Category Archives: Alumni matters

Posts of interest to graduates and students – alumni stories, jobs, internships and general interest.

Lucy Davies, Student Work Experience | Whistledown Productions

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Lucy-Davies_pic_2015GraduandFrom the 8th June until 12th June I received a brilliant opportunity to work at an independent radio production company called Whistledown Productions. The indie produce weekly programmes for BBC Radio 4 including Feedback, BBC World Service’s Over to You as well as several documentaries on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4. Whistledown have won a variety of awards for their work including a Sony Award in 2003 and Indie of the Year at the Radio Production Awards 2014.

I undertook several jobs at the company which included learning how to use SADiE which is a piece of editing software that the BBC use and is a very important programme to learn if you want to create programmes for the BBC. Continue reading →

Emily McSorley, 2015 Graduand | Intern now a Job, North One TV

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EmilyMcSorely_2015GradI was fortunate enough to receive a four week work placement with North One Television on June the 1st. After just finishing my final year jumping into this four week internship was amazing! From my first year I always knew I wanted to work in television so I worked incredibly hard to receive work experience including one week as an Office Runner at Objective Productions, freelance work as a Junior Researcher and working on a Lincolnshire feature film as a Production Assistant. It was these snippets of work experience and an obvious determination to work in factual entertainment that I believe secured me this position and I would urge all students to take on whatever experience you can as it will benefit you massively when applying for entry level positions. Continue reading →

Mentoring | LSFM and Industry

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LSFM Mentoring is a unique way to link industry with selected undergraduates. Thanks to volunteer mentors from the world of work who make time to support our final year or level 2 students in an academic year.  Each mentor brings their unique experience of the job market to help our students, during their course, as they plan goals and pursue passions for a career. In the past our mentors and mentees have explored everything from work opportunities to discussing dissertations. Pairs are in contact at least 6 times across semesters, so may be around 6-12 hours during the academic year. Contact time is flexible and pairs choose how to meet: face-to-face, talking on the phone, having a web chat or using other online platforms.

Mentors are offered an induction to mentoring, written guidelines and thereafter the student-mentee liaises with their mentor. If you’re interested in being a mentor, read the introduction to mentoring and download the form to register your interest anytime: LSFM Mentoring_Introduction  |  LSFM_MENTOR_Registration-Form

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Gemma Lowe, Class of 2012 | Career Update

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The last few years have been quite busy for me, I was self-employed for quite some time after completing my Enterprise Inc training and worked for the Young Journalist Academy, providing training and workshops about broadcast media to schools across Lincolnshire. I really enjoyed this but the nature of being self-employed means that opportunities come and go. I continued to complete voice-overs for a while too and enjoyed the freedom of running my own business.

After some time being self-employed I realised that I wanted to try something new and with my experience of working with young people (with the Young Journalist Academy and as part of my Media Production Degree), I decided that I would like to find a job in education. Continue reading →

Janice Kearns, LSFM Senior Lecturer | Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015

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cf070a5b3a585c473cf526e2ef70cf96LSFM Senior Lecturer Janice Kearns said: This year’s Sheffield International Doc/Fest (5-10 June 2015) was bigger and better than ever with a mixture of film screenings, presentations, discussions, masterclasses, pitching sessions, live performances, exhibitions, installations and interactive media; as well as opportunities to meet funders and commissioners and chat to filmmakers and other people in the industry. There were several LSFM students and graduates working as volunteers at the festival, which is a great way to get involved.

For me highlights were: a live musical performance of the soundtrack to Michael Nyman’s War Work: 8 songs with film with a screening of the film; a really good pitching session for research funding for an environmentally themed TV series; a session on getting your film funded; some really interesting films including India’s Daughter (dir. Leslee Udwin), The Russian Woodpecker (dir. Chad Gracia ) Star Men (dir. Alison Rose)  and The Look of Silence (dir. Joshua Oppenheimer), a companion piece to the acclaimed The Act of Killing and themed strands featuring films by Albert Maysles and John Akomfrah. Continue reading →

Louise Davies, Film & TV Student | Work Experience at Big Talk

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Louise-Davies_pic1Last summer (2014) I emailed a variety of production companies with my most up to date CV asking if they offered any work experience opportunities. Luckily enough Big Talk Productions got back to me offering work experience for two weeks at their offices in London.  I was so pleased and excited as Big Talk was a company which produced some of my favorite films such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and the World’s End and TV series such as Friday Night Dinner, Him and Her and Spaced, specialising in comedy and drama, which are my favorite genres. Having done some background research on the company, it was motivating to know that Nira Park the founder of the company began as an office runner and had worked her way up through her talent of producing.

