REALLYREEL HN MEDIA CLASS OF 2019
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INSIDE - WHAT’S ON, REVIEWS, FEATURES, TIPS
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REP REVIEW The 2018/19 academic year at West College Scotland Clydebank has been an eventful one for media students. This magazine showcases our media skills and love of all things film and video. It’s been an honour to be involved in projects such as Infinitime Music Awards, Into Film festival and Creative Media Network student festival, pitching at BBC and a field trip to London. We had the opportunity to speak to professionals such as director Peter Mackie Burns, photographer and podcaster Sekai Machache and IMAs director Kubwabo Etienne who gave us invaluable industry insights. Gaining hands on experience and tips while building the CV has never felt more fun. A special thanks goes to The Big Issue team for letting us visit their Glasgow office and gain a better understanding of the magazine publishing process. Above all, thank you to students and staff at West College Scotland for creating a friendly and professional working environment. We hope you enjoy reading Really Reel as much as we enjoyed making it. Kian
CONTENTS What’s On
4
Into Film Festival
7
Reviews
9
Interviews
16
tips
22
The last word
26
TEAM EDITOR Julie Laing
HNC Media class rep Kian Doherty
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WRITERS Kian Doherty Ryan Dunphy Madaleine Gaw Colin Ingram Sean McClymont Ryan Montgomery Gage Morgan Craig Robertson Iona Shanks Jade Smith Lanna Toland Eoghan Warner Natalia Wilinska Lennox Wood Ellis Young PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS Ryan Dunphy Madaleine Gaw Colin Ingram Ola Olugbore Chris Toner
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DESIGNERS Bethany Andrews Daniel Bonner Amy Meiklem PHOTOGRAPHER David Welch
CLASS OF 2019
ADVERTISING Stefana Margarint Ryan Montgomery Gage Morgan DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION Eoghan Warner
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WHAT’S ON
WHAT’S ON!
Written by Eoghan Warner
Southside Film Festival 7th – 9th June, Various venues
The Southside Film Festival is back for its ninth year with a plethora of independent films throughout many venues in Glasgow’s Southside. It was founded in 2011 by former freelance producer Karen O’Hare, who felt that Southsiders would respond well to a local film festival, particularly as there is no cinema in the Southside. southsidefilmfestival.co.uk
Laurel & Hardy Night
19th June, The Britannia Panopticon Music Hall In the venue where Stan Laurel made his stage debut, the Sons of the Desert present a night showcasing the comedy classics of Laurel & Hardy. britanniapanopticon.org
Glasgow Comic Con
29th June, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall The Glasgow Comic Con is back for its ninth year running, with this being the fourth at the Royal Concert Hall. It brings some of the biggest and brightest names in comics to the heart of the city year on year. The original event in 2011 had more than 600 fans. It now features an attendance in the thousands. glasgowcomiccon.com
GMAC Summer School 29 July – 11 August
GMAC is a great supporter of young and emerging filmmakers. Based at 103 Trongate in Glasgow City Centre, it’s offering a summer school. Applications close 26 June! “Do you want to be a part of a filmmaking team and create a film? Learn from industry professionals? Make new friends and have a brilliant summer? GMAC are looking for hard-working, enthusiastic and creative people to make a fantastic film written by a young scriptwriter. GMAC Film Summer School is FREE to attend. We will provide you with lunch and travel costs! The two-week program begins with a training week that will take place in GMAC Film, based in Glasgow City Centre in Trongate 103.” gmacfilm.com/home-2/summerschool2019/
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Photo: Daniel Bonner
DocKlub: DOCMA Monthly, CCA
Established in 2015, DocKlub has showcased dozens of filmmakers’ works in progress, with directors from all over Scotland represented. DOCMA allows members to create a short film together every month. It has been a great success with an ever-growing archive. cca-glasgow.com/programme/docma-docklub-glasgow
Scottish Short Film Festival
27th July, The Glasgow School of Art In its second year back in town following its Livingston hiatus, the Scottish Short Film Festival hopes to encourage another batch of young and upcoming filmmaking talent with all the films this year having a Scottish link. scottishshortfilmfestival.com
Scottish Queer International Film Festival 2019 2nd-6th October, various venues in Glasgow
Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) was formed with the aim of adding to the exciting and growing amount of queer film stuff happening around Scotland. Since 2015, there has been an annual festival in Glasgow alongside year round events across various locations. “Our goal is to get people watching, talking about and making more queer films. We want to screen movies that people might not otherwise get a chance to see and to create inspiring and informative events alongside challenging inequality and barriers to accessing the arts.” sqiff.org
Africa in Motion
25th October – 3rd November, various venues in Glasgow Africa in Motion (AiM) is an annual African film festival taking place in Scotland, consisting of film screenings and complementary events. Now in its fourteenth year, AiM brings the best of African cinema to Scotland - making it possible for Scottish audiences to engage with African stories and industry professionals from the continent. AiM has established itself as a major annual event within the Scottish cultural calendar. It also maintains an international profile as one of the leading African film platforms. The festival caters to a varied and diverse audience from all over Scotland, the UK and further afield. africa-in-motion.org.uk
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INTO FILM
WHAT WE WATCHED Lean On Pete A Quiet Place Some Like It Hot Black Panther The Great Dictator Lady Bird The Princess Bride Slaughter House Rulez
Written by Ryan Dunphy
The Into Film Festival is a UK-based annual celebration of cinema. In November cinemas up and down the country open their doors and allow pupils and students to quite simply go and watch movies for free. The aim is to educate students about the history and importance cinema has in today’s society. It’s part of the Into Film educational charity which runs film-based programmes for young people from the age of 5 to 19. The festival has been running since Into Film was founded in 2013 following the merger of two separate film education charities FILMCLUB and First Light. In Scotland IFF has teamed up with Scottish Film and Creative Scotland to boost the role of film in education. The festival has provided thousands of students with the chance to see films from strands including Film Language, Celebrity Culture, Loss, Identity, World War Two and BAFTA Outstanding Debuts. My personal experience of this festival
began two years ago in 2017 when I went to see Dunkirk for the first time at Clydebank’s Empire Cinema. The movie was outstanding and was an inspiring story based on the real events that happened at Dunkirk during World War Two. The movie kicked off my excitement about what was to come . More recently in 2018, I went to the festival screening of the romantic comedy Some Like It Hot, the political satire The Great Dictator, the medieval fantasy The Princess Bride, the coming of age film Lean On Pete and the comedy horror Slaughterhouse Rulez. Venues ranged from the arthouse Glasgow Film Theatre and the local multiplex the Clydebank Empire. For me, the Into Film Festival has changed my perspective on how I both view and analyse films when going to see them at the cinema and I feel honoured to have been part of it. I’m glad that it is returning this year and hopefully for many years to come it will inspire future generations of film lovers and film makers.
