Summer 2010 Newsletter - English

University of Wales, Lampeter Department of Film and Media

Summer 2010

Lights! Camera! Action!

Thus began Lampeter University’s annual Department of Film and Media Student Showcase.

With over fifty guests in attendance, including the town’s Mayor Rob Phillips and Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams, the audience were treated to a sample of some of the finest student work produced this year.

The talent on show included Fiction work, highlighted by second year student Richard Beecher introducing his emotive short film, “With Nothing Left”. There followed an Interactive Media section, including an innovative virtual tour of the University, a light-hearted interactive guide to gaining a Virtual Degree, and an education tool called “A Child’s Interactive Bedroom” that had been a finalist in the Interactive Media and Games category at Ffresh, the Moving Image Festival of Wales. A cross between Facebook and “Come Dine With Me” final year student James Symons demonstrated his “Dinner Twins” social networking website.

The final selection of work was in the Documentary category concluding with Eleanor Flaherty’s powerful “The Horse: his Industry, our Industry”, chronicling how Man and horse have lived side-by-side for thousands of years. Eleanor received the coveted Departmental Alan Smithee Award as the Best Piece of Work for the year. A finalist at Ffresh, the Moving Image Festival of Wales, the documentary is already in use as an educational resource in Welsh schools and museums. Eleanor was presented with her award by Mayor Rob Phillips, who commented “The film was incredibly powerful, and so compelling. It should find its place on television.”

Eleanor Flaherty collects her award from Lampeter Mayor Rob Phillips

INSIDE: Satisfied Students | Film & Media means Business | Getting your Dream Job | Work Placements | Film and Animation Oscars | Recognition for Second Year Filmmakers | iHelp for You | MyWales Film Competition Winner | Theory into Practice

Satisfied Students!

Film & Media means Business!

Capping another fantastic year of student achievement, the Department of Film and Media was thrilled to see this success reflected in the latest university league tables.

Prior to the end of year Showcase, the Department ran four days of workshops and business training, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government’s Dynamo project to promote entrepreneurship in higher education. Percy Emmett, a NESTA training associate, held two days of intensive tuition with a mix of students from Lampeter University and Trinity University College.

The Guardian newspaper league table for Media in 2011 shows that in student satisfaction terms the department is one of the best in the UK. The rating given to Satisfaction with the Course and Satisfaction with Feedback place the Department 3rd in the UK, whilst the Satisfaction with Teaching rating puts the Department 5th in the UK. Head of Department Dr Robert Shail heralded this result as a vote of confidence in the Department, “This rating is testament to the devotion of staff to maximising the student experience. It is extremely gratifying to see the hard work of staff and students reflected in this survey.

“We take great pride in ensuring that students get the greatest value from their studies and are very conscious of the need to ensure that graduates benefit from their time in the department.

“This attention to their needs has clearly been recognised by the department’s students, who have contributed to us gaining some of the highest student satisfaction ratings in the UK. We look forward to further improving our position in the coming years.”

Creative business trainer Percy Emmett presents the winning students with their awards and business training grants. (left to right) Sarah Pearson, Matthew Kidd, Richard Beecher, Neill Burton, Percy Emmett, Iwan Pitts, Matthew Mensley, Chris Benson, Andrew Evans

The student business ideas were presented in a Dragons’ Den-style pitch to Percy, Sally Hewes and Lampeter lecturer Laurence Hall. To their great surprise and delight all of the students won training days at TV and multi-media facilities, with two second year students – Matthew Mensley and Richard Beecher – being awarded a further £600 each for training and business mentoring provided by Percy.

Of the pitches, Percy said that “I have been incredibly impressed with all of the students. They show industry and entrepreneurial ideas that they all hope to take forward. It is a great credit to the Department that their students have produced such excellent work. One student, Neill Burton, I want to take with me to the Industry Education Conference in Cardiff in the Autumn, to help me getting the message across that Wales is a great place to develop and nurture both existing and new talent such as that we have seen today here in Lampeter.”

Getting your Dream Job! In the lead up to the annual Student Showcase the Department ran talks and seminars dedicated to employment, addressed by media experts.

The events were aimed at inspiring students to enter the industry and plan their dream job. The speakers came from across the UK, including an animator from Aardman with production credits such as “Shaun the Sheep”, and David Carter BBC cameraman (pictured) with forty years documentary and drama experience, including Dr Who. Former Lampeter Film and Media students Cara Davies and Amy James delivered a fascinating talk about how they worked as special effects coordinators on such movies as Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia and the biggest box office success of all time, Avatar. They particularly emphasised the dedication and enthusiasm that was critical to getting on in the film, animation and special effects industries.

