PREPARING FOR PROGRESSION
- OWEN NUTKINS
- Oct 2, 2017
- 12 min read
PREPARING FOR PROGRESSION
APPLICATION GUIDE
Make an application and evidence it by creating a step by-step guide on applying for uni or a job. This should be graphically appropriate for other students and should identify and evaluate key features of making an application to your chosen route. The guide may be video or print based and should include links and references
Applying through UCAS for uni is the easiest, this will follow a step by step guide.
https://www.ucas.com/
1) Simply sign up as a undergraduate & create a account
2) Fill out each section until ticked, giving correct information.
3) From this you will need to enter, personal details, uni choices (so think & select these before hand)
You can easily search uni courses on UCAS
To view my selected film/media course - go here - https://olnmedia.wixsite.com/media/single-post/2017/11/06/UNIVERSITY-COURSES
4) Education, giving all the correct information here is important, don't lie or add a extra grade, but make sure to add all the grades you got from school & college if you currently have any.
5) Employment, any employment you have add it
6) Personal statement & references - Your statement will take a while to complete you will go through copy after copy, best thing is research into others, & start writing about you, how you got into the chosen topic, why you want to study it further showing your passion & drive and references, your tutor/teacher will be able to write you a reference where he/she can add it to your application when sending off.
Below is a copy of my first personal statement.
This version below, I went over a few times, changing & improving each section to it.
I was coming close to my final personal statement, & upon this I gathered feedback to know what to change or remove, I have now changed & shorten alot of personal statment down, to where it gets everything across in a much quicker time.
7) confirm and pay, you do have to pay a small fee over £20 if you apply for 3 to 5 unis but this is where they send it off to all the universities and gather the responses for you, where the unis can accept or invite you to a interview sending your more information.
8) Once paid for you will be sent a personal Id to where you can log into UCAS & track your applications and the progress of responses, here is my current response.
PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL
You will need to create a range of self-promotion and presentation artifacts. To do this you will write an analysis of different promotional materials then produce your own showreel, CV, Business Card, Covering letter and website.
IMPORT SHOW REEL
CV
BUSINESS CARD
COVERING LETTER
I took upon the time to research into certain jobs or intern roles, during this process I came across this one & thought I'd match a personal covering letter to it, as if I was applying for the role. From this I gathered a clear structure of layout & idea's that I could incorpate into my personal covering letter, from including a summary of myself, why I would meet the responaibtles reuqired and where I've gained the skills from.
SOCIAL WEBSITES
linkedin.com/in/owennutkins
https://olnmedia.wixsite.com/owen-nutkins
SWOT ANALYSIS
Create a SWOT analysis based on your skills & career goals and produce a evaluation that evaluates your own strengths and ambitions to support own development and meet identified goals
REALITY OF MEDIA
From television, film and radio, to what we see on the internet, media is everywhere, and it can entertain as much as it can influence.
As you can probably imagine, working in the media is fast-paced and extremely competitive. If you can handle the pressures thrown at you, it can be a very exciting way to make a living where there are literally thousands of different roles you can explore.
Employers in media look for a wide range of people with different technical and personal skills. Generally, you’re going to need to be confident, enthusiastic and have the ability to build relationships with a bunch of different people in the industry. You’ve got to be super versatile and willing to go the extra mile to get projects finished. While you don’t necessarily need a degree for many of the roles in this industry, breaking into the world of media is getting tougher and tougher. Consequently, it may be worth getting a degree before applying for the most desirable roles.
(Allaboutcareers accessed 2017)
So with thousands of roles within the media industry & getting into what one you want, to me it only really requires three main things.
The first being passion, passion is important in everything you do, if you don’t have passion for what part of the industry you want to go into or what you will make then nothing you do will ever be successful.
Two building a portfolio, building a portfolio of all your work is honestly so important, allowing people see what you can create will open you up to a range of different opportunities while it also develops your skills within the industry to where you want to enter.
Getting your name out there, not only will this continue to build your portfolio but it will get you sales or more progression opportunities into the industry. If you start getting work experience through companies or you start filming on your own, everything you do will only build a better relationship between you & the industry.
Using sites such as LinkedIn are really great opportunities to meet & learn about people in your Industry, building contacts & creating opportunities
WAYS INTO THE INDUSTRY
FURTHER EDUCATION
With many roles, that come’s many ways into the industry but that doesn’t at all make it easy, media’s a sort of a tricky industry to get into, it’s all about the skills you have & the work you have done & in most case’s the people you know. However there are a few routes that could help young people like myself enter the media industry, the most obvious one would be further education, moving education & continuing on at university could be your path way, it won’t only develop your skills but it will also open you up to a lot of opportunities to where it will build your name & your portfolio.
APPRENTICESHIP
But for those who don’t want to continue education, an apprenticeship could be the key into the industry and gain the skills and experience to put them ahead of the competition, not only will you already be placed into the industry but you will also slowly be moving up it, while others are still trying to break into it while you also build a range of media contacts. Allowing you to get paid work, build skills faster & work on more projects at a faster pace.