Photo: Julie Laing
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BLACK PANTHER
WHAT IS AFROFUTURISM? Written by Gage Morgan
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It is particularly prominent in African-American science fiction especially
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Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa) at Comic Con 18 in the works of Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany. These writers meld genre tropes with African traditions and culture and their influence is now hitting the big screen. For example, the kimoyo beads used as a means of communication in Black Panther look like traditional African jewellery while
Photo: Gage Skidmore
Black Panther was the biggest film of 2018. It amassed over a billion dollars in box office receipts and gives us a black mainstream superhero for children around the world to aspire to. It also introduced to the wider public the concept of Afrofuturism. Although the term was coined in 1993 by Mark Dery, an American cultural critic, many of us heard it for the first time last year. It refers to the potential to promote and celebrate African heritage without dwelling on the injustices of the colonial past. It shows instead a future technoculture where there is no limit in societal terms to the progress people of the African diaspora can make.
also being advanced futuristic technology. The last couple of years have been massive in raising awareness of this prejudice-busting aesthetic. The release of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe and popularity of Get Out by director Jordan Peele shows that Afrofuturism won’t be written out of history.
LEAN ON PETE
**** It’s easy to dismiss Lean on Pete as a ‘Sad Animal Film’ from the same stable as Marley and Me. That’s not entirely undeserved - it’s definitely a film, there’s definitely an animal, and it’s definitely a bit bleak - but it’s also a long way from the saccharine of the Jennifer Aniston/ Owen Wilson celebration of doggy wholesomeness. To start with, the animal - an aging racehorse called Lean on Pete - is merely a supporting player; part of an ensemble cast including Steve Buscemi, Chloe Sevigny, and Travis Fimmel. Secondly, every single character in the movie, both human and equine, is overshadowed by an exceptional performance from Charlie Plummer. He stars as Charley, a troubled teenager who lands a summer job assisting aging horse trainer Del as he schleps his diminishing stable from one racing meet to another. The setting is classic Americana; a perfectly stitched tapestry of diners and sleazy motels, pickup trucks, country music and domestic abuse. The plot - sad, lonely kid meets potential glue factory candidate and Learns A Hard Lesson About Life - ain’t exactly original, but it doesn’t have to be; strong performances, coupled with Andrew Heigh’s quiet, unfussy direction and Wally Vlutin’s screenplay, (adapted from his novel of the same name), manage to make this a film that is greater than the sum of its parts. It might be about a boy and a horse, but there’s a bigger picture, and it’s up to the viewer
‘MORE THAN JUST A SA D ANIMAL M OV I E ’
decide what. Animal lovers will sympathise with the animals; although not especially graphic, Heigh doesn’t shy away from portraying the neglect and abuse within the American circuit racing industry. Others will identify with the human cast and their very human problems; aging, apathy and reluctant compromise. At one point, Del, played by the always-excellent Buscemi, looks to Charley and says, ‘You need to stop doing this. Before it becomes the only thing you can do,’ and it’s in that moment we can feel sorry for him; a man who might have once been kind and ambitious but has now settled for casual cruelty and a quick buck. ‘I used to love horses as well,’ Del tells Charley, shortly before demonstrating how a lifetime of familiarity has bred, at best, utter indif-
ference to the welfare of his four-legged livelihood. But it’s Plummer’s movie, and he carries its considerable weight with ease, giving a subtle, restrained performance that nevertheless manages to convey a terrible depth of sadness and isolation. He’s just a kid, but his world is full of grown-up problems, most of which seem to be the fault of his loving but selfish father, Ray (Fimmel.) As the story unfolds, Charley slowly becomes untethered from the things that most of us take for granted - home, family and stability. Instead, he’s adrift in dustbowl America, searching for safety while simultaneously becoming less and less in need of it, his increasingly desperate behaviour leading to a question: how much badness can we be part of before we, ourselves, become bad? It’s not perfect; we’re not exactly clear when the movie is set, and Charley’s back-story isn’t entirely convincing. But again, it doesn’t matter. This is a movie where you can’t help but invest in the protagonist, and ultimately, that investment is worth it. This is not a sad animal movie but a sad human movie, and although you might like the horse, it’s Charley you should be worried about.
