The LSM love to welcome back our graduates whatever their experiences and passions across the creative and media-related industries.
This Monday, 2011 alumnus Lewis Cater who’s worked with artists and bands for 5 years as a video director and editor will be in the Coop Lecture Theatre at 1pm. He’ll share his journey since graduating – pitching for music videos to negotiating with Sony Entertainment and Universal Music Group. SOUND! Get your questions ready …
… in the meantime see his showreel.
Phil Stevens, LSM’s 2010 graduate and one of our media mentors, is a film director & co-runs Red Dog Film with another LSM 2010 alumnus Sam Wardhan. Red Dog Film said “we were lucky enough to be able to record a short interview with Sir David Attenborough when he came to Lincoln to open the Sir Joseph Banks exhibition at The Collection on 14th February. The interview will form part of the interactive website & film that the company is making with StrikeMedia, funded in part by the Heritage Lottery Fund.” The short called ‘Sir Joseph Banks – Endeavour’ had LSM graduates, students and staff (see credits below) working on it. The film’s about the life and legacy of the British botanist, explorer, naturalist and High Sheriff of Lincolnshire who has been hailed as ‘one of the great men of his age’. According to the Natural History Museum, Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) was long-time President of The Royal Society who “steered the course of British science for the first part of the 19th century”. In honour of Banks, the University of Lincoln will be re-naming a building, as part of its Science and Innovation park development, the ‘Joseph Banks Laboratories‘. The filmmakers describe their short doco as a ‘unique insight into the journey of one of science’s greatest unsung heroes’. Continue reading
LSM’s 2011 graduate and creative Christopher Bingham, known filmmaker and YouTuber [Slomozovo], has a Kickstarter campaign. Just days are left to back Bing! “I find myself making music late into the night. It’s addictive, as such a big music lover, to be in control of my own soundscape.
Kickstarter’s been taking advance orders for a collaborative album I’m making this year under my musical moniker High Five Spaceship. On the 10-track folk-inspired album will be celebrated musicians including Corinna Crabtree, Will Dixon, Tofu Stravinsky, my sister Jenny and father Steve Bingham, and Lincoln favourites Elliott Morris and Jack Shaw. It’s an interesting time to be using crowdfunding, which is something I research a lot for my teaching. I’m essentially using it as a glorified pre-order system, but the simple fact that I chose the KS platform lends a PR value which is undeniable. Also, in terms of production/distro, I’m trying something I find interesting. The release packages are digital, physical and ‘license’, which comes with a PDF document granting the buyer written permission for commercial use of all tracks on the album in video uploaded online. It’s something I, as a video maker, wish more indie artists did. Continue reading
Head of Lincoln School of Media, Dr. Sarah Barrow, wanted to share three good pieces of news with you.
Firstly, Media Production has been nominated for the ‘Course of the Year’ category at the University of Lincoln Students’ Union Awards. The prize ceremony will be on 9th May 2014. You can find out more about the Lincoln School of Media on our site here. Like LSM’s in the top four of all media degree courses in the UK for student employability.
Secondly, a University of Lincoln student team ‘Lincoln Valentino’, which included LSM third year Sascha Tucker (Social Media Manager at Linc TV) has won the Vodafone 24-hour challenge, with prizes including an 8 week paid internship and an iPad. Sacha said: “Our team was awarded 1st place for our new innovative idea and concept – the Relieve E-Cigarette. All animation, scripts and VO were produced by myself.” Vodafone has opportunities across the year for students and graduates and can be found on its site about careers.
Thirdly, another Media Production student, (specialising in Design) has reached the finals of the prestigious D&AD annual awards. As we await the outcome you may like to enter the New Blood Awards npower Developer Challenge 2014 ” to design an app which harnesses energy data with publicly available and device data to help consumers manage their energy use.” Closing date’s 30th May 2014 – brief’s here.
Ideas Tap can open up a range of benefits for creatives. The networking charity shares opportunities with around 135,000 creative people and said “it takes about a minute to become a member.” It’s free to join and you can apply for briefs and funding, see the latest arty jobs, sign up for career development sessions at the Ideas Tap Spa and build an online eportfolio.
Currently Ideas Tap has twenty £500 grants for creative projects, divided into two age categories for you to apply either as an individual or as part of a group project: (1) 16-22 year olds and (2) aged 23-30. Deadline for this brief is 28 May 2014. Ideas Tap said: “In the past we’ve funded everything from dance and film projects to music videos and photography collectives. Whatever creative field you work in, we’ll consider your application – take a look at some previous winners. We’re looking for projects that are inspiring, original, innovative and that we think you can realistically deliver. We’ll be inviting a panel of expert judges to pick their favourites. Continue reading
I left University with a 2:1 BA Hons in Media Production. During my degree I began doing freelance work for friends and friends of friends at the place where I worked. I did this under the production company banner name of Standby Productions, with the 1st project going out in 2003, I think. I also made a load of skateboard videos under that name too, before I even got to University.
