Paul Kittel

Day two of Industry week and today I went to see Paul Kittel talk about careers in television. Paul has done a lot of work within the television industry but that’s not where his career started. Paul started his career teaching in the Czech Republic, and then he got his post graduate diploma, radio journalist and then working for Channel One.

Paul said working for small companies like Channel One has some huge advantages. Some advantages are because their low budget companies they don’t hire big crews, in fact you are more likely to go out and work on your own, this means you get to learn everything about the television industry like Directing, Producing, using the cameras and editing. Paul told us that doing this would help you for if you wanted to move to a bigger company, because they will see you have the understanding and experience in all aspects of the television industry.

Paul then went on to telling us that although the television industry may seem like a big industry it is actually relatively small. He also told us the main attribute you need is honesty, as long as you’re honest to your employer and on your CV it stops you from getting in trouble or having any problems with jobs you may get. He also told us that because the television industry is relatively small most of your work will come from ‘word of mouth’. He said the hard problem is getting your first job and if you get that chance and you are determined to succeed that will lead to getting more jobs in the television industry.

Paul Kittel ended his presentation on telling us that if you get any opportunities to work in the industry take them, even if it’s not what you’re interested in that section of the industry it could lead up to the sector you do want to work in.

By Corey Hatton, Level 2 student in Film and Television.

Jonny Stenton

Today I had the pleasure of meeting and listening to one of the most unusual people I will ever meet. At times he seemed absent minded and gave the impression that he was unorganised and unsure about what he was going to talk about. But after over two hours of listening to him speak I realised that he has a great passion and interest in the film industry and loves his job as a film editor.

In the beginning Jonny seemed unsure about what he wanted to say searching through his laptop, while taking long pauses between talking as if he didn’t know where to start. But when he eventually got started he would begin to explain his impression of film editing and to what I could only work out to be the evolution of editing.

He first got me hooked by trying to use dreams and perception to give examples of how editing has changed over the years. Being a great fan of dreams and things that dreams represent I found myself intrigued and wondering how this has anything to do with editing, he started by explaining that dreams are a disturbance of an image: he explained that dreams are memories or experiences played back to us, recreated with imbued meaning.

He then went on to show us a clip from the film Amour by director Michael Haneke, this 2012 film is a love story based around a husband dealing with his wife’s dementia. The clip showed a dream sequence and how editing can help the people watching the film go without realising that the characters have fallen into a dream until they wake from it.

Jonny then went on to talk about Gilles Deleuze and how he explained that in his view Deleuze said time is freedom. Jonny spoke about past and future and also the present explaining how past and future is virtual: memories, fantasy and desire, things that you dream about, things that you want and people you have lost and miss and how the present is actual: real things here and now, you can touch and feel.

Jonny explained the way films showed a dream sequence pre-World War II, using techniques like fading away and staring off into the distance and was very different to how it was viewed post World War II, when they started to just cut into dreams leaving the viewer’s guessing and more intrigued as to what’s happening.

I will admit that in bits such as when he was trying to explain the section on time and Gilles Deleuze  I wasn’t really sure of the point he was trying to make, and understand that this could probably mean that I have missed the point all together.

However, I really enjoyed listening to, what turned out to be extremely passionate and enthusiastic guy and would recommend anyone with an interest in film editing to go see and listen and take away just as much excitement and passion as I have and undoubtedly will again if I ever get another chance!

By Corey Hatton and Nikki Rynne Level 2 students in Film and Television.

Reg Sanders

The first day of industry week and I had the chance to go see the 3D Workshop; Reg Sanders gave a demonstration on the history of 3D films and how they were made. I found the presentation really interesting Reg started out explaining the history of 3D filming; he explained the three ages of 3D.

 He started with the Golden age which was Hollywood in the 1950’s; with the invention of the television the theatres needed something that would give them a new edge, this saw the birth of 3D cinema. The first attempt at 3D filming saw the release of Bwana Devil and Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, these films even though they are classics the technology wasn’t good enough to support them and this led to 3D not taking off.

The second age took place between the 1970’s and 80’s this saw the release of Flesh of Frankenstein and Jaws 3D the problem they had with filming these films was using the Negative Parallax to much, this was trying to bring too much of the picture in front of the screen and this would cause headaches and leave the film with not much depth.

The third age was between 2002 and 2004, like with Jaws 3D they tried to release a third instalment to a trilogy in 3D and even though they took a massive step forward with 3D technology the film spy kids 3D just didn’t have a good enough story line to support the release. But then in 2004 the same team that directed Spy kids 3D got together and created Polar Express this film turned out to be a when 3D out preformed 2D (14-1) in commercial revenue.

Reg Sanders also explained that 3D is split into 3 parts 1/3 Biology, 1/3 Psychology and 1/3 Technology, all these things are needed to fully understand how 3D Technology works.