The two weeks involved myself taking the role of a office runner working in Big Talk Pictures (Film) office the first week and then Big Talk Productions (TV) office the second week.  Continue reading →

Bryony Hooper, Student Volunteer | Sheffield Doc/Fest

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LSFM student-mentee and 2015 Graduand Bryony Hooper said: BryonyHooper_groupshot-Sheffield DocFest2015I had the honour of attending Doc/Fest (5th-10th June 2015) for free by volunteering for it. This has to be one of the best media experiences I’ve had. I got to network, see films and enjoy the overall festival.  My job for the week was Cinema Steward, which is basically letting people into the screens, scanning the badges and taking tickets. However I believe there was a number of volunteers that didn’t show up and because I was based in one of the main rooms I was used as a runner as well. I didn’t mind doing this as I got to see more of the festival, however carrying quite heavy chairs across Sheffield isn’t the best way to spend an afternoon. Continue reading →

Rachel Hagreen, Class of 2014 | How To Kitchen channel

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It’s coming up to a year since I got the job at Videojug Networks and flocked South to London. I started working there as a production and office assistant and got heavily involved in all aspects of the company from the start. Most notably, I was a camera op for a couple of Russell Hobbs and John Lewis shoots as well as filming (and tail operating) for the most famous fox in the world, Basil. When my 6 month contract ended, I was promoted to production secretary which is my current job role.  It’s now my job to schedule the shoots and edits for all original Videojug productions and help across brand shoots when required.   It was a couple of months ago when I realised that I need to start thinking about my next steps. I love working at Videojug and don’t intend on leaving for a while but I now appreciate the importance of having to constantly think ahead to what comes next. Especially in London.

Rachelhagreen-HTK-episode1I’ve always loved cooking and frequently joked about needing to find a job that combines film and food but I recognised how difficult it is to find such a niche job. So I decided to take matters in to my own hands with Alexander Whitcombe for our joint project called How To Kitchen.  It aims to be an entertaining channel for everyone, not just food lovers. This is episode 3: House of Cards – Patriotic Cake.

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PAID Opportunity | Channel 4Talent is looking for 4Crew

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Channel 4Talent has four paid freelance opportunities as it is recruiting for a new 4Crew production team in 2015/16: Director, Production Manager, Presenter and Social Media Manager.  Maybe you can follow in the footsteps of our 2013 Graduate Aleysha Minns 4Crew Production Co-ordinator and LSFM final year student Rosie Turner 4Crew Social Networker?  

Ch4Talent_4Crew_website

Both Aleysha and Rosie are featured on the 4Talent website (pictured in the middle).  The yearly scheme for 4Crew closes on 12th July 2015. 4Talent said:  Continue reading →

Sophie Gillott, Student Volunteer | Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015

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LSFM student-mentee and 2015 Graduand Sophie Gillott said: I had the opportunity to volunteer for Sheffield Doc/Fest (5-10June). I was assigned the role of ‘MeetMarket Volunteer’ after a phone call with Volunteer Co-Ordinator Elliott Thompson who had held a lecture in Semester B of this year.  I booked my hotel super early and ended up having a day and a half spare in Sheffield before my first briefing. I decided to have a wander and came across The Peace Gardens, Sheffield Cathedral and amazing coffee shops and cafes – ‘Tamper Coffee’ and ‘Marmadukes’ both of which you’ve got to go to if you’re ever in Sheffield!

Our first briefing was short, and our Managers and Assistants went through the details on how we conduct the MeetMarket and the plan for the next couple of days.  Continue reading →