E T E P N ON
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Photo: www.curzonartificialeye.com
Wr i t t e n b y C o l i n I n g r a m
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A QUIET PLACE
by Ryan Montgomery
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When I was about nine or ten years old my aunty and uncle came to visit my mum, my younger brother and I with my four cousins. Of the six of us, my cousin Rachel was the oldest. She was sixteen, a bit rebellious and on their second night with us, she decided to sneak out and go to a party. She didn’t come back till the next day and when she did my uncle, a scary looking giant of a man, was waiting for her. The rest of the kids were told to wait in the livingroom and she closed the door behind her. An exercise in futility. We heard every word said. Or screamed. When the screaming was over, my uncle came and sat with us in the living room. As he sat there with his face scarlet and his hands on the arms of the chair like vice grips, we didn’t say a word. We sat in silence. To say we were terrified to make a sound would be an understatement. It was deathly silent.
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and everyone expects to sit in silence to enjoy the film. That setting is what makes this film such an experience. However, this is no ordinary film. It is a masterpiece in sensory perception. Actor and director John Krasinski (Lee Abbott) does a fantastic job of building and creating knife-edge suspense through sight and sound. Or in the case of the latter, the lack of it. Simply saying that the prologue sets the tone for the rest of the film would be an injustice. Don’t get me wrong, it does, but it does so much more than just set the tone. It absorbs you into the world that it is set in. You can feel the tension ever so slightly begin to build as you watch mother of three kids Evelyn (Emily Blunt) search through a medicine shelf in an abandoned shop with the delicacy of a
bomb squad expert defusing a nuclear weapon. With each threat of sound in the opening nine minutes of the film you are left with almost a sense of anxiety. You’re not even sure why yet. The youngest of the three children, Beau, draws a rocket on the floor of the shop in chalk and shows the oldest, Regan, a deaf girl superbly portrayed by Millicent Simmonds, who is in fact hearing impaired in real life, and signs to her, ‘That’s how we’ll get away’ leaving you to ask yourself, ‘away from what though?!’ The headline in a newspaper blowing in the wind outside explains what you should already know. “ITS SOUND” reads the headline. As they leave the shop the sounds of nature set a false sense of security. The leaves rustling across the concrete, the family’s bare feet walking along a strip of sand, the wind blowing through the trees and the sound of a small stream.
Slide from BBFC post-screening workshop
Photo: Julie Laing
Fast forward twenty-five years, sitting in the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) at the Into Film Festival watching A Quiet Place, a 2018 horror directed by John Krasinski, I was taken back to that moment. I had already seen the film a few months before in the comfort of my own home. I was impressed by it. But watching this film at home is a completely different experience from watching it in a theatre full of people. At home you have distractions, be it your phone, noises from outside or even the incessant jibbering of the person you are watching it with. In a theatre or cinema, your phones are off or on silent, the room is soundproof
SSHHHHHHHH......
It’s not just the suspense though that makes the film work. The relationships between each member of the family is beautifully portrayed to you through the use of sign language. Sometimes a film will overly use dialogue to convey the emotions of its characters. But through the movements of their hands and the expressions on their face you can feel the joy, sadness and terror each of them is feeling, giving even more credence to the saying “actions speak louder than words’. A Quiet Place was an enthralling film for me the first time I watched it at home but the experience of seeing it in the cinema was an exceptional cinematic experience. So if you ever get the opportunity to see it on the big screen with Dolby Surround Sound, go for it! If not then may I suggest that if you sit down one night to watch it at home you turn all the lights off, close all the windows, turn off your phone off - and listen.
Emily Blunt and John Krasinski on the red carpet
Photo: Gage Skidmore
The first actual spoken word of the film doesn’t come for a whole thirty-six minutes, a touching conversation between Krasinski’s father character Lee and his eldest son, Marcus, where they discuss the vulnerability of Regan. But even with that long a wait for the first spoken dialogue, you are not left bored or wondering what is going on. It’s superbly set up and not overly complicated. The right questions are asked and answered through a collection of newspaper clippings in the father’s basement workshop. You’re given the information you need to know to keep you engulfed in this world of psychological suspense that is being created in front of you.
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SOME LIKE IT HOT
SOME LIKE IT CLASSIC by Madaleine Gaw
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The theatre is small but packed - there’s a buzz of chatter as everyone settles in and gets comfy as they talk to their
‘ENTERTAINING AND TOUCHING’
friends. Each red leather seat has a plaque set onto its back with an engraving dedicated to a sponsor of the theatre. After a few minutes, the host of the event comes onstage, welcomes everyone, thanks them for coming to the event and goes on to explain the history of the classic film we’re about to watch. The lights dim, the trailers play out and the film begins. The argument over what makes a classic has been going on since the birth of cinema. Most conversations inevitably end in someone stating that they didn’t enjoy a popular film and others quickly rising to its defence by making an argument for its popularity. There are many famous arguments - can the Star Wars prequels can be considered good films now that the sequels have released? Or Can Die Hard really be considered a Christmas film? (it can). Popularity aside, there is always a debate as to what is considered a classic film. For me, the answer is simple - great writing, great performances, a good story and a considerable fan following.
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So when I sat in the Glasgow Film Theatre late last year to see the ‘classic’ Some Like It Hot, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. It had recently been restored so it could be watched in a modern cinema, but I had never seen a film quite like it before. And, quite honestly, I was surprised at what I saw. Having first been released in 1959, the film follows Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), two Chicago musicians in the Prohibition era who accidently stumble into a gang shooting. Being hunted by the mafia, the two hilariously escape to Florida disguised as women in order to join an all-girls jazz band. Although the film will be sixty years old this year, its humour and emotion makes it feel like it was filmed a couple of years ago. Yes, some of its views are outdated - most of the women are depicted as ditzy and only wanting a rich man to marry - but there are moments where the film is sweet and heart-warming, as well as funny and charming, such as when Joe breaks up with Sugar as he and Jerry flee from the Mafia. I must admit I feel like the PG rating should be altered; in addition to a couple of violent gang shooting scenes, the film has several romantic and intense scenes that wouldn’t be suitable for children. A higher rating should be issued to stop younger children viewing the film. Aside from that, though, the film is wonderful. The lead actors portray the comedy and awkwardness of posing as women superbly in the comedic sketches with the rest of the band, the many scenes where they are almost caught in the act and the sweet moments shared with leading lady Sugar Kane, played brilliantly by Marilyn
Monroe. And the critics over the decades have agreed - it has received critical acclaim since its release, and many claim it is one of the best films of all time. It’s easy to see why; the cast make the film as funny and enjoyable as it is. The story is entertaining and even touching at times, and people continue to enjoy it to this day.
