Congrats to our Class of 2014

Posted on September 9, 2014 by RW

Congratulations Class of 2014. Today our graduation ceremony will be at Lincoln Cathedral from 2.30pm. This year’s graduands are already making their mark in the world. Here is a small snapshot of some of them. Rachel Hagreen is working at VideoJug; Gemma Benefer has a reporter’s job at KCFM; Natalie Dobson is a Junior Producer at Gems TV; Sasha Tucker has an internship at Vodafone, which he secured after being part of the student team who won the national 24-hour challenge with its e-cigarette concept; Faye Wood had an online media internship at the College of Arts, University of Lincoln and said she has now been “hired as the web and multimedia officer” here; Steve Staff is an intern with Knight Hall Agency for a month and will update us here when he’s finished, along with an idea about a script network he’ll be setting up; Luke Werra was chosen for the BBC Talent Pool; Danielle Crooks created the soundtrack for an animation project, Lullaby, which was led by Lucy Clay and Amy Fairclough. It’s been nominated for the Student Competition section at Animasyros 7.0 International Animation Festival and will be screened there in October; Dean Dobbs will make his debut guest presenting on 15 Sept (along with 2013 grad Jack Howard as Jack and Dean) on Radio 1 with Dan and Phil – part of the show’s vloggers take-over on Mondays 9pm-10pm. [Last night’s was ‘TomSka‘, 2011 alumnus Thomas Ridgewell]; Sophy Taylor is working in Ibiza as a photographer, also an executive videographer for IBZ.TV and she’s been accepted at the New York Film Academy to do a postgraduate course; freelancers Andrew West and Emily Cowlishaw (our blogger) have decided to undertake their MA course at LSFM; a short film My conversations with Katie by Matt Dean was given an honourable mention in the Santa Monica Independent Film Festival; student team (at Wallbreaker Productions) Ash Wilks, Luke Winter, Alex Whitcombe and Tom Mckie’s The Last Fisherman film has been selected to be screened next month at the well established 14th International Student Film Festival Pisek 2014.

Tom’s camera work on The Last Fisherman has been shortlisted in the top six films for the Bill Vinten GTC University Awards. He said: things seem to be going well at the moment and along with graduating, trying to earn enough to pay and all this it’s a bit mad. But it’s great to be nominated for these awards. Continue reading →

Sophy Taylor, Class of 2014 | Executive Videographer

Posted on September 8, 2014 by RW

Sophy Taylor can’t be at our Graduation Day in Lincoln (UK) tomorrow because she is working – in Ibiza. Later this month she’ll be heading off to LA to undertake a postgraduate course. Sophy said: I hope this update isn’t mistaken as a boast but more of a recognition of the lessons LSM (now LSFM) has taught me!

My application for the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles has been officially accepted, and all that is pending now is my visa! If all goes to plan, I will be moving to L.A. (my campus is based there) a week before my start date of 1st October. I will be there until the following September provided everything goes well!

Unfortunately however I won’t be attending Graduation (9 September) for two reasons; one is that my parents are away and I don’t want to attend without them but the main reason is that I will still be working out here in Ibiza! I moved out here at the start of June with just my camera and have been working my socks off and networking with every Tom, Dick and Harry and am very proud to say I am the first Executive Videographer for a new company called IBZ.TV. You can check out my work on YouTube. I am also a photographer on the Pukka Up boat parties which I do three times a week and its absolutely amazing. Continue reading →

Towns in Britain named ‘Book of the Week’ | LSFM’s Chris Matthews

Posted on September 3, 2014 by RW

Well done to LSFM’s Chris Matthews. He said: ‘Our book has been named as London Review Bookshop’s Book of the Week. Really chuffed – couldn’t be better. Job done!’ His good news was shared by Lizzy Mitchell at the University of Lincoln’s Press & Media:

Chris Matthews, who is a Lincoln School of Film & Media lecturer, graphic designer and local historian, celebrated the launch of his new book, Towns in Britain, earlier this year. It was produced in collaboration with town planner and urban designer, Adrian Jones, and published by Five Leaves Publishing (2014). Continue reading →

Jonathan Sidwell, Class of 2007 | 1st Assistant Director

Posted on September 1, 2014 by RW

Since leaving Lincoln I have worked my way up the Assistant Director ladder and I am now working as a 1st Assistant Director predominately in Commercials and Music Videos. I’m now in Chiapas, Mexico in the jungle shooting a show for discovery channel for a month… I’ll try and send an epic picture while I’m out here too!

