The Phoenix has risen from the ashes.: March 2012

Friday, 30 March 2012

London - ENVY Company ( Pt 3 of 4 )

I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks and gratitude to all staff at 44 - 48 Foley St London post production, for their time and exceptional hospitality they showed us on a recent visit.

When we first arrived at Envy we were offered refreshments and a choice of waiting area, my eagle eye drew me to the balcony to look at the view of London over the rooftops and to the work being carried out just below. We all had time to take advantage and photograph it. We then all took our seats inside on the settees already to listen about the information about the company.

It started off with all of the group being asked questions, such as what course we were on, what we were studying and what other companies we had visited.We were then given a chance for us to ask questions straightaway. We were actually in the offline area of the company and there was also another offline area close by. At Rathbone Place they have another offline facility but it is also their main on line centre. This is where they had all of their VFX ( this is grading), smoke (is where everything is done after the tidying up of graphics). We were then told the difference between offline and online. Clients can spend up to 3 months in a suite offline and only two in a suite online and they do post op for what ever comes in.

The four main areas are broadcasting, commercials, film and pro - mo.

There are many advantages to keeping off-line separate such as - it is slower pace and people tend to be the building a lot longer and it is important to give people space where they can relax before the go over to the main building where there is such a fast pace. The Software they use in their visual effects is often client led, depending on what the industry demands. The simplest could start from Photoshop upwards,to Nukes and the Adobe suites.There is always guidance and help when working with clients to make the desired effects they want.

The process was then explained in depth as to how people can come into the company as a runner, this is the largest department and within a time process of you own pace. How they could work their way up the company ladder to other areas. It is important too for you to be able to do the next job before promoted but it depends on your enthusiasm, willingness to learn and interaction with people.To know how far and how fast to climb, a good asset to have is to be able to identify what you don't know!
Time as a runner can determine if you are going to like the job and it also gives the employee a chance to see if the individual is also suited to them. The difference between editing at Uni and in a company was explained by the fact that at Uni you have control over what is in and out of the film that you have made, whereas in most companies these choices are taken out of your hands and are that of the production company. Sometimes people realise that it is the production side that they prefer to work in and viceversa. He thought that it was a good idea that we were going into different companies to actually see the differences, such as some firms work quite a lot on commercials and others may work mostly on films.Some firms especially the smaller ones you may get more hands on.

His advice was that due to us being in the second year that for those who are interested in getting into companies to go out and get as much work experience as possible. This is a good opportunity to be ticking things off your list of what you would like to do. There are also many questions that you should ask yourself, such as do you want to move location? Would you move to London or abroad? Make contacts where you can and be memorable for things like reliability, punctuality and work abilities, willingness and having people skills etc. From work experience there could be a possibility of a future job.

      I asked the question " What has been his favourite project that he has worked on"?

He explained that favourite can mean so many things, in terms of things that he watches he likes light entertainment, grand design programs and as for media that the company has made - he likes and would watch them any way. The commercials  are interesting to see once  the finished work has all of the VFX and grading applied. The short form showreel is also something that is appealing.


We spent approx 55mins listening about the company with chances to ask questions and we were then offered a chance of refreshments again, which we accepted and this gave us another chance to ask questions on a one to one basis.

I really enjoyed my time spent in the company. The atmosphere  was so relaxing and due to this I think we all felt more at ease to ask questions. We were also shown around a few areas such as the suites that the clients hire and work in. I thought that the information was delivered with such great passion it - was so nice to hear this as there are so many people in jobs that they don't enjoy and feel like they have become a part of that conveyor belt routine.

Hearing all about the company and having an insight into what work goes on in each area, how everyone is a part of a bigger team and also how steps can be made towards achieving being able to become a part of that team was interesting. The advice that we heard was like gold even if none of the group end up working in these areas. I felt privileged to have had this opportunity, it was a real eye opener.