Photo: Creative Commons
While the ending is a classic moment of the film’s humour, it also highlights an important message of acceptance; Oswald, a rich old man who has fallen for Joe, is hilariously unperturbed by the revelation that the ‘woman’ he loves isn’t a woman. It is a punchline which shows that, even decades ago, change and acceptance of non-binary
people was beginning to be discussed. For most people, a classic film is defined by its story, its performances and, crucially, whether people watching it now are still entertained.
judging by the response as it came to an end at the Into Film Festival, I’m not the only one who thinks so. It was heart-warming to hear the next generation of filmgoers laughing out loud to a decades-old comedy.
In my opinion, Some Like It Hot will always be considered a classic, and
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THE GREAT DICTATOR
THE GREAT SCENE, THE NOT SO GREAT DICTATOR by Gage Morgan
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The Phantom Menace (1999, George Lucas), Any Given Sunday (1999, Oliver Stone) and Superman Returns (2005, Bryan Singer). These are all average to bad films which normally would be cast aside without a second thought apart from one incredible scene that has stayed in public consciousness decades after release. Whether that scene be a fiery Al Pacino pep talk trying to motivate a failing American football team to glory, two Jedi locking horns with a Sith lord on Naboo or an invincible alien going all out to stop a failing jet plane on a beeline for a baseball stadium on game day, they all elicit some form of intense emotion from you and stick in your mind despite the rest of the film being either painstakingly boring or ridiculously forgettable. Unfortunately, this applies to Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 ‘classic’ The Great Dictator. I say unfortunately because this was a very brave and difficult film to make at the time. It premiered in America on October 15th, 1940, 14 months before America would officially join the Second World War. Several high-ranking pro-isolation politicians, resisting this due to the tragedy of World War 1. thought movies such as this and The Three Stooges short You Nazty Spy(1940, Jules White) were anti-Nazi propaganda whose only aim was to call 14 RR
the American public to arms and enter the war. They were correct. Chaplin’s film was anti-Nazi propaganda at its purest and was made purely with the intention of waking the public up to what was going on in Europe. His first fully sound movie takes aim at not just fascism and Nazism, but the two men famed for championing those ideas - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Despite its flaws, The Great Dictator does so in a really interesting way. Chaplin began writing the film on the 26th September 1938, nine days before Britain officially declared war on Germany. This was before Hitler’s evil took full effect and the intention and implementation of his rhetoric were known around the world. In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin remarks, ‘If I had known about the true extent of the Nazi atrocities I could not have made fun of their homicidal insanity.’ In fact, the increased aggression of the German war machine and the invasion into France is what convinced Chaplin to add the final and bestscene to the film. In my opinion, however, The Great Dictator while being culturally relevant and hard-hitting, isn’t quite as hilarious or entertaining as many critics make it out to be. The plot centres on a case of mistaken
identity. A Jewish barber (Chaplin), after a terrible incident in World War 1 is left to recover in a military hospital. Due to his injuries, he suffers amnesia. He escapes and is thrust into the world of Adenoid Hynkel, a pastiche of Hitler who is also played by Chaplin. The barber attempts to fight back against Tomainia, the fascistic country he now finds himself in, and gets the chance to when his resemblance to Hynkel comes into play. There are several reasons why I am personally not a great fan of this ‘great’ film. This is Chaplin’s first in which he needed to write dialogue, and it really shows. There are times where it is really clunky and exposition heavy, which unfortunately doesn’t make for pleasant viewing. Equally, the spoken jokes don’t land nearly as often as the visual ones and by the time the gargantuan two hour story is nearing its end and you’ve heard the main antagonist spout nonsense mixed with stereotypical German words for what feels like 400th time It really starts to grate on you and leave you
Photo: Creative Commons
begging for the film to end. While I’m not a fan I can acknowledge the impact of certain storytelling techniques in memorable scenes. Every one in which there is little or no speech is expertly handled and shows Chaplin’s trademark proficiency for silent comedy. Those where the plane is flying upside down without the protagonist realising and the impressive set-piece where the barber shaves a customer while perfectly matching the actions to Hungarian Dance Number 5 by Brahms both generate the laughs we normally associate with Chaplin’s work. Another good choice by the filmmaker is simply having the main character be an amnesiac. This
works on two levels. First of all, I believe it shows how somebody level headed and not brainwashed by Nazi propaganda would react if placed in an occupied country during the war. Also, because the main character knows just as much as we do about the current situation every time he gains information we gain it also and we both react the horrific stories in real time. But then we come to the true saving grace of the film - the final scene. The barber, masquerading as the dictator, gives a speech to the masses which promotes the virtue of free thought and independence. In my opinion it saves the entire film. It essentially is trying to spread the positive impact of
Socialism. Chaplin’s performance expertly mocks the fiery rhetoric of his fascistic counterpart to plead with people to use sanity in a time of madness. This was perhaps pivotal at a time when the shadow of war was slowly creeping over the world. This scene is unarguably the best and most memorable in the movie - all you have to do is type The Great Dictator into YouTube or Google and it is the first auto-complete suggestion or read the countless lists online of greatest movie speeches which consistently mention The Great Dictator. So while I feel like Chaplin wrote this film just for this moment, when it’s a speech as brilliant and as hard-hitting as it is, the rest of its flaws and frailties can be easily ignored.
