With the end of my time at university fast approaching I decided that my aim for this Creative Futures was to further gain knowledge and insight into setting up my own film and photography business. When we got the programme schedule I was extremely pleased to see a session by Alison McLean entitled “Working as a Freelance Photographic Artist”, I had thoroughly enjoyed Alison’s session last year entitled “Life in the Afterworld…as a freelance Artist (Photography) where Alison had covered the practicalities encountered in setting up your business and making it successful, as I had found it very beneficial as she passed on the knowledge she had gained.I was also looking forward to the session entitled “Documentary Production for TV & Home Video” this would be hosted by David Robinson with a Skype Q&A with Anthony Masi, owner of MasiMedia LLC. As I found these two sessions extremely beneficial I have decided to write these up separately.
My hope for Creative Futures 2013 as I detailed in my conclusion last year was to have the opportunity to hear from people not directly connected to Glyndwr University or associated with it, more of a focus on a career in film. The biggest hope I had for this year is to hear more on the practicalities of the journeys then the achievements people have achieved, maybe it is the film maker in me that believes the journey is more important than the end credits.
Creative Futures 2013, started off with an introduction by Stuart Cunningham (Academic Leader for Creative Industries, Media & Performance), he welcomed us with his “wrestling” styled entrance to the theme of Edge from WWE to lighten the mood and then introduced the speakers for the opening session “What’s current in Creative Industries?” The guest speakers were Sarah Mair Gates who is the Wales Manager for Creative and Cultural skills, and a representative from Creative Skillset Cymru, which works with employers to identify their business needs and then shapes policies, funding and learning provision for their benefit.
Although this was the opening session and was supposed to be interesting and relevant, I found like last year with the diversity of the art college, that this session failed to inspire me, and left me hoping that the future sessions would be more relevant.
The next session by Professor Paul Haywood entitled “Painting over the Cracks” detailed how he as a university lecturer at University of Salford, balances life as a lecturer with life as a fine artist. Although I could appreciate where he was coming from I found, that it was aimed at Fine Artists or artists which planned on teaching whilst continuing their artistic work. Sadly, as photographer I don’t envisage me having this problem, as even if I chose to teach on photography I could still continue developing my photographic skills.The last session I attended on the opening day of Creative Futures was “Business Start up Support” by Liz Wallens (sadly Judith Alexander who was supposed to be the main speaker was ill). Liz who had to step up as the lead speaker works at Wrexham County Borough Council Economic Development department as a business advisor.
Although I attended this lecture as I thought it would be beneficial for me, as I wished to gain as much knowledge for making AndrewsProject a business success, I found the session only covered information I had learnt at last year’s Creative Futures session by Charli Dickenson.
The second day started with me attending a session by Alan Wright, this was called “Live Events… Fun AND Work”. Alan is the owner and founder of Cascade Productions Intl, who have undertaken work for various famous clients, and Alan showed a selection of clips his company had produced for these clients, including a promotional video for London 2012 Olympic Games.
A couple of interesting points he made was thinking outside the box, for the launch night of the “Call of Duty” instead of hosting the conventional launch party, they fitted the room out with sofas and tables and ordered take out to fit with the gaming community feel for a night with a new game. He also told us about a launch night that involved a firework display where they hired a glass topped marquee so the guests could watch the fireworks (set to Bohemian Rhapsody) in the indoor warmth. This demonstrated to me that sometimes it’s not just creating the reason for events but ensuring the event is memorable and stands out in people’s memories.This session really brought home to me the importance of staying relevant in the current constantly changing world of media. As more and more people have access to multimedia via internet, facebook, twitter and mobile phones, it is very important that you aim to stay relevant and memorable in the film and photography industry.
www.cascadeproductions.co.uk
The next session I attended was “Creating Futures Creatively” by Neil Dunsire, as I felt with Neil’s background of working as Director of TAPE Community Music & Film Ltd, his insight into film could be beneficial to me, especially with my work in the Collective. Neil detailed various events he had been involved in, where his filming was promoting local community businesses and social events. Although it was interesting to listen to, I sadly don’t feel like I got a lot out of this session, as the information wasn’t practically based but more a case of this is what we have done not how we achieved it.www.tapemusicandfilm.co.uk
So in conclusion, I felt this year’s Creative Futures had limitations on its usefulness, as the business start up sessions had unfortunately repeated last year’s information. Although I had enjoyed hearing the next session by Alison McLean (see separate blog) and had enjoyed learning about MasiMedia (see separate blog) I didn’t really feel like I had gained a lot from this year’s sessions.
Whilst I was really glad to see a more balanced focus on filming to photography and the use of external speakers not directly linked to Glyndwr University or exStudents, I especially appreciate with the current financial economy that funds are tight, I was surprised that Creative Futures hadn't made greater use of the interview by Skype Q&A sessions. I found this session by Anthony Masi very useful, and appreciated the opportunity to ask questions even though he wasn't in the room.
Something I would have liked to see, especially as I am interested in the commercial film industry, would have been a practical walk through of what a production company looks for in a showreel, what they expect to see, what type of things get their attention, what paperwork needs to be included. As I have researched this in the hope of gaining knowledge to make a successful showreel, I would have appreciated a Q&A session with a production company. This kind of practical advice would be extremely helpful especially to the the third years which are looking to set out into the commercial world in the very near future.
Upon reflection I feel I had benefited more from last year’s Creative Futures but could this be in part that the information I had learnt last year, I was already putting into practice, and therefore this year’s sessions were what I was already doing rather than inspiring me to start. As detailed in my blog “Luke & Becky’s Election Videos” I was undertaking client’s work whilst attending Creative Futures. I must stress this did not impact on the sessions I attended as I scheduled the recordings round the sessions I wanted to attend, but what it did highlight to me, was that Creative Futures last year had stressed to me the importance of networking and creating your business, in effect with the filming projects I was undertaking for Luke & Becky, I was actually doing this, promoting my business, making contacts and establishing my business.
Overall I feel Creative Futures is a good idea, but with the diversity of the various art courses, and the different needs within the various years, maybe a slightly different approach needs to be considered, to have the ability for more Q&A sessions especially for the third years, who have started to act on previous years information but might have discovered a question they need answering or a problem they aren’t sure how to resolve, this could be the help they need. Creative Futures last year did equip me really well to follow my chosen career path of film and photography, sadly this year didn’t seem as benefical.
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