For more information about their software it is listed on their website or anything else,

Please click onto the link below.

http://www.envypost.co.uk/recentwork/longform

Thursday, 29 March 2012

Freelance artist Photo foundry ( Pt 10 of 12 )

Alison Maclean was the speaker for us in this topic and in 2010 she herself was here at Glyndwr studying film and photography. She now owns her own company called Photo Foundry. Previous to this for 15 to 20 years she also ran her own business with her ex-partner in financial services. Separated from her partner she then moved on to become a presenter and a provider of seminars and as well as this she also taught martial arts for 15 years which she recently gave up last year.

She interacted and amused the audience quite well, sharing her experiences as a student as well as giving us a few hints and tips on how to get the best out of studies.We were encouraged to use as many of the facilities as possible that are available to us, such as the darkroom, studio and try to gain as much knowledge from tutors and lecturers as possible.

She then went on to talk about her life after graduation, experiences and regrets. For photographers to bring money in, it can take a long time for income to start rolling in , you may have to find a part-time job to help you financially. For those who have to come full-time in employment many often find that they are too exhausted, to carry on what they have already started at University.

Hints

Get yourself a good website,
Think of a good name for the website that is memorable and accessible ( easy to spell )
Changing the name of your website often isn't a very good idea due to many connections that you have built up maybe lost,
names.co.uk website tells you what names are available. When you have thought of your name check what's out there in other countries that might have a similar name. Especially when it ends with ( .com or .eu )
free websites - these can help you build up a website find one that is easily accessible for your needs, cargo collective is a recommended site and carbon made.
Carbon made as a free site, but you are only able to have 35 images.
Think about working with a graphic designer (sometimes bartering works such as if you help me I could take some photos of something you are working on)
Think ahead of what might go wrong.
Spelling and grammar is quite important, it can give clients an insight into your work,
got it.com is a great website for spell checking even if you spell phonetically.
Have a blog and links on your website to other information, on your website have links to elsewhere, share things on your blog,
using keywords is a good idea this will lead people to your website or blog.
keep blogs and websites up to date.
Business cards - a branding logo can be useful this could be applied to all your media such as Facebook and Twitter. Keep them minimum not too cluttered. You could make postcards of your work as a business card. Moo cards are quite small and maybe lost.
Using Flickr could be a good way of getting your work seen.
Always keep " future proof", try not to put dates on.
Image brief- for stock Photography is a good website to have a look at,this is another good way to get your workout to the public.
Get yourself known by going out to events and mix with the public,personal approach is always better than the media side of it.
Be professional in being prompt especially replying to phone calls and e-mails, deliver work quickly, be over prepared.
Under promising and over deliver,

Alison's lecture in total was about one hour 10 min, some information is directly quoted and taken from the lecture. I enjoyed this lecture for many reasons, it was nice to see how and where someone has gone after university, she once was where we were sat, the information gave step by step good advice, although the lecture covered many facts they came across in a manner that didn't overload us. They were given as guide lines and lastly because Alison came across as down to earth and approachable.

For more information about Alison or The Photo Foundry please click onto the links below

http://thephotofoundry.wordpress.com/

http://www.blogger.com/profile/13715149169476636867

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/alison-mclean/15/246/a08

Image - is the logo of Alison's company The Photo Foundry, used only for illustration.

Content - 10/10
There was such a lot of valuable advice was given,

Delivery - 10/10
This was very clear concise, she was very knowledgeable and informative. She interacted really well with her audience and made us want to listen to her lecture.

Interest - 10/10
The lecture was extremely interesting and gave an insight,into what can be done or happen after university.

Artists generating opportunities with Flis Mitchell ( Pt 5 of 12 )

Flis is an artist but she practices mostly in drawing and her starting advice was to decide what you want to do and then generate your own opportunities for doing it. She made a point of how frightening it can be for artists to think about how much they should charge for their work, how to ask for it and how to value their own practice. She used an example of what many people have thought about their own work, such as if I do!! - it must be very easy, I enjoy what I enjoy do so I don't expect to get paid for it. She then put it into a scenario for us, which was quite amusing when you have a plumber to your house you wouldn't then say to him " you really like plumbing so why should I pay you".