Top Commercial Credits include: Sony, Racing Post, Diet Coke, BBC iplayer, The Ashes Cricket and Oreo. I have also worked on music videos for many chart topping acts including One Direction, The Kaiser Chiefs, Rudimental, Twin Atlantic and The Wombats. Recently I combined my passion for Rugby and my profession to work as a Rugby Consultant and 1st Assistant Director for the worlds 1st 3D Oculus Rift Experience for 02 & The RFU with the England Rugby Team – ‘Wear the Rose’ which was available to experience at Twickenham stadium.

I would love to help out as a media mentor at LSFM. For now, my advice to students: Try and learn as much as you can about the basics and keep up-to-date with technical advances and how they affect the digital workflow. Work experience is key – try and get as much as possible in your holidays!

If you are a media professional and would like to be a Lincoln School of Film & Media mentor, for one of our students, please do get in touch. Email: rawright@lincoln.ac.uk. Our alumni can send us a tweet – thanks.

Why don’t U ‘n’ I have a chat about Uni? | From Emily Cowlishaw

Posted on August 25, 2014 by emily

So that’s it. I have completed my final days as an Undergraduate College Ambassador for the LSM – now the Lincoln School of Film & Media (LSFM). After a two year run doing the best job* ever, it unfortunately has to come to an end, along with my degree and experience here at Lincoln. (*Not really a job. It’s a pleasure!) I’ve posted this as A level results have come out and the Clearing process is underway. Clearing Hotline here is 01522 88 66 22.

During my time as a Media Ambassador, I often get asked about my own experience getting into University, the University experience itself and being a part of the School from perspective students. So I’ve decided that sharing this experience would be a fantastic opening of mine to the School’s blog.

This is me, aged 3. This is the age I allegedly told my mum “When I grow up I want to go to ‘Univbersitcity’”. (That’s University in 3 years old speak!) Yep, cute I know. And yep, I look older here than I do now aged 21… Nobody in my family had ever attended University, yet it was always something I wanted to do. Why was that? I have no idea. But honestly, in my mind, it was the best decision I ever made and greatest challenge to set myself. Go 3-year-old Emily!

Learn from my mistakes – My advice on selecting the right University and Course! From that point, I worked extremely hard in school. I’m not going to bore you with my life story (although it is quite exciting), but getting to University was not the smoothest of rides. In Year 9, I had to leave my high school due to its closure because of lack of student intake. I moved to a brand new school where I did not know one single person, daunting! Thankfully, I got through it and settled in very nicely, but it was a very scary time, much like the start of University. Continue reading →

Our Alumni | Your Invitation to Meet the Graduates | 29 Oct 2014

Posted on August 20, 2014 by RW

All graduates from the Lincoln School of Film & Media (formerly LSM, Media Production Department, etc.) are invited to join us for our graduate gathering to share experiences and mingle with students. ‘Meet the Graduates’ (MtG) will be on Wednesday 29th October at the Brayford Pool campus. The popular Graduate Question Time followed by Networking are our main attractions. Both are great opportunities for our students to meet alumni from a range of media and related professions.

Our graduates should have got an e-invite to this academic year’s MtG event (if your details are correct with the University’s alumni team) and you can get in touch with our colleagues either by email: alumni@lincoln.ac.uk or you can tweet @LincolnAlumniUK [Please confirm you are coming ASAP, to help the alumni team keep a tally for us on the graduates who’ll be attending, thanks.]

Graduates have said our alumni event is also a great way to keep in contact with us and each other, as well as have a nose around to see the School’s developments.

Looking China 2014 | Filmmaking Project Review | Marcella Forster

Posted on August 19, 2014 by RW

Following on from the post on Looking China 2014, our Senior Lecturer Marcella Forster reports on the filmmaking project she undertook in Dalian with LSFM’s four graduating student-producers: During Looking China 2014 we were each asked to sum up our experience in one word. I chose “illuminating”. For me, the scheme shed light on Chinese culture in general and the Dalian way of life in particular. Our young translators and the Chinese filmmakers introduced us to local eateries, locations and people we would not have been able to access as tourists, and for this reason I would recommend the scheme to anyone interested in modern China.

