Category Archives: Alumni Stories

Stories and advice kindly provided by our graduates, categorised by year of graduation. If you know a name, use Search at the top.

Michelle Yates, Class of 2016 | From Fresher to Graduate

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MichelleYates-2016Grad-withClemUniversity has been some of the best years of my life, just like it has for many. Through the length of my degree I met other people interested in the same areas of media. As of Wednesday evening on September 7th I became a proud graduate of the University of Lincoln School of Film and Media. It is amazing to see how far everyone and myself has come. The photo is of Clem Monro and me during the reception to the graduation ceremony and she must of given me one of the biggest hugs I have ever received from her when she congratulated me. She said well done to me when I had told her I had received a First. Clem will be able to see my projects grow further, as I have a place on the MA in Photography, which she also had every belief I would get on to even when I was not sure I would.

For me, the first semester on first year was difficult, as I was finding it hard to get used to university life and time manage the workload in twelve weeks. Continue reading →

LSFM Class of 2016 | Graduation slideshow and speech 7.9.2016

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The 7th of September 2016 was a grand day for 300 Lincoln School of Film & Media graduates who celebrated their achievements – including Nigel Morris who received his PhD – with scholars, family and friends at Lincoln Cathedral.

TonyGarnett-speech1_Grad2016 University of Lincoln awarded Film and TV producer Tony Garnett his Honorary Doctorate of Arts. He said “This generation knows in its bones that we now live in a media society. Our creative industries continue to grow in scale and cultural importance.”

Listen to his speech as you watch the Graduation Day slideshow …

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Thanks to University of Lincoln | I am a Graduate.com for streaming and buying

Keep in touch via LSFM alumni network: Blog | Twitter |  Facebook | LinkedIn

Congrats! Class of 2016 | Uni of Lincoln School of Film & Media

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GraduationDay_UoLToday is graduation day for the University of Lincoln School of Film & Media final year students. Head of LSFM Dr. Sarah Barrow said: “Good luck to all our graduands and look forward to seeing you at 7.30pm today!” At the lovely Lincoln Cathedral our graduands will receive their degree certificates along with high profile Honorary Graduates, like acclaimed TV and film producer Tony Garnett in recognition for his outstanding contribution to the industry. Tony said he likes visiting the University of Lincoln and “I probably get more from talking to the students in the Film and Media Department than they get from me. You always learn from students.”

UPDATE post-LSFM graduation! After receiving his Doctor of Arts Honorary Award Tony said to our alumni audience “I congratulate them and I wish them success and self-fulfilment in their work, too.” Continue reading →

Katy Atkinson, Class of 2006 | The Reporters’ Academy @ Rio 2016

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Katy-Akinson_TRA_Rio2016-TeamOur 2006 graduate and inspirational media mentor Katy Atkinson is the co-founder of The Reporters’ Academy (TRA) – a not for profit media production company – based at MediaCityUK and she is at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games (5-21 August) to give young people from the UK the opportunity to produce a range of publicity content. Katy said: We’ve been tasked with the mission of officially working alongside a number of Olympic nations as their press and media partners. This is a huge honour as we have been working tirelessly since before the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics to champion young people and showcase their abilities on a global stage.

Throughout these Rio Olympics, a team of four from The Reporters’ Academy will be working with our Olympic colleagues from Oceania nations.  We will be working alongside the Oceania teams to provide press and media production support throughout the Games. We will be writing, filming, reporting and collating all their news to share on the teams’ media platforms and also assist our international media colleagues in telling their stories. Here’s a ‘behind the scenes’ clip with TRA Alice at the Rio Olympics.


Continue reading →

Ben Atkinson, Class of 2013 & 2015 | Creative Director, Tall Lime

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When I graduated in 2013 I have to admit at first, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do with myself career wise. The three years I’d spent at LSFM were so intense when it came to both student work and throwing myself into external projects, like co-founding the student radio station Brayford Radio, that it was weird for everything to suddenly just stop. I’d also faced a very clear dividing line in my interests during third year, choosing to focus on radio (my passion) but at the same time marrying it with digital media (where I thought my skills were best placed career wise). In the end the first thing I decided to do was take a break from everything and visit friends in Latvia that I’d made during a trip to Finland for the MC2020 project in my final year, and on my return I applied for an internship at the University.