Create the way you want work
Be the author of your own practice
Think about your strengths and weaknesses
How you want to make work.
Be time management aware (especially working on your own projects)
Be honest
when working on your own projects embrace your failures
Do your own homework be reflective and critical of yourself
Be comfortable in knowing what you want and want to achieve

How it works to generate your own opportunities

The main areas are -

Think about your project before you start

Intent

why do I want to do this? What does it mean? What is the outcomes and aims? How would you know that it was a success? How would you know if it had failed? Keep asking yourself questions along the way.

Need

Is there an easier project? Is fact or fiction? Is the need for the project to happen? What are the benefits and who are the beneficiaries? Exploit every part of your life, acknowledge it and use it in your practice. Always be ready to talk at your networks, social media.

She talked a little about what it's like to work in other people's projects and workshops, Sometimes you get to choose the people you work with and sometimes not. How to get access to funding and where to go to.There was a question-and-answer session with the audience giving information about their own projects.

So much was packed into this lecture, but a few things were just an overview of areas.

Interest - 4/10

It was interesting as a insight into the industry.

Content - 5/10

It was very informative and knowledgeable.

Delivery - 2/10

The lecture was spoken in a too fast manner about the topic to try and fit everything in and

the repetition of the word "like" was used too often nearly in every sentence. Within 10 min of the lecture I was already switching on and off because of her delivery.

Some content quoted from the lecture:

Image of freelance taken from the internet, for illustration purposes only.

Getting started in photography with Paul Herman from Redeye ( Pt 4 of 12 )

Paul started to tell us about himself and then the company Redeye. It is run by photographers to support photographers. There are many areas which they cover from fine art, weddings, editorials and commercial They also do a lot of networking and advice, a lot of people write in with questions and queries. Depending on the questions they can sometimes answer them direct if it is to do with working in photography, other questions have to be passed on.
He then went on to talk about exhibitions and events, specifically the Lightbox Group project which will be showing again in the Liverpool Look Festival.

Redeye are always looking for volunteers who are 100% reliable and are self-starters. Events and activities are hopefully coming to North Wales and areas such as Conway and Mold are being looked at, but the exact details still have to be confirmed. Ethical projects in photography are discussed in their workshops on how to start off on the right foot when just starting out  in the business. Some of the areas covered in this are copyright issues and undercharging.

Paul then went on to tell us about joining Redeye as a member with details of  membership and the benefits of subscribing which is free - such as being able to get exposure through their website and discounts. There are not many members at the moment because it is still relatively new. The membership helps photographers to develop and build up their work as there was a lot more to the membership and it is a great way of networking. It is £30 students or  £2.50 a month (non-students £50) .

He then pitched a question to the audience, about where they think might be in the next five or 10 years? This was done as multiple-choice where we had to put our hands up, according to the answer we think may suit us best. He encouraged the audience to shout out answers and some replies where, art directing, high school art teacher and teaching.

Some areas within photography was then broken down into categories and touched upon a little bit more - such as how there are very few people working in  fine arts photograph projects, making a living from it, editorial photography, project management and research.
Photographic practise has changed in the last decade and continues to do so.

Some quotes from Redeye speakers .

Work hard and be nice to people.

Logic rhetoric and maths,logic to construct an argument, rhetoric to get it across and maths to do the budget.

A quote by Alan Toussaint

Believe in your dreams and never give up; collect as much information about everything you can; stay as honest as you can because you don't need conflict because it gets in the way of your creative spirit.

A quote by a German war photographer

You have to be burning and you have to keep your shit together.

How much do you charge for your work was another area spoken about in depth. The lecture with Paul altogether was one hour and 15 mins. So many other topics were covered some briefly in some depth.

