Alex O’Brien, Class of 2014 | Work Placement at Azimuth Post

Posted on November 19, 2014 by RW

Recent audio production graduate Alex O’Brien shares her week’s work experience in London with Azimuth Post Production: I found Azimuth on Twitter and have followed them for a good few months now. I don’t know why it took me so long to enquire about a work placement but I wish I’d done it sooner. I emailed on the Sunday and had a reply first thing Monday morning offering me a week long placement. So I spent the next how many ever weeks working hard as a kitchen assistant, saving every penny I earned. What did I get up to? I spent my week as a runner. Making tea, coffee and toast, fetching the odd Starbucks and doing the odd lunch run round Soho. We’ve all heard the runner horror stories but I found it to be quite the opposite. I loved every minute of it.

Azimuth’s clients are all lovely, busy people who found the time to talk to me. I was on more than one occasion greeted with “Oh, you’re new!” and the conversation started there. I was asked what I was doing, what I had been doing, what my interests were and where I wanted to be. The amount of advice I got from just 5 minutes with a client has been absolute gold and I can’t thank them enough for that. Continue reading →

Emily Milne, Class of 2012 | Account Executive at Tricker PR

Posted on November 17, 2014 by RW

After graduating in 2012 I moved to Glasgow to make a name for myself. Several million film and tv company interviews later I had no such luck. I was still doing the usual work as a waitress to make ends meet which made it harder with twelve hour shifts and no social life. I had to then move back home to the Silver City (Aberdeen) where I had to get a shop job. For those of you that don’t know, Aberdeen is where everything (but oil and hairdressing) comes to die. I worked my way to supervisor, again working awful hours and no social life to speak of. I hit the streets and my macbook sending CVs everywhere that I could. Eventually I got picked up by a little company with a big presence, Tricker PR. I am working as their account executive and let me tell you, it has never been so fun. Every day is different. Continue reading →

Jordan Livermore, Class of 2009 | Update: Life in TV Production

Posted on November 10, 2014 by RW

Jordan Livermore, our 2009 graduate and one of LSFM inspirational mentors, has produced a series of TV coaching videos on Work experience; CVs; Degrees; and Lifestyle. They are based on his 5 years working in television because he said “I know how tough it was” and he wanted “to help newcomers to the TV industry. Anyone who is looking to move into, upwards and onwards in TV should start here.”

So where have I been!? Well if I remember correctly the last time I updated this blog was when I was out in Bristol, coming toward the end of my contract on Deal or No Deal as a contestant researcher. And what makes this industry so amazingly fun is also what makes it so petrifyingly scary at times … it’s unpredictability. So whilst this post might seem to flow like a well thought out, calculated journey, the reality is that I had no real idea where I was going to end up! Continue reading →

Industry alumni on-campus | Mondays 10 Nov-1 Dec 5-6pm | EMMTEC

Posted on November 8, 2014 by RW

Our alumni networking with students at Meet the Graduates is a main event at the Lincoln School of Film & Media. But LSFM have alumni coming on-campus all year to share their experiences with students. Senior Lecturer Dave McCaig has organised graduates from industry on Mondays: 10, 17, 24 Nov and 1st Dec. He said: these alumni demonstrate the strength of the multi-disciplinary degrees at LSFM. With a strong background in media practices during their degrees and a combination of hard work and ambition, these guest speakers have shown that the School’s highly valued in the media industries. We are very pleased that our graduates have returned to pass on their knowledge. Monday in EMMTEC 5-6pm:

Mon 10th November Sean Strange, Class of 2013: As well as doing his own freelance work Sean is currently a staff photographer at F/stop Event Photography. His previous experience includes, events photographer for The Imperial War Museum and press photographer for RAF Waddington.

Alumni guest talks coming up:

Mon 17th November Aleysha Minns, Class of 2013: AV freelancer with experience at Revolver Films, C4 and C5 amongst others. Also one of LSFM inspirational industry mentors. She said: what do you want to know about the world of TV? Send me some suggestions to include (on 17th)!
Mon 24th November Joel Murray, Class of 2011: Digital marketing co-ordinator at Lincoln BIG and Visit Lincoln.
Mon 1st Dec Darren Scales, Class of 2008: Indie Filmmaker at Backyard Productions. His latest community project on a £5000 budget was The Drift film. It was created with the help of volunteers and LSFM media students & graduates.

ALL are welcome at the talks on Analysing and Working in the Media Industries.