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ETIENNE KUBWABO
INFINITE POSSIBILITIES h n d a l u m n u s e t i e n n e k u b wa b o i s n ow t h e d i r e c t o r o f a s u c c e s s f u l e n t e r ta i n m e n t c o m p a n y. H e t e l l s u s w h y h e l p i n g o t h e r s g e t a fo o t i n t h e d o o r m a t t e r s s o m u ch .
Written by Iona Shanks and Sean McClymont
Owner of his own production company and record label, former Bankie student turned entrepreneur Etienne Kubwabo has been taking the entertainment industry by storm since graduating from West College Scotland (formerly Clydebank College) in 2013 with HND Media and Communication. Etienne’s journey to success started when he enrolled to study NC Media. At first, like all new students, he had doubts about his potential and abilities, but as he progressed in his studies he grew in confidence and flourished creatively. Determined to get his foot in the door of an industry where the doors are difficult to open, Etienne grabbed every opportunity to develop his skills by throwing himself into work experience and live projects. His biggest challenge was hosting the Media departments short film award event, Focus on Film. This unique opportunity gave him the chance to use the skills he had learnt in class while also obtaining new handson experiences. Despite working hard and putting his heart and soul into every project, Etienne quickly realised gaining employment in his chosen sector of the media industry would be challenging with brutal competition for existing vacancies. However, instead of becoming disheartened he used this as moti-
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vation to take the plunge into the risky and exciting venture of starting his own production company. Even before he left college Cre8tive Entertainment was born. It’s a a risk that has since paid off. The Glasgow-based company specialises in music videos, music production, film and photography and has produced content for a range of high-profile clients including the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland. He has worked closely with BEMIS Scotland creating
‘IT HAS BEEN A HARD JOURNEY BUT WE ARE HERE’ insightful, thought-provoking documentaries for the charitable organisation which aims to empower ethnic and cultural minority communities within Scotland. The young businessman has also won many awards for his work including Best New Talent BAFTA award. Since founding the ever-expanding company Etienne’s career has been going from strength to strength. In 2017 his entrepreneurial mindset and passion for music saw him undertake another ambitious project and he and his friends founded his record label, Infinitime Music. With the aim of recognising and celebrating the talented underrepresented artists that Scotland has to offer,
the team hosted the first ever Infinitime Glasgow the mastermind behind the prestigious event said: ‘It has been a Music Awards (IMAs) in Glasgow in hard journey, but we are here, and it is 2017. exciting.’ We were there on the night at the historical venue and watched The success of this event generated as guests arrived in style - ‘dressed to positive publicity – and high profile support. 2018 marked the Scottish Gov- impress’ - and walked down the red carpet. Woman in plunge-neck dresses ernment’s Year of the Young Person. Holyrood supported the second IMAs and cascading sequence-studded gowns posed for pictures alongside men in as part of the YOYP. This theme was pressed tailor-made suits. Condensaincorporated into Infinitime music’s tion slowly formed on the bottles of awards show in November 2018. The glitzy event was even bigger and better champagne on ice awaiting the guests as they made their way into the main than before. As the night descended hall. The night was full of laughter, upon the famous Old Fruitmarket in
dancing and exceptional musical acts. On the night, Etienne, in his role as show director, explained why the awards ceremony is so important for the artists: “We have to provide this platform for them so we can show how talented Scotland is.” His biggest ambition is to eventually expand the platform that he’s created for the underrepresented artists in Scotland: “My dream is to attract an international audience to come and be a part of what we are trying to build, what we are trying to recognise.”
Etienne in his role as event director at Infinitime Music Awards 2019
Photo: Frank Graham Photography
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Giving tobacco to young people? You’re helping them into addiction, ill health and money worries. Think you’re doing them a favour?
Action on Smoking & Health (Scotland) (ASH Scotland) is a registered Scottish charity (SC 010412) and a company limited by guarantee (Scottish company no 141711).
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In keeping with Etienne’s ambition to support new talent, he gave this year’s HN Media students invaluable work experience as videographers and runners. Ola Olugbore, who worked front of house on the night, told us: ‘I learned so much about how much work goes into these events. Julie Laing, who taught Etienne and is the course leader for Media at WCS, told us how important it is for students to have a role model like this: ‘When they see someone who started off on their course go on to make things happen, it inspires them.’
