Glyndwr next year. I am interested in looking into this more as not a lot of information was giving and the talk was quite boring.

Studying Abroad

Stuart Milne of Erasmus gave us this talk. I have always been interested in studying abroad so this talk was beneficial to me. When studying abroad, the modules will be different but must count to credits back in the UK. A special grant is given to help cover the costs of living while in the EU. This all needs to be arranged in advance so I need to look into this so I can decide when and where I would like to study. The best thing for me to do would to be consult my programme staff. A learning agreement needs to be made. It was also useful to find out that I do not have to be fluent in the language. No tuition fees apply either which is another plus. Accommodation and extra money is needed prior. I think the information given was very helpful but I will need to do more research before making a decision.

Piece to Camera

This was another talk hosted by BBC Wales, this time by Matthew Richards, a reporter for Wales Today. I did not find this talk helpful at all but it was a good insight into the work of the BBC. 

Getting a Job

Before heading to this talk, I thought that it would be one of the most useful and informative lectures I attended in this week. It was given by Wendy Rees, BBC Wales head of HR. She studied law and got into working for the media by working at S4C in their legal department. She says to do what she did – take oppurtunities as you get them to gain more experience which will, in turn, make you more flexible. The BBC is worth looking into because there are so many oppurtunities for work experience. I have looked into some of the things she told us too and made note of them for in my final year when I need to start making career choices (www.bbc.co.uk/jobs). Recruitment processes can be lengthy so it would be worth my while to start applying early and get myself known with extensive but relevant portfolios backed up with more evidence. The most important thing to remember is that work is always out there, but there is a lot of competition. This talk was a little helpful but focussed mainly on the BBC so did not really transfer to all jobs I may be interested in. 

How I make a living from death

This was an extremely interesting  lecture. I found the story of the skull illusion fascinating (www.theskullillusion.com) . Violet Fenn, the speaker and founder of skull illusion studied silversmith at North Wales School of Art and graduated in Design Craft. Her website shows post mortem photographs from the Victorian era. Her company is making jewellery that compliments this. It is vintage and Victorian. This was not her first project and she has had a few of her own companies, all of which have been quite small. Her advice to us was on how to manage our own businesses. She told us that too get anywhere within a creative industry, web presence is of upmost importance. She was speaking from real experience and I really valued what she had to say. She says that the web gives us the most chance to be seen in this online era. Since this talk I have set up my own blogs, websites, flickr and various other social network accounts. Income, she said, is not always in the form of finance, but can often be publicity. She reminds us to stay curious, never turn down work and fit as much as we can in without jeopardising other commitments.  

Getting Started in Photography

This lecture focussed on the freelance world of photography. The speaker was Paul Hermann, photographer and director of the photography company, Redeye (www.redeye.com.uk). Redeye is a not-for-profit organisation which helps photographers launch careers, get themselves known and find work. They hold regular events and exhibitions along with portfolio clinics to aid in this aspect of their company. Basically, membership into this site will gradually give a photographer they exposure they need. I have looked into joining the site but as of yet I have just taken to following them on twitter - @redeyenetwork, and joined their mailing list. Information that I have gathered from this lecture was that photographic practice is ever changing. It was a very inspirational talk, teaching us to believe in ourselves and never give up faith. It was a good talk and I felt better afterwards but it wasn’t very informative.

Copyright for creative

This was one of the most helpful workshops I attended. The speech was given by a journalism lecturer that works at the university. I have always been unsure on the rules and laws surrounding the copyrights of my own creative works. I found out that there is legislation that protects intellectual property of a creative. This covers the original work of an individual effort. I used to think that copyright was something that had to be bought but this lecture taught me that once my ideas had became a tangible work, it was protected by this legislation. I will now make sure that my work does not become orphaned and I can always prove the copyright belongs to me. The Copyright designs and patents act cover me in ways that mean if my work is stolen or used unlawfully I will receive compensation. I will fully take on board all of the information I gained from this lecture and have no criticisms of it. These websites also make everything more clear; www.dacs.org.uk  , www.theaoi.com , www.prsformusic.com , www.cla.co.uk and www.copyrightservice.co.uk

Influence Boards

CFW - Key Notes Speaker

The key notes speaker was Angus Montgomery, the editor of weekly publication, Design Week. This is a magazine that reports on the design industry and education. It was a print based publication that has now been transformed into a digital one. It can be found at http://www.designweek.co.uk/. Angus gave us a lot of advice on how to make ourselves known and stand out above other graduates. I know now that I must show my passion for my discipline, whilst also branding myself without making a cliché of my work. He told us that companies are keen to invest in new talent, and to nurture it and watch it grow. To be spotted I must show enthusiasm and take pride in my work. It is also crucial to my success to find a balance between business and design to forge out my career. I should be unique and not follow the crowd. Lending my talents to other designers and them lending theirs to me can be very beneficial. Collaborations mean that different talents can come together. A good degree is worth its weight in gold so I should show it off and be proud when I graduate. There is a need for an influx of fresh talent.

CFW - Opening Address

In the opening address of Creative Futures Week, I learnt some valuable information that I completely took on board. We were told that there are gaps in creative skills. This means that if I gain enough skills across the board, even if they are basic skills, I am more likely to get a job than somebody who has an in-depth knowledge of one niche area of the creative arts. This made me realise that I need to branch out of my comfort zone more and learn more about things I am not confident in, such as graphic design and illustration. I also learned that 67% of employees across the creative industries are graduates, 94% of which were employed or in training six months after graduating. This said to me that I could use Creative Futures Week to gain a lot more skill and push myself to be one of the graduates that was employed. Creativity and technology is changing which means that creative such as myself need to be flexible and adapt to the changes to succeed.