Michael Henry, Class of 2009 | Screening ‘Time and Place’ 1st Nov

Posted on October 25, 2014 by RW

One of our creative media mentors is 2009 alumnus Michael Henry at Quandary Productions who’ll be at ‘Meet the Graduates’ network event this Wednesday to share advice about indie filmmaking and opportunities. Timely because he’s just completed the final cut on his latest film ‘Time and Place‘ (2014). There will be a free public screening on 1st November in Lincoln (UK) and the film will be released with ‘Pay-What-You-Want’ On Demand. The production team said ‘it’s the best thing we’ve ever made’. Mike said he’s excited in his latest posting:

Finally, the time has come! After months of hard work ‘TIME AND PLACE’ is finalised, exported, and sent off for DVD batch production. We premiere the film in one week, crowdfunders can expect their DVDs a day or two earlier next week, and we’re very excited about the ‘Pay-What-You-Want’ release on November 1st – same date as the free screening at The Collection in Lincoln. ‘TIME AND PLACE‘ took a good nine months to write, three to shoot, seven months of editing and will no doubt be months before I consider it entirely over, once all the promotion is done and festival fates are sealed. We’re trying something a little different this time – audience members will have the choice of how much they pay to see the film. So what’s different about our On Demand release? 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 →

Richard McCormack, Class of 2009 | Red Bee Media’s BBC Four Doco

Posted on July 17, 2014 by RW

I’m a graduate of 2009 and I work as a creative for Red Bee Media. It makes content, promos and designs branding for a range of clients. However Red Bee is probably most well known in the industry as being the BBC’s creative agency. You know the swimming hippos on BBC1? Red Bee did that. However this post isn’t so much about me; rather it’s about my creative director, his co-producer and a ten year project. It turned into a documentary ‘100 seconds to beat the world: The David Rudisha Story’, which is a co-production with Hill Ten film. The doco will be on-air 22 July at 10pm on BBC Four. Here’s the trail.

A decade ago Jim and Ed set out to make a documentary about Brother Colm, an enigmatic Irish teacher who has also coached many of Kenya’s most celebrated athletics including Wilson Kipketer, Matthew Birir and Peter Rono. Jim and Ed wanted to discover why a man without any professional training or athletic experience had managed to consistently develop gold medal winning athletes. However on 9th August 2012 the subject of the documentary changed, when David Rudisha ran the fastest 800 metres in history and took gold at the London Olympics. Jim and Edward looked back at their rushes and realised they had a range of footage and stills of David as a shy teenager developing into an athlete. So the documentary was refocused on David.

I came on board over the last year or so when Jim asked me to film an interview with Lord Seb Coe for the documentary. One bleak Tuesday morning, I met Jim outside Coe’s offices in Victoria armed with a Canon 5D, a Canon XF305 and a bed sheet for a backdrop (which Jim had spent thirty minutes the night before ironing). Continue reading →

Andrew West Reflects on Post-Uni | What are you going to do now?

Posted on July 15, 2014 by RW

LSM’s graduating students, Class of 2014, will no doubt get asked what’s next? Soon-to-be alumnus Andrew West – a freelance camera operator, editor and award-winning photographer – shares his thoughts on that question and writes: refrain from asking what I’m going to do in the future … simply ask me what I’m doing in this moment now.

For hire!

The last three years of University has been the greatest learning experience of my life so far and I’m due to graduate in a few months time. I feel like this requires a fresh blog, a new way of presenting what I’m doing and building on a foundation of experiences which have taught me a lot about who I am and what kind of person I want to be. It’s a really strange feeling, having had so much direction over the last 21 years of my life to suddenly be hit with the thought suspending question by many of ‘What are you going to do now?’, the answer to that, as I have realised over the last few months is that it doesn’t really matter. I don’t need to lead a life permanently set in stone, to immediately settle down in a continual routine, to become another brick in the wall. I’m lucky to be in a position in which I have liberty to wander in whatever direction draws my energy towards, so intend to do precisely that. Continue reading →

Ashley Turner, Class of 2013 | BBC TWO Floor Runner ‘Wolf Hall’

Posted on July 10, 2014 by RW

Congrats to all Lincoln School of Media third year graduating students who will be Class of 2014! The School hope you’ll keep us posted on your job-hunting, experiences, tips and advice, like last year’s alumnus Ashley Turner.

I graduated from the University of Lincoln last year as part of the first group of students to take the Film & Television course. Just before I left Lincoln, I was accepted onto the BBC’s Production Talent Pool, which I took to be a guarantee of a kickstart as a TV runner. I moved to Bristol, where I began to pick up occasional runner jobs, working on the odd day here and there on programmes like Flog It, The One Show, Rip Off Britain and others. However, the desired long contract proved elusive. Thanks to uploading my CV to a number of websites, I worked as a runner on the open auditions for the upcoming Star Wars films, which was a very exciting opportunity, and things began to build up from there. Eventually I semi-moved to London, working on The One Show as a studio runner, as well as on a BBC Three comedy pilot, a BBC Two panel show and the recent Our Gay Wedding: The Musical.

Having built up this solid range of runner experience, I was asked to come in to interview for a long-term runner job on a high profile BBC Two drama, and succeeded! So since April, I have been a Floor Runner on the BBC’s adaptation of Dame Hilary Mantel’s best-selling period drama Wolf Hall, which I’m thrilled to be a part of.

My main piece of advice to fellow graduates of Lincoln School of Media who’re looking to get into TV? Never work for free. Continue reading →

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

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