‘COLLEGE WAS ONE OF THE BEST TIMES OF MY LIFE’
All ready for work expereimce as videographers adn runners
HN videographers and runners at IMAs
Photo: Julie Laing
Etienne believes that everyone has a story to tell, and is intent on helping more young people tell theirs through the media. He says, “College was one of the best times of my life. I owe everything to my lecturers and to the college”. He’s is a man of many occupations. Not long after stepping off the stage at the IMAs it was time to get back out into the limelight to promote Cre8tive Entertainment’s first feature-length film, 19 Willock Place. The film, written and directed by Etienne’s business partner Justice John, is a Scottish psychological horror. It tells the terrifying story of Harry, a young African man with supernatural abilities who moves into his new house, 19 Willock Place. Harry soon discovers the house is not all that it seems to be, and spirits begin to torment him as he unravels its chilling past. The film premiered in Glasgow at Òran Mór arts and leisure centre in Decem-
ber 2018. It took eight months to film and was self-funded which meant that the Cre8tive Entertainment team had to get creative to ensure the budget stretched as far as possible. In an interview with Peeks Page at the premiere, Etienne explained the financial constraints they faced: ‘Money-wise for the
‘LINKING AFRICA TO SCOTLAND IS SUCH A GOOD THING NOW’
project it was tough. We had some days where we had to take three, four days off to find ways to source some money and keep pushing.’ The film incorporates both Scottish and African cultures and settings with some
crucial scenes filmed in Nigeria. When asked about the its cultural significance Etienne said: “Scotland has become a diverse country now. There are a lot of different nationalities and people coming from different countries and I feel like linking Africa to Scotland is such a good thing right now.” It’s easy to understand why Etienne has found success in the media and entertainment industry. His vision to give a voice to those that are underrepresented has always been at the forefront of his work. He is hardworking and compassionate and brings his creative visions to life with originality, dignity and respect. Not only does he pursue his own career goals, but he offers opportunities to others providing them also with a rung on the ladder to success. Etienne’s career shows no signs of slowing down but instead, it will continue to flourish with each new project the young creative visionary takes on. For him, the possibilities are infinite.
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KATE COTTER
MISS YE, KATE! Written by Natalia Wilinska
If you’ve studied media at West College Scotland’s Clydebank campus, you’ll know Kate Cotter. Even if you haven’t studied in our department but happened to be around the Clydebank campus chances are you know her too. She’s the video lecturer with a bright smile and a happy attitude, always asking her students and colleagues how they are, quite often stopping to have a little chat. As she moves on to lead a TV production degree course, we look back on her time with us. Over the last eight years, she’s shared her extensive knowledge and great experience in the TV and film industry. She’s been passionate about helping many find their way into a great career. So what is the secret of the success of one of our most well-remembered former WCS lecturers?
Photo: David Welch
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A tribute to video lecturer, K a t e C o t t e r , w h o wa s w i t h u s fo r e i g h t y e a r s Like us, it started with education. Finishing University College Cork with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Kate realised that TV production was something that she wanted to do. ‘’I worked on a theatre show in my last year of university and I really enjoyed that visual side of making theatre and stage production,’’ she recalls. “My lecturer noticed my interest in that area and said that there was this new course and I would be suited, and I applied.” With dedicated TV courses being something quite new it was to some extent unknown territory – but exciting. The course in Dublin City University was run by famous film critic and reviewer Luke Gibbons. At the time it was hard to get in, so being offered a place
on that course and moving on to Film and TV studies ‘changed her life.’
‘FILM AND TV STUDIES CHANGED MY LIFE’
After graduating, her first job was not the usual nine to five. She told me: “I moved to Berlin to do research for British companies. Companies based in the UK and Ireland would phone me and say they need some archive footage for World War II or the fall of the Berlin Wall, so I would go to the archive in Berlin and view it for them. Then I did a lot of fact checking and arranged a lot of shoots for them.’’ Kate stuck with TV and eventually headed back home for a spell enjoying the freedom and variety of freelancing. To her, being a freelancer is an adventure and you get to work on many different programmes. ‘I worked all of my time working in TV, about ten years freelancing which I loved.’ She explains that sometimes you have to work on many projects to realise that there’s a particular one you enjoy the most. ‘I went back to work for a film company in Ireland called Samson’s Films in Dublin which were making films and TV series which were all dramas.
Working with many different people, sometimes hearing touching life stories, made her realise the line between drama and documentary. She told me she had a chance to interview people who survived World War II: “Listening to their stories made me realise that truth is sometimes more interesting than the fiction.’’ Working in TV has many highlights and for Kate, there are definitely some she likes
to look back on. ‘’I did work making one-hour series for BBC Four and one of them was on conservation on wildlife and I got to meet people like David Attenborough who was my hero,’ she says. ‘Another highlight was working on Comedy Connections and meeting members of Monty Python gang. I also lived on safari park for six months while working on BBC series and it was an amazing experience, going to sleep at night listening to howling wolves and gorillas.’’ Kate was happy to share some of the biggest lessons she’s learned in her career. ‘Never assume there’s only one job out there. You learn something new from every job you get. You have to say yes to everything, different projects. You’re only as good as your last job so you have to dod it well, whether you enjoy it or not. With so many achievements and such a varied portfolio, why then did Kate leave the TV industry? ‘’I wanted to branch out “I wanted to make more specialised content.
Photo: Julie Laing
‘I went to work for Hartswood Films which makes mostly comedies. I noticed they had a small section that made documentaries. There was just one woman making documentaries by herself. She let me come on a shoot and I fell in love with documentary making. I love simplicity and artistic freedom of making one with a little crew.’’
I also decided to leave TV because I had a baby.’’ She still enjoys creating content, though not for broadcast. “I made a film for Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra and have recently been filming about immigrant women with AMA organisation.’’
‘EVERY DAY IS DIFFERENT’
After years of learning her craft and passing on her professional skills in the industry, Kate realised teaching might be something that could fulfil her. “I love working with young people. I don’t like to say teaching – I don’t think that’s the right word. I think we are encouraging, supporting them.’ She says there’s something similar about working as a lecturer and working in TV. ‘Every day is different, like working in telly. Every student has a different story. It’s just nice to see people finding their way.’’ So, what’s her key advice for future graduates who decide to work in the TV industry? ‘Turn up to everything. Say yes. Join organisations,’’ she says. ‘’And if you’re told no, that’s okay. Don’t give up.’ And what does the future hold for someone who has already achieved and given so much? In addition to training the next generation of filmmakers, she has projects of her own in mind. ‘I want to continue with my filmmaking and I would like to do more community filming,’ she says. For us, her students past and present, it’s inspiring to see a lecturer as passionate about this work as we are.