When I left Uni I worked in bars etc to earn enough money to go travelling around the world, which I did with 3 friends from University for 14 months. It was an absolutely incredible experience and I would highly recommend it. On my return to the UK I began searching for jobs in the Media industry, something that I found extremely difficult, as there never really seemed to be any jobs available and everyone kept telling me it’s who you know and not necessarily what you know. I had my own camera gear and home edit suite, so began producing some more projects on a freelance basis, just by speaking to as many people and possible and then telling them that they should have a video made for their company, haha!
If I have one piece of advice it would be to talk to as many people as possible and keep everyone on your side as you never know when they might be able to help you – and tell people what your interests are and what you’d like to do, you never know who they might know! Continue reading
If you’re a recent graduate with a 2.1 or in your final degree year and on target for that classification, then how about a paid internship at the British Council in London? You must be available for 12-weeks this Summer. Interns range from the Arts (Film Assistant and Music Assistant) to Digital (Content Assistant) and from Education (Digital Assistant) to Corporate (Communications Assistant). The British Council said:
“To grow and develop as an organisation it is vital that we continue to bring fresh ideas and creativity into the British Council. This year we will be taking on 10-12 interns over a 12 week summer period from 16 June – 5 September. As one of our interns you will learn new skills whilst exercising your own initiative and creativity. As part of the programme you will join a specific department and work with a dedicated line manager. You will also partake in group training and receive vocational training as part of the scheme. Deadline for all applications is midnight, 9 April. Please note that you must be available on 6, 7 and 8 May for further assessments.“
Go to the site here and click on the internship you’re interested in and apply. Good luck and let us know how you get on!
“I cannot remember a time when I did not have a love for sound” said Matt North. He was in the first cohort of BA (Hons) Audio Production students and has successfully pursued his passion as a sound recordist. Matt is on LSM’s mentoring pilot (thanks again!), which links professionals with our students: “Media mentoring is going great. It’s good to be able to pass on advice to soon-to-be graduates using my knowledge and experiences. I would have found media mentoring really useful in my final year.” See Matt on-campus for ‘Headspace’.
He will be joining sound industry professionals on 30th April. Senior Lecturer Zara Healy’s organising the networking event for radio and audio students, which will be on a first come basis. More nearer the time, but you can see the audio & radio guest list below! First a career update from Matt:
“After graduating from AP in 2012, I started work as a Technical Operator for Ideal Shopping Direct, across their range of shopping TV channels including Ideal World and Create & Craft before being promoted to Audio Operator, where I mixed over 500 hours of broadcast audio across the company’s network until last June when I was fortunate enough to land a job as a Location Sound Recordist for a small kit & crew company called Videoheads, based in White City in London. Since then, I have been recording location sound for a wide range of TV programming, commercials, corporate and legal films with credits including Crimewatch, iTunes Festival 2013, The Gadget Show and have recently come back from shooting in the Philippines in conjunction with BBC’s The One Show & Sport Relief. I also work on audio post-production at home in whatever spare time I have for both short and feature films.” ‘Headspace’ is a joint LSM radio and audio event where students can meet 10 industry professionals, some are our graduates. Continue reading
LSM’s second year student Rosie Turner is on our mentoring pilot between industry professionals and undergraduates. Rosie’s media mentor is 2006 graduate Katy Atkinson who runs a successful not-for-profit media production company called The Reporters’ Academy, based in Manchester. Next month, Katy has kindly arranged a MediaCityUK tour for Rosie and the two will continue to discuss career strategy. For now, Rosie has this super story to share.
Hi, I’m a Television and Photography student. Here’s a little piece on my recent job success at Channel 4. I’ll be working as a Social Networker and Photographer as part of the 4Crew team, travelling around the UK to film and document 4Talent Days.
I had heard about the job whilst working for the 4Talent department last summer through work experience so when the opportunity was posted online in February I quickly applied and crossed my fingers. At the start of March I had an e-mail back saying I was successful and invited down to London for a day-long interview at Channel 4. After an initial panic because my train was over an hour late and a little jog from one side of Westminster to the other, I made it to the interview, where I met all of the candidates for all job roles (Reporter, Director, Production Manager & Social Networker) within the 4crew team. The first task was a pitch presentation and I was up first! Continue reading
I graduated from Media Production in 2010 specialising in Digital Media. My first role in the industry was as a Runner at a post house in Soho and whilst working there I showed everyone I could my showreel, most of the time just on my phone in one of the kitchens. This led to one of the VFX editors recommending me to the VFX Company he was working with and I gained a junior position at The Brewery VFX where I have been working up until a few weeks ago when I decided I was going to take the leap to go freelance.
Over the past 2 years at The Brewery VFX I have been constantly learning new skills and gaining invaluable experience working in the industry on both Film & TV projects. I also helped to establish and run the work experience scheme for the company, which gave me the responsibility of reviewing CVs and showreels & interviewing shortlisted candidates. I contacted one of my old lecturers at the beginning of the year because I was tired of seeing the same mistakes made on applicants CVs and showreels and I wanted to be able to offer my advice to students ready for when they graduate. I think it’s so important to have a strong showreel and CV, as often this is the only way you can showcase your skills. Don’t be afraid to get a job as a Runner but make sure you are armed with your showreel or CV ready for any opportunity that might arise. Continue reading