To find out more about Redeye please click on the link below.

http://redeye.org.uk/

Interest - 8/10

This lecture was full of information on how you can become a part of bigger group of like minded people and make connections etc..

Content - 8/10 A nice mixture of everything.

Delivery - 8/10 The lecture was delivered in a nice slow, well organised manner, with a good mixture of humour thrown in.

Copyright with Janet Jones ( 3 of 12 )

Janet started off by telling us that she's a lecturer of Journalism at Glyndwr and she then gave an overview of what copywriter is. Part of the Intellectual Copyright legislation covers the output of creative endeavour and this covers literature, art, industry, science and engineering. Copyright is a small element of property rights and the current law is called Copyright Design and Patents act 1988. This covers design, trademarks, patents and copyright. The definition of copyright is when somebody has created a piece of work and it is then protected by Copyright, from any tampering such as alteration, copying or being used by someone else.You have total rights over it in seeing who can and can't copy your work - it also gives you the right to make money from your work and creative effort.
The copyright also gives you the right to be identified as the creator of the piece of work and
It is there to protect the right of people skills, creativity, labour and time.The important part is that it must be original and have derived from some creative effort. As soon as something original has been created, the copyright then comes into effect and it doesn't have to be applied or registered for.In layman's terms. It was described as your ownership of a car or washing machine as being something separate hence copyright is separate from the piece of work that has been created.

Diminishing the myths

Copyright can protect my ideas ( it only applies to something that is tangible ) for ideas a patent has to be applied for.

It was interesting to hear about which companies had been taken to court due to copyright infringements.

Breaching copyright is actually a civil offence where the claimant can seek damages and this can lead to individuals having to pay out large sums of money. We then went onto hearing about selling your copyright, giving it away and even leaving it in will. You can even sell something but retain the copyright. It can be an asset even to your livelihood. It also falls into a category of moral rights such as you have the right to be identified as the owner and creator of the piece of work. The other is something called the integrity right - you have the right as the copyright holder, to dictate how your piece of work is used.

We went into more depth in the lecture of computer programs and production companies. Just halfway into the lecture I became lost and overwhelmed with information and hearing the word copyright being repeated so often in sentences. I decided to cut my losses and takeaway what I had learned in the beginning of the lecture.

We were also drawn to the attention of the Internet and how widespread it has become, so today more than ever we need to be aware of our rights because it has come so vast we may never even realise our work has been copied, tampered with and sold on with a profit being made.
Our relationship with the Internet is still relatively young it is only as time goes on do we begin to find out what we have let into our homes,with everything there are pros and cons. Sometimes the Internet can be our best friend and our enemy at the same time. Therefore it is up to us to become aware of safeguards on many levels such as previously and copyright.

To find out more about copywriting and the legislation act , please clicks on the link below

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents

Images were taken from various websites for illustration purpous only! ( honestly )
Some quotations are extracts from the lecture

Delivery 7/10

It was presented in a nice non-rushed manner with interaction from the audience. A film was also shown to us with a speaker from YouTube addressing issues of copyright.

Content and interest 9/10

Many areas where covered regarding copyright issue and the laws, I found this a very factual lecture but it became confusing an overwhelming to retain all of the wealth in information

Angus Montgomery ( Pt 2 of 12 )

Angus' talk was based on design and he firstly commented on how jealous he was of us all being designers and what a special skill it is. He has been a journalist for approximately 10 years and a designer for three years. He read out questions that had been asked to senior people in the design industry.

What advice would you give to graduates who are trying to break into the industry.

Attention must be paid to the creative opportunities surrounding you and pitching yourself rather than just your projects. An intern must work harder to be smarter and more inventive than the creative director. We give placements to and jump at the chance of hiring lateral, exciting progressive thinkers straight from college - great work works. We need to think about how we present ourselves through CV's and blogs etc and how we make ourselves appealing to somebody who may give us a job.
Put more emphasis on marketing yourself professionally in the industry.
Be individual and look at different influences.
Work with others, collaborate and be able to toy with ideas, and rebound from theirs.
Be passionate - love what you do and this will always push you.