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TIPS & TRICKS
Y H P A R G O E
VID
Photo: Bethany Andrews
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When it comes to being a videographer, the best way to learn is through first-hand experience. Studying a Media course in college teaches you the basics of camera operations and shooting short films, but being commissioned to film and collect footage for a high-profile company at a live event can be extremely daunting. We found out how challenging the role is – and how much fun it can be – when we were on placement at the Infinitime Music Awards (IMAs) earlier this session at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow. Event director Etienne Kubwabo is an alumnus of HND Media at Clydebank and was just the right person to show us the ropes. So, we’ve put together a few tips and tricks will think will help aspiring videographers.
DO NOT BE LATE!!!
Being late sets an extremely bad first impression of yourself and when it comes to paid employment, word can be spread about your time keeping skills, so be sure to plan transport in advance and make sure you are on time. It’s better to be early than late!
BE PREPARED
TAKE SPARES
Before starting, make sure that you know what it is you are filming and all about the business that is employing you. Our experience of this comes from filming the Infinitime music awards in Glasgow. A meeting was arranged between the event organisers and our videography team within the college so they could give us an idea of what we would be filming and how they wanted it to be filmed. This meeting also gave the event organisers the opportunity to give us some background to their business and the award show itself.
Always make sure to have plenty charged batteries on hand and extra memory cards. These could be the difference between having footage and not.
USE A TRIPOD
When filming items such as events and interviews, you must sustain a consistent and reliable flow of footage. Unless you’re asked to use hand-held camera, be sure to always use a tripod as there is nothing worse than shaky footage. It’s unprofessional and not fit for purpose.
SHOOT IN SEGMENTS
If it’s not necessary to film one continuous piece, it’s best to film in short segments. Doing this makes the editing process easier.
COPY WHAT WORKS
If you can’t seem to find a style in which you like to shoot, copy others! With time, you’ll begin to create your own style and but until you there is no harm in picking up techniques from other professionals.
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VIDEOGRAPHY Today, there is a plethora of opinions about culture online and in print. So if you’re looking to get into reviewing, make sure you take some advice from people who’re cutting through the noise. We spoke to Dr Andrew McWhirter, freelance journalist and Programme Leader for BA Media and Communication at Glasgow Caledonian University, about his experiences in the business.
USE A CHECKLIST
When the time comes and it’s the filming date, be organised with a checklist of everything you’ll need for the day – camera kit, phones charger, water... Many companies will issue a callsheet to give you information so make sure you refer to that as well or make your own if you’re in charge.
CHECK YOUR SETTINGS
Different locations will have considerably different lighting. Always make sure that your white balance, focus and exposure are set to fit the scene. Without these steps you could end up with dark, blurred or discoloured footage.
CHECK YOUR FRAMING
DO A RECCE
It’s also a good idea (if possible) to become familiar with the area in which you will be filming before the filming date and assess where you can place your camera to achieve the best shots. We found going to the music award venue extremely helpful as it helped us see where would and wouldn’t work in terms of camera placement.
Make sure you have everything you want to shoot in the frame. Having heads cut off or important features cut out will not impress your client.
PRACTICE As in any profession, videography is all about learning as you work. The best way to do this is by making mistakes and fixing them each
Sometimes, no matter how much you prep, unexpected difficulties come into play while filming. One problem that we had when filming the IMAs was members of the audience standing in front of the camera and ruining certain shots. As we were documenting a music event there was live music being played with a dance floor in front of the stage. The audience kept getting up and dancing beside and in front of the camera, causing an obstruction in the frame. Although we tried multiple times to ask them to move away, they kept on stepping right back into frame. In the end, instead of panicking and getting impatient, we decided to move the camera slightly and speak to a member of the event team to see if they could help move the audience members to another part of the stage. In the end we got the footage we needed, but we’ll know what to look out for next time.
How did you get into reviewing in the first place? I started to review films after I graduated. Ironically, I never actually did any modules in journalism even though they were on offer during my degree. I think the fact that I already had some writing skills (copywriting and the odd sketch or poem) beyond academic writing helped. Which reviewers inspire you? I like the work of Mark Cousins, Mark Kermode and Kevin B. Lee who is a more modern critic – turned academic – who creates reviews/criticism in audiovisual form. Just to touch on that, I think what I did and what I wrote about in my subsequent research was certainly film criticism as reviewing; but I think film criticism is much more than just reviews. Reviews serve their purpose though. What are your favourite genres to review? Sometimes you don’t have much of a choice. As a freelancer I used to
Wr i t t e n b y L a n n a To l a n d a n d L e n n ox Wo o d
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Photo: David Welch
REVIEWING
go to Press Shows and would simply take what was on the screen and pitch it to editors. That could be art house at the GFT or B-movies at Cineworld. I liked writing capsule reviews for The Skinny or DC Publishing (circa 100-250 words) as much as I did Programme Notes (also essentially a review) for audiences at the GFT. How do you get into the right mindset to write? That’s a good question. I think all I can do is reflect on my development. When I first started, I wanted to take notes all the time rather than have the film ‘wash over you’ and then write about it. I used to review films and take notes on them to the extent that I – well, my partner Ruth - bought me some ambulance pens that are specially made to light up so you can write in the dark. Of course, these days journalists and critics have scant respect for others and often (at least in large festival settings) take notes on their phones. What are your reviewing top tips? Think about the difference between reviewing and criticism. The publication and audience are key here. If you have to write for a particular audience and under certain publication rules (which any staff writer or freelancer will do to some extent) then you will automatically know how