We left Heathrow airport in London with little idea of what to expect in Dalian, other than what we had read on the internet and heard from other travellers. We anticipated good seafood, we hoped the weather would be fine and we wished for a warm welcome. Our hopes were answered, and our wishes were surpassed. A sea of people in lime-green shirts, waving Looking China 2014 banners and cheering, greeted us as we exited Dalian airport over an hour behind schedule (a typhoon had been threatening the city.) We were whisked away to our accommodation in the postgraduate dormitory of Liaoning Normal University and then taken out for a carousel of dishes at the university’s cultural centre, including some excellent kung pao chicken. We were offered forks but opted for chopsticks. The next morning, wearing our own lime-green Looking China 2014 polo shirts, we attended the launch ceremony at the west campus of the university and had a chance to look at some impressive student work in fashion, animation and art. UK students were then allocated a Chinese producer and a translator and got to work on their projects. Continue reading →

Looking China 2014 | Global Filmmaking Project by Uni Students

Posted on August 19, 2014 by RW

Four of our graduating students, and two students from Cardiff University, along with the University of Lincoln School of Film & Media’s Senior Lecturer Marcella Forster undertook a 16-day filmmaking project in Dalian called Looking China 2014. Its aim was to enhance cultural communication between China and the rest of the world through the art of film. Soon-to-be Class of 2014 Ash Wilks, Tom McKie, Luke Winter and Alex Whitcombe worked as media producers with fellow student filmmakers from universities in China, America, Australia, India, Singapore, South Korea and France.

Participating students produced 10-minute films, which were screened at an exclusive ceremony earlier this month. Now the shorts will be shown accross China and worldwide from the USA to the UK. Marcella outlined our students’ short films: Tom displayed to us the architectural heritage and splendour of the city; Alex’s study of the spiritual focus in Dalian’s physical activities introduced us to some captivating characters; Luke captured the young people of Dalian and the fascinating phenomenon of Lightning Play; and you can see Ash’s film here, which brought home to us the care that Dalian workers put into their jobs and the pleasure they derive from them. [Ash, Luke and Tom have their own production company called Wallbreaker, see the services they provide here.]

Continue reading →

Steve Bernard, Class of 2013 | Audio Production Alumnus

Posted on August 18, 2014 by David McSherry

I’m Steve Bernard, a BA (Hons) Audio Production alumnus from the Class of ’13. Since I graduated, I’ve been employed at Cooz’s Recording Studio, in Oxford. My relationship with the studio actually began almost three years ago, after my first summer at the University of Lincoln, when I did a week long work experience there to enhance my CV. This led to an internship which I maintained around my degree, and I was offered a job at the studio after I finished my third year. (Photo: I’m with the director Kevin Cousineau, aka Cooz, mixing the Bad Company documentary.)

Working at the studio has been a great experience and I’ve recently found the most success as a Hip Hop producer – we were fortunate to have a break with a South African rapper called Rowan Groom, and his contacts and reputation in the emerging local Hip Hop scene has meant that business in this genre has skyrocketed. In the last 6 months, I’ve worked with a wide array of talent, producing mixtapes and EPs local rappers and singers such as Apt Ochiela, Carby, Manny O, Ellie Robbins and Rifle.

Getting business for my work relies heavily on word of mouth and networking. Continue reading →

UNTITLED Independent Film Night by Quandary Productions

Posted on August 18, 2014 by RW

2009 alumnus Michael Henry is one of our inspirational media mentors and has posted about Quandary Productions first indie film night, last week, at The Angel Coffee House in Lincoln (UK):

Hosted by Quandary’s very own Tom Bridger, the night was a chance for low-to-no budget short films to be showcased to fresh audiences. When first starting out as a filmmaker it can be hard to get your work shown. This is something we appreciated and wish to remedy within the local area. The night consisted of several short films continue reading →

Photos on FB | Submit your short for September’s indie film night. Email: quandaryproductions@googlemail.com |

Lincoln School of Film & Media Network

LSFM at the University of Lincoln (UK) celebrates 25 years of our students into graduates