There seems to be two main industry roles you can enter in an apprenticeship process for Film, either Craft and Technical Roles & TV or Creative and Digital Media
YOUR OWN PATH
The next path way would require a little more work on your end, & that’s simply by following your own path, finding the work you can & offering out your skills to those who need it. Find your first client & slowly but surely they will build, if your work is good enough & to what your clients want the opportunities will hopefully be flying in. Sites like YouTube also open a lot of young people into the industry where content posted can generate an income.
ENTRY LEVEL POSITIONS
It’s known that ‘’Runner Jobs’’ are often the first steps into breaking into the industry, Billy Macqueen (co-director of Darrall Macqueen Ltd) said "They're a smart way to understand all the different layers of production and to find out if you actually like the industry," If you don’t know what ‘’Runner Jobs’’ actually are, they are simply almost everything within the industry – so one day you could be doing something exciting & the next something that you wish you wasn’t really doing, from setting up sets, to helping with editing to even simply making cups of coffee or getting lunch for everyone, one day could be exciting & the next could be a little bit boring.
CONTACTING PROFESSIONAL'S WHO ENTERED THE INDUSTRY
Deepak Verma (https://goo.gl/vHdcZm) – FILM PRODUCER
Deepak Verma is a Film producer, who started as an actor. Going to drama school & then working on EastEnders for six years until he felt the next big step was to work more directly with film. Although Deepak had contacts to get into the industry & started it took a lot of work on his side until doors opened to where he is now.
Deepak says that ‘’Being a producer is a tough job. You really have to be able to do everything - from the creative side to financing and logistics. It's a bit like being a builder who can do plumbing, electrical work and plastering as well’’
Jonathon Morris (https://goo.gl/8C03Vq) – EDITOR
Jonathon Morris is an established Editor who works primarily on Ken Loach's films, he first broke into the scene where his brother was working as an assistant editor, to where he manged to become his trainee in the 1960's.
Jonathon’s advice was simple ‘’ Persevere. Be willing. Smile a lot & Ask questions’’
Lewis Buchan (https://goo.gl/B3odxm) – CAMERA OPERATOR
Lewis is a film camera operator/ focus puller where has had worked on many films. Lew is manged to enter the industry as some old family friends he knew were involved with commercials. He started on those as a runner & slowly worked his way into running with the camera department on several jobs, leading him to become a camera trainee.
Lewis’s left this advice ‘’Be happy at work and don't be scared to work very long, hard hours. Have your head switched on 12 hours a day when you're working and appreciate that you can only do this if you eat and sleep well during the shoot. It is so important to look after yourself in this industry’’
SKILLS REQUIRED TO PURSUE A CREATIVE MEDIA CAREER
TASK 2: You must critically evaluate a selection of relevant job applications and the skills they require.
RELEVANT JOBS/THE SKILLS REQUIRED
Depending on what part of the industry you enter, skills will vary. Since I’m looking to enter the Film/Photography side of the Media industry this section is what I will be looking into alongside the different departments within it.
PRODUCTION RUNNER
THE ROLE
This role includes working in the office, around the set and on location, Dealing with varied office admin tasks alongside dealing with a range jobs on location
SKILLS REQUIRED
Be flexible and well organised, Be able to think on your feet
Have good communication skills
Be able to take orders
Be tactful and diplomatic
Be punctual
Be enthusiastic
Be able to work calmly and effectively under pressure
Have good IT skills
Have good organisational and administrative skills
Be able to work without supervision
Be versatile and a willing to learn
Be aware of relevant health and safety laws and procedures
QUALIFICATION
There isn’t any specific qualification for a production runner, however it is known that good education is an advantage alongside having a clean EU driving licence
ROUTE IN
The best way in is experience, finding anything to do with film will open your contact’s & skills, show people what you can offer them – this is a good entry level into the film industry.
CAMERA OPERATOR
THE ROLE
Preparing & operating the camera & all its equipment, Working with the Director and Director of Photography to achieve the visual style of the film while also managing other camera department staff and communicating with Actors
SKILLS REQUIRED
know how to operate the camera expertly
have good working knowledge of all camera systems, lenses, support equipment and accessories
provide creative input
have artistic ability
be patient
have a good sense of visual composition, perspective and movement
have physical co-ordination and strength
combine creativity with technical skills
pay precise attention to detail
communicate effectively
be able to collaborate and work as part of a team
be diplomatic and sensitive when working with artists and crew
know about health and safety legislation and procedures
QUALIFICATION
Once again there isn’t any specific qualification needed for a Camera Operator however like most Camera Operator studying higher level qualification helps.
Film schools and training courses offer a good basic grounding in the skills and knowledge required and the most useful courses offer practical experience these may also lead to work experience placements.
ROUTE IN
Starting as a Camera Trainee or Runner is a great start to then progressing to 2nd AC as you gain more experience, to 1st AC. Building upon your experience and competence when operating a variety of cameras in order to achieve the role of Camera Operator.