Students fees where discussed.

Questions had been put to senior professionals - would they pay £9000 a year for a design degree?

Out of everybody that was asked this question their replies were that they wouldn't hesitate - as for many of them design was the only thing that they ever wanted to do.

It is not a question of how much education costs but what you do with it that counts,put the effort in and you will reap the rewards.

Design is a vocation not a vacation.

A PowerPoint presentation was then shown to us on what the design industry offers about the topics discussed. Why it is such a special industry, why people get passionate and what excites them.

The consultancy called 300 million has worked with The Body Shop on different projects such as Stop Sex Trafficking. This is to make government more aware of the situation and to take action. This project won a gold award because this campaign has resulted in changing laws in 17 countries..

For more information please click onto link below
http://www.traffickingproject.org/p/mission.html

One Laptop per Child project was the response of a charity program and the aim was to get laptops to developing countries so that they could be used in school environments for education. These poor countries where originally getting broken or outdated computers from the countries in the West. Fuse project were wondering why each child could not have a laptop of their own. The Epsom one was known as The Hundred Dollar Laptop because this was originally what it would cost and approximately 2.5 million four-year period have been shipped out so far.

To find out more click on link below
http://one.laptop.org/

The Plumen energy-saving lightbulb was designed by Samuel Wilkinson. Being green has never looked so good before at home or in the office!There was a gap in the market which they spotted and have changed along with people's attitudes of buying such a product.Now the old design of energy-saving bulbs looks really outdated.

Link provided below to find out more.
http://samuelwilkinson.com/

Pearson Lloyd 's design is simple yet effective as a request from the Health Department - A and E. Haven't we all sometime or another sat in a hospital waiting room sometimes in pain sometimes waiting for someone else. Once we have checked in time slowly passes by - every 5 min. seems like an hour and we start to get infuriated and think we've been forgotten.Many times this has led to hospital staff been physically and verbally abused. This idea helps patients and shows the process with in the system how and where you are, and time expectancies of being seen by a Dr.This makes patients less agitated and nursing staff less vulnerable
as targets abuse through frustration.

Click onto link below to find out more

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/multi-disciplinary-design-agency-pearsonlloyd-have-been-selected-to-tackle-violence-and-aggression-in-ae-departments/

The print project by consultancy studio called B an W. The annual report of St George's Crypt Charity shows and highlights the issues of alcoholism.This is a large issue for many that have passed through the centre, and tells the story of their lives. Photo images of people draw the viewer into their lives and sees the person behind the story. It gained the desired effect of being a hard-hitting document of true life.

Link provided below
http://theprintproject.co.uk/

The company Resonate has a brand identity that was created by spending approximately £1000 on flowers,which were then frozen in liquid nitrogen to then be blown up by explosive charges. Which was all photographed using a high-speed camera. The idea behind it was how Resonate tell stories in 1000 different ways.

Press play to watch the explosive performance!

Link below provided for more information
http://identitydesigned.com/resonate/

http://www.resonatecompanies.com/

Magpie designed for Milton Agency a simple design which shows, in the middle of five Hollywood stars, the letter M. The message here is how the Milton agency are always in the background and the stars always come first.

Please click below on link to find out more
http://magpie-studio.com/#

The Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment campaign highlights the characters and individuality of the people that play the instruments. The colours are meant to highlight the music that they play.

For more information click below
http://www.oae.co.uk/tag/marketing/

To finish off we were shown some students work from the last few years.

Please note

Images are for illustration purpose only, websites in relation to the company or project has been provided where can.

Interest - 8/10

I found this really interesting how projects go from idea's to being made into something more tangible. This has always fascinated me and I could understand the excitement in the people working in the design industry.