Cara noted, “I graduated from Lampeter only a few years ago. I wanted to work on special effects in films, and the opportunities I received in Lampeter from my tutors, Trevor Harris, Rob Shail, Laurence Hall, Steve Gerrard and Carol Byrne-Jones meant that I studied a wide-spectrum of modules which not only tested my abilities but made me thirst for more.”

Amy added “Lampeter will always have a special place in my heart. I learnt such a lot here through the modules I took and the contacts I made. I hope that the Department flourishes and you can see from the work that is produced now how more advanced the students have become. That is all down to the tutors and their ability to get their ideas across brilliantly.”

Jacob Henry, now working as a 3D artist and visualiser for See3D Media, explained how his undergraduate course in Media at Lampeter and Lampeter’s postgraduate course in Interactive Media had enabled him to get his dream job as a 3D artist. He urged students to take advantage of the free open source software that his employers use, emphasising “There is nothing to stop you getting hold of the tools of the trade and using your individual creativity to make compelling work that will get you noticed”.

Work Placements During their final year the Department offers students the opportunity to take a Work Placement module. This year there were a wide range of placements organised by Trevor Harris, Course Leader In Media Production.

Luke Coldman spent a month in Africa working with Handshake Productions on a unique conservation and media training tour of primate sanctuaries.

Rebecca Lord worked on the natural history documentary Human Planet for BBC Wales assisting with logging, capturing and workflow organisation.

Iwan Pitts went to Tinopolis, one of the largest UK independent producers. Whilst there Iwan explored a number of career options and was encouraged to submit two programme ideas and his final year script for further consideration. At the time of writing Iwan is waiting for the final decisions from the Drama and Docs unit. Good luck Iwan.

James Symons took up an opportunity to create a new website for Sylvantutch, a family of South African rustic furniture makers based in North Wales, whose clients include Jamie Oliver and Nelson Mandela!

Nicholas Williams went to Brighton to work with Animalive/ Animazoo, one of the leading motion capture companies in the world. Whilst there Nicholas made a promotional video for the company’s home page.

Recognition for Second Year Filmmakers As we went to press there was exciting news for a second year production team, Richard Beecher from Cilfynydd, Susanna Bowen from The Tumble, Swansea, and Luke Adams from London.

This talented team have produced five short documentary films chronicling this year’s National Eisteddfod of Wales.

Departmental staff and guests at the third annual Ceredigion schools Oscars Ceremony (left to right) Dr Robert Shail, Tim Davies (Schools IT Advisory Service) , Myfanwy Waring (Actress), Sara Edwards (BBC Wales), Steve Gerrard, Elizabeth McElhinney and Trevor Harris

Film and Animation Oscars The third annual Oscars ceremony for Ceredigion schools was held in the university Arts Hall in June. A collaboration between the Department of Film and Media and the local IT Advisory Service, the ceremony was the culmination of a week long festival. As well as event organisation by Elizabeth McElhinney, departmental students Richard Jackson, Chris Carbin and Kirsty Davies ran 3D, Film and Animation masterclasses, whilst other students supervised live web broadcasting for the glitzy ceremony. Richard Jackson designed the stunning 3D opening sequence and all of the graphics used during the show. Well done everyone for a great event.

My Wales Film Theory into Practice Competition Winner Final year Media Studies student Lampeter student Iwan Pitts was delighted to hear that his autobiographical entry had won the first prize in the My Wales film competition, beating entries from all as far afield as Azerbaijan and New Zealand. As well as having his film screened at graduation events across Wales, Iwan also won a laptop computer. Well done Iwan.

Shona Wilson has used the research for her academic Dissertation on the marketing of the Disney Corporation in a very practical way. She took on a Work Placement at JPDS, one of the top UK graphics design and marketing companies whose clients include Laura Ashley and the National Trust.

Shona created such an impression with her impressive marketing strategy for one of their clients that JPDS asked her to come back and present the strategy on their behalf. Go Shona!

Organised by GoWales, they were so impressed with the work produced that the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Chief Executive of clients Golwg360 agreed that the films be used to promote the Eisteddfod itself. It is hoped that the success of this venture will lead to further work for this talented crew. Well done Richard, Luke and Susanna!

iHelp for You Set up at the beginning of the academic year by 3 postgraduate students Richard Jackson, Chris Carbin and Cathrin Howells, iHelp supports and assists undergraduate students in aspects of their work when direct support from the tutors is unavailable.

This includes assistance with software, technical support and discussing ideas. We support students directly in classes and in workrooms, indicating the availability of support by the wearing of green lanyards; we also use by email and have set up a Facebook Group. The number of students taking advantage of the scheme has been amazing and the feedback has been extremely positive.

CONTACT THE DEPARTMENT : Dr Robert Shail | r.shail@lamp.ac.uk | 01570 424749 | www.lamp.ac.uk/fm