5 YEAR PLAN
2017 – Within 2017 I plan to finish the end of the current course im on Level 3 year 1, to then continue & finish the second section of the course Level 3 year 2 as so this will go into 2018. Beside that I plan to look outside of college for any filming or photo opportunities out there, if its paid work or just for experience I want to take as much as I can to build up a portfolio of work that can be used for the future, this includes opening up a website to show off my work to clients, something dedicated to freelance work I may do so it separates my college work
.
2017/8 – 2018 will start with another year at college on the Level 3 year 2 media course, once again looking for any opportunities for filming or photography. During this time, I also plan to build up all my social media to start getting a following & opening up contacts into the industry, by this time I hope that I would have made a lot of content to showcases on my website.
2019 – Thinking ahead to 2019 is something very unreal, I don’t have much of a clue to where I’d like to be then but since college will have finished by then, I’d love to hopefully look into starting my own business in the film & photography industry, to where I may have moved away from home closer to more opportunities to grow & expand into the industry. Further education however may be something I’d look into, including university or apprenticeships & if not then a possible starting job in film with a company is somewhere were I’d head instead.
2020 – During 2020 I hopefully would have produced many more films & photos alongside that hopefully built up skills in both sectors to take with me, where I’d like to continue that work, opening up more contacts & working my way up into the industry until I get to a steady place where I’d like to stay.
If my own business does take of before then I’d look into building that to more of a successful brand online & hopefully soon into a physical store, since im very into my social media – online sales would be my main area forward to begin with.
2021 – At this stage there is really no saying where I may be but if its having my own business, still at further education or working under a film or photography company, I really hope that my work only moves onto bigger and better things & at some point will allow me to travel all over the world, storytelling & sharing positive content around the world. For me it’s all about small projects onto bigger & better projects.
PERSONAL STRENGTHS WITHIN THIS
⚫ Creative Spirit
⚫ Reliable and professional
⚫ Organized
⚫ Clear time management
⚫ Team player
⚫ Fast learner
⚫ Motivated
POSSIBLE JOB ROLES INTO THE INDUSTRY
The below job roles could act as possible ways into the industry if I decide to pick that route & it discusses the skills required, any qualifications needed, alongside the best route into that certain industry.
PRODUCTION RUNNER
THE ROLE
This role includes working in the office, around the set and on location, Dealing with varied office admin tasks alongside dealing with a range jobs on location
SKILLS REQUIRED
Be flexible and well organised, Be able to think on your feet
Have good communication skills
Be able to take orders
Be tactful and diplomatic
Be punctual
Be enthusiastic
Be able to work calmly and effectively under pressure
Have good IT skills
Have good organisational and administrative skills
Be able to work without supervision
Be versatile and a willing to learn
Be aware of relevant health and safety laws and procedures
QUALIFICATION
There isn’t any specific qualification for a production runner, however it is known that good education is an advantage alongside having a clean EU driving licence
ROUTE IN
The best way in is experience, finding anything to do with film will open your contact’s & skills, show people what you can offer them – this is a good entry level into the film industry.
CAMERA OPERATOR
THE ROLE
Preparing & operating the camera & all its equipment, Working with the Director and Director of Photography to achieve the visual style of the film while also managing other camera department staff and communicating with Actors
SKILLS REQUIRED
know how to operate the camera expertly
have good working knowledge of all camera systems, lenses, support equipment and accessories
provide creative input
have artistic ability
be patient
have a good sense of visual composition, perspective and movement
have physical co-ordination and strength
combine creativity with technical skills
pay precise attention to detail
communicate effectively
be able to collaborate and work as part of a team
be diplomatic and sensitive when working with artists and crew
know about health and safety legislation and procedures
QUALIFICATION
Once again there isn’t any specific qualification needed for a Camera Operator however like most Camera Operator studying higher level qualification helps.
Film schools and training courses offer a good basic grounding in the skills and knowledge required and the most useful courses offer practical experience these may also lead to work experience placements.
ROUTE IN
Starting as a Camera Trainee or Runner is a great start to then progressing to 2nd AC as you gain more experience, to 1st AC. Building upon your experience and competence when operating a variety of cameras in order to achieve the role of Camera Operator.
EXTRA ROUTES INTO THE INDUSTRY
The BFI Film Academy was introduced to us, with a presentation on of what exactly it is & why we as filmmakers should personally join.
The BFI allows students to gain invaluable experience while working alongside industry professionals, getting hands on filming experience to develop practical knowledge & skills, alongside the chance to explore creativity and passion in a supportive and dynamic environment.
BFI is a 7 day programme where young, aspiring filmmakers get to make two short films, recieve masterclasses from industry professionals, watch films and recieve possible career signposting.
The BFI provide a range of different courses from, animation, to documentary filmmaking, screenwriting, film programming & audience development alongside a lot more!
They also have craft skills residentials courses alongside the above, where all courses are expected to be paid for however they say if payment is a issue, it can be stopped as they are looking for talent, motivation & someone keen to learn more, rather than someone who can just afford such a course
http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmacademy
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