Content - 8/10

I especially enjoyed the visuals of projects that have been worked on and the benefits that some have had to people in the world.

delivery - 8/10 A good lecture given, that fed my inquisitive mind with lots of visual stimulation.

Creative Futures week opening March 2012 ( Pt 1 of 12 )

Well here we are - another year has gone and Futures Week is upon us again. Monday at 10 a.m. and we all gathered into the hall for a morning of compulsory attendance! Statistics in a recent survey were spoken about and what jobs creative skills gaps there are for Graduates and what employers are looking for - such as creative practise skills in areas such as Advertising, Design, Radio and Music - to name a few. The importance of a good core education in your discipline area is essential.
He pointed out the 3 important core elements that will be covered over  Futures Week. These are 1) Employ-ability 2) Entrepreneurship 3) Professional Development. Futures week gives us an insight into the reality of working in industry and to make us more employable. He is quoted as saying that "  At the end of the day that's our job - to make you employable and to give us various opportunities to develop professionally" .
He then went on to talk about the rapidness in the advances in Technology that surround us. The importance of how it effects us in what we do and this led to a quotation from the many song lyrics that are around and his chosen one was from a Pink Floyd song.
" And one day you find 10 years have got behind you,
  No one told you when to run,
  You missed the starting gun".
This was interpreted as the starting gun being our time at Glyndwr as our opportunity and with our time grasp everything and make the most of it - especially the Futures week.

The full lyrics to the song are..

Time (Mason, Waters, Wright, Gilmour)

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day

You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to nought or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.

Good lyrics to sum up how time and life can be perceived when you are young.

We were then handed over to Shakespearean Professor , Vice Chancellor Professor Michael Scott because Morris Cockeral was off sick.

We were firstly given an overlook of Shakespeare's life and he was portrayed as one of the most exceptional businessmen that Britain had ever seen. An entrepreneur, shareholder, landowner and moneylender he was also regarded and seen by some in the same way as a pimp! His place of work was sometimes looked upon as a brothel and if he hadn't have had a licence for his business he would have been seen as an illegal vagabond. Shakespeare also had a friend that was imprisoned who worked in the same profession as he did. This was because of the creative work he had done which led to a sentence of him having his nose split and strangely enough this was also the sentence that a convicted prostitute had at the time! 400 years after Shakespeare's death people are still making millions of pounds from his work and the connections to his name.

He then went on to give us an insight into his father's life as there are some areas of Shakespeare's life we do not know about such as how we became such a phenomenon in the world. This then led us into hearing about a young Shakespeare at 10 years old when he lived in Stratford and in the time of Queen Elizabeth the First .His first encounter with James Burbage would become a real eye-opener for an impressionable William Shakespeare. Years later Shakespeare went to London to see where money was made but by then, James Burbage had already in 1576 coined the term "Theatre" for his business.

In the 1590's James Burbage had started looking for new plays and by this time a much older Shakespeare had started to steal other people's plays. This was done by watching other people's plays and them he rewrote them and this is where his questionable reputation started. In 1596 two tragedies hit Shakespeare. One is that of his son Hamlet's death and the second is the death of James Burbage

Overall I enjoyed being enlightened by this insight into Shakespeare, the man and the myth were separated. I do now see William Shakespeare in a different light and in a strange way I think that if Shakespeare hadn't have plagiarised the work of others plays then it wouldn't have enhanced his own writing and many plays would have been lost in time maybe forever. Like him or loathe him maybe we can extract some parts of his life and adapt them into ours, Obviously not the negative but the positive drive.

Friday, 23 March 2012

Mike's Cake Bake at Glyndwr ( Part 2 )

HAPPY EASTER

Wednesday 21.3.2012 was the 3rd "Cake Bake" event that Michael Murphy's family have had, as an organised fund raiser. Raffle tickets were also sold but the draw for the prizes will be held at a later date at Nant Hall in Prestatyn and this has been organised by Karen Owen. I was lucky enough to be able to document the bake sale.