NOT JUST ANOTHER REVIEW Wr i t t e n b y C r a i g R o b e r t s o n , Ja d e S m i t h & E l l i s Yo u n g
much freedom you have. Criticism and critical writing tend to have more freedom and reviewing serves more of a function. How many reviews have you had published? I didn’t necessarily keep track of them all, but I wrote for a wide range – Tribune to Rezzable (the people behind Second Life) to the GFT. I wrote many shorter pieces for The Skinny and DC Publishing as part of their entertainment guides across publications covering film festivals etc. But as a journalist I also wrote features too up until 2015. I suppose you could say I continue to review moving image in my role as an academic because I edit film reviews for an international journal and have contributed reviews about video games like Pokemon Go and No Man’s Sky as well as films like Moonlight. Have you ever gotten any criticism of your reviews? I think criticism of my reviews only ever came from editors who wouldn’t let me write what I wanted to! I recall having one review cut because I was too sympathetic to Frank Langella’s performance in Nixon verses Frost. I’ve had to ‘dumb down’ regular reviews to audiences who were clearly educated in film. If you mean ‘below the line’ comments, then I wouldn’t tend to read those too much. I’d
read the ones that were for smaller reviews and get a notification that one person had commented. In that regard I remember someone taking offense at my use of a certain term when describing an African film festival. That prompted me to think about replying and correcting said individual, but I didn’t engage. Have you ever come across any hurdles when writing a review? If so, how did you overcome it? I think probably what I have said above regarding the editorial line of the publications. Sometimes even when the pay isn’t good (which today is even worse, and I was saying that in 2010 as a freelancer) you would think editorial freedom is greater but that’s never really the case. Think of your review as a spectrum and rest yourself or test yourself along its Mobius lines: do you want to write about how the film looks/how the plot is/how the director (and others!) made choices about the story world or production - AND/OR do you want to think about how this film reflects, comments or makes an impact on the world. We recommend Dr McWhirter’s book Film Criticism and Digital Cultures (2016). It gave us a lot of insight to reviewing, legacy media and emerging forms of criticism.
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THE LAST WORD
SYNERGY Written by Craig Robertson, Jade Smith and Ellis Young
Video games are becoming more and more like films you would see on the big screen each day. Most AAA blockbuster games have a story mode that rivals the look and sound of a lot of films being created by massive film studios. However, because they are interactive the person playing becomes even more immersed in the story and grows more attached to the characters. You can’t do this in films, so what is it that makes these different mediums feel so similar and are films as influenced by games as games are by films?
That thing that happens when elements of two separate formats interact to generate fresh experiences for users. Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games, 2016) is an extremely popular prequel to 2010’s Red Dead Redemption and has one of the most immersive stories we’ve ever played. Our protagonist is Arthur Morgan who we first meet on the run from the law after a failed ferry robbery in the industrial town of Blackwater. Arthur and his gang, run by Dutchman Van der Linde, have ventured north into the mountains to try to survive. This is where our story begins.
Film meets game in Read Dead II
In the gaming world where stories last days and even weeks, we get more time with him our hero than a film character. In case you’ve somehow managed not to play yet, we won’t dare spoil anything apart from the first few minutes (during our playthrough we had to avoid spoilers on social media and in real life like Neo dodging bullets in The Matrix). What we can tell you is that throughout the main story, even though Arthur might do bad things, he also has lovable quirks which make him a likable character. After a while the decisions you make while playing the game may reflect what you would do in the same situation if you were in Arthur’s shoes. This immersion takes the game world beyond what is possible in a film narrative while referencing Western tropes. Another thing which makes Red Dead Redemption 2’s story one of the best narrative experiences we’ve had is the seamless transitions from gameplay into cutscenes. This was first seen in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4 and has since been used in many other games, but only recently has it been rendered so expertly that it doesn’t take the player out of the game while they are playing it. This ‘invisible editing’ calls to mind film cutting. Throughout the game’s cutscenes filming techniques such as Dutch angle, tracking shots, POV shots among many others give the game a cinematic feel overall.
Other aspects of the production take things beyond the world a movie can create. As technology advances, so does the in-depth story telling. Not only is there a narrative within the main story missions, but the open world as well has cinematic events that the play can stumble upon, making the environment of Red Dead much more immersive. You can talk to random strangers; you can interrupt events; you can stop people from being captured and we’ve even been challenged to a horse race. Room to explore the world for secrets and treasure is written in. Unlike a film, it’s all here to fill your first person player needs. Rockstar has a history of going over and beyond when it comes to immersion and this latest instalment to their great line perfectly exemplifies this.So much attention to detail has been poured into this narrative that every little object that you pick up is fully animated. It has even been reported that they recorded over 500,000 lines of dialogue in this game alone!
The beautifully constructed filmic elements make this a great experience even for people who don’t really consider themselves as ‘gamers’. Anyone can get a great deal of enjoyment just by watching as if it was a movie while someone plays through, in fact, directs the game. Like a movie it offers a world to immerse yourself in, characters to Other aspects of the production take love and hate and action scenes to get things beyond the world a movie can thrilled by. Everything is there and create.. As technology advances, so does more for a typical movie goer to enjoy. the in-depth story telling, as shown by It just takes a lot longer to get to the credits. Watch this space for future Westerns that borrow back the look of Red Dead with that extra twist of first person pov. So if you’re looking to play to unleash your inner Clint Eastwood, live like the true cowboy outlaw you’ve always wanted to be or just to immerse yourself in an old western world familiar from decades of Westerns where you can go bird watching, hunting, fishing and take care of your horse that you happily named ‘Carrot Destroyer,, then pick up Red Dead Redemption 2 today on XBox One or Playstation 4.
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