Applying for the internship seemed to make perfect sense for me at the time because the one stipulation I had set myself when I graduated was to stay in Lincoln. Continue reading →

Mike Andrews, Class of 2008 | Nintendo: digital media creation

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MichaelAndrews_MPGraduate As most people would probably agree, 2008 (the year the financial crisis started to hit) was a pretty bad time to be looking for a job. That was the year I graduated from Lincoln, getting my BA in Media Production.

I needed a job badly and wanted to get out of Lincoln. I actually fell pretty lucky. Not that I got a job in my field of study. Nothing quite so glorious. A friend I’d worked with some years earlier was now a manager. He needed somebody, because a person he’d hired had pulled out. So, I returned to the company that I’d left because I’d gotten bored of it and wanted to study. But eating is far more important than staving off boredom.  I spent the next year or so scouring job sites, trying to find something that would fit my skill set and interests. Months went by, applications went off, and I never even received a call-back. Needless to say I was pretty fed up. To give myself a leg up on the career ladder, I applied (and was accepted) on a Masters programme at Sussex. All was set. And then I saw a job advert, that I wouldn’t have seen had it not been for my friend’s offhand comment about how I “should work for Nintendo”. Continue reading →

Ellen Jackson, Class of 2011 | Wedding Industry Experts Award

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Our alumna Ellen Jackson pulled in the public vote to win Most Popular Cinematographer/ Videographer at the Wedding Industry Experts 2016 Awards. She’s one of our Industry Mentors and reflects on her career with this update:

With more than five years’ experience in the videography business things have really started to progress for me and my business. I have had some brilliant opportunities and been able to work with some really amazing people, locally and nationally. The corporate side of my business is thriving; with work under my belt for all different types of businesses and events.  In 2013 I launched the wedding side of things, and since then it’s all gone mad! So mad that this year I won the award for the most Popular Cinematographer in the UK, and second popular in the world!


Continue reading →

Ayodele Ogunshakin, Class of 2015 | Blue Peter Studio Runner

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I’m currently working at the BBC as a CBBC Blue Peter Studio Runner. I studied Media Production at the University of Lincoln School of Film & Media and graduated in September 2015. I also completed a semester abroad at Minnesota State University Moorhead, where I studied Mass Communications. Ayodele_May2016

After graduating, I contacted a BBC Children’s Talent Manager and he agreed to see me for a meeting.  Following the meeting, my CV was put forward to the Production Manager for a job within the Blue Peter ‘Badge Team’. I came back two days later for an interview and a couple of weeks later I started working as a Correspondence Assistant. Throughout my time in the badge team, I volunteered on other BBC productions as a runner in my spare time. Continue reading →

Michael Henry, Class of 2009 | MUTE (2016) released 21.05.2016

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MUTE-poster_May2016Independent filmmaker Michael Henry, our 2009 graduate and one of LSFM’s industry mentors, has been in touch about the general release of MUTE (2016). The film will be available on demand, DVD and to download, from Saturday 21st May 2016 then it will do the rounds at various international film festivals. The 76-minute film, by award winning production company Quandary Productions (QP), has a freedom of expression theme.  

The indie said: Filmed in and around Lincoln, the independent film stars some of Lincoln’s finest acting talent including Nikki Mclusky, Tom Bridger, Charles Cromwell and Rob Smith. The film was shot July 2015, with the help of over 30 film students from the local College and University. The crew on MUTE included LSFM media production alumni: James Jackson, Producer/Sound Recordist, Louise Bawtree, Associate Producer and Nathan T. Dean, script supervisor. The feature film was written and directed by Michael Henry who explains his idea of MUTE.

Pre-order DVD (£5.99 before 21 May) | More info about digital download on the QP site Continue reading →

Rachel Hagreen, Class of 2014 | Career Update: Sorted. Food!

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A brand new blog post and another brand new job. That’s right, I’ve moved again. I’ve only been in London for under 2 years and this is already my third job.  But this one is the one.  In July 2015 I wrote a blog on here about having to start my own cooking channel because it was so difficult to get a job in online food video production. Little did I know that starting How To Kitchen would actually help me secure a job on my favourite cooking channel on YouTube, SORTEDfood.com. 

As of April 2016, I became a camera operator and editor for the channel and have loved every second of it so far. This was the video I filmed on my second day working for them. Needless to say I nearly threw up on my first shoot day (not even joking).

Since then, I’ve been busy shooting and editing a number of their varied videos. The interview process was absolutely terrifying. Continue reading →