Stereoscopic 3D can be particularly superior to 2D in:-

·         Resolution

·         Colour Recovery

·         Size Constancy

·         Motion Portrayal

·         Naturalness

·         Full Depth Recovery of the spatial elements in the original scene.

Reg also talked to us about:-

·         Light and Shade

·         Inner Perspective/ Vanishing Point

·         2D Occlusion

·         2D Relative Size

·         Textual Gradients

·         2D Aerial Perspective

·         Proprioception

·         Motion Parallax ( Positive, Negative, Zero and Divergent)

He told us we can find all this information on Google. He also showed us a couple of trailers, you can find them on YouTube (3D truth about old masters) (3D Bud Light commercial).

I can’t say I knew much about the 3D Filming at the start of the presentation, but by the end after listening to Reg Sanders talk about it with his passion for 3D Films I must say I am looking forward to see what the future hold for the film industry.

By Corey Hatton , Level 2 student in Film and Television.

Lee Byatt

Day two of industry week and I went to watch Lee Byatt. Lee has been a camera operator for about 15 – 20 years and he gave us the ten top tips for working in the media industry and they are:-

1.       Never let your guard down

·         Be proactive, be willing and if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing STOP and do something different.

2.       ABC (Always Be Closing)

·         Don’t rest your laurels. There is always something you could be learning whether that is new kit, new techniques or experimentations. Take your camera out film something and put it on YouTube. If you don’t try you don’t know.

3.       Don’t get slack

·         Laziness is EVIL and it can compromise the quality of your work, always take your time this will help you get the best results. If you make a mistake own up to it and move on. Lee told us that this saves time, stops getting you in trouble when people find the truth and telling the truth makes you look good. He also said the main rule is just DON’T LIE!

4.       Don’t be a DICK

·         Understand that you will have to work with people, people can be idiots. Make sure you’re not one of them, half the job is dealing with colleagues some of which you may not like, and you will also have to deal with public which also can be idiots. Grow a thick skin and remember at the end of the day you get to go home and can relax and forget about the idiots you have had to deal with.

5.       Get use to slumming g it

·         If you like home, sleep or a quiet life them the media industry is not for you.

6.       Get a driving license

·         Lee told us that having a driving license is essential, he also told us when you get your license not to lose it because then you lose your ability to earn money.

7.       Can you edit? What software?

·         Final Cut, Avid or Quantel

8.       If you love your kids, you have to learn to kill them

·         Obviously he doesn’t mean you have to kill your kids, he was telling us even though you love the work you have been filming when it comes to edit it ‘trust your gut’, don’t be afraid to cut it down.

9.       ABC2: The Return

·         Editing is a show reel, make sure you get it online, update it and think about using social network sites like Twitter and Facebook and don’t forget YouTube.

10.   Remember…… SMILE!!!

·         See point 5 …….. Don’t be a dick, the industry is very small and reputation is everything and a good reputation will open doors. Always remember be good at what you.

This is some good advice which would help anyone trying to make it in the film and Television industry.

By Corey Hatton Level 2 student in Film and Television.

Game City Nights 'You mean to say you give me a mic?'

Hello and welcome back to the confetti website for my tenth and final blog for confetti this year, what better way to hit my tenth by blogging Game City Nights!!!!!

After emerging from Ronnie Renton’s session full of enthusiasm, I was shot down as I braced the cold for a few minutes whilst I walked round to Antenna, I was secretly excited for Game City Nights, with the King of the Iron Fist’s second annual tournament being held right in our own back yard, GS11 have previously done well in this tournament with John Frain taking the title last year.

Game City started off with the announcement of a few games that were going on throughout the night, and the massive announcement of Sims City Nights, with a few developers gracing us with their presence one Thursday evening!

You could possibly say I was an outcast for about 30 minutes, whilst I completed the other blogs for the day, because I really didn’t want to get home late and have to stay up all night to complete the blogs! After this I began socialising, and being a student. I finally got to see some action from one of my favourite games, Tekken tag. By this time, my pick for the tournament was still in, thankfully.

We got all the way to the end of the tournament, and we still had a representative of GS11 in one of the teams in the Semi-finals, they had won, now meaning that they had to face each other for a 3 bout route to the shiny gold at the end of the road. Who won? Not us, after a close fight, Renato sadly went out of the tournament being piped by his team mate Alex. However was still a winner in our eyes!

During the rounds, tutors were offering exhibition matches for prizes, if you could beat the tutor selected at random, you would go against them. Now, I was totally surprised anybody would trust me with a microphone, but it happened, and I think I did a good job of it. I became ‘Special Guest’ commentator on two occasions. I’m not going to lie, I took it with two hands and ran, I went crazy on the mic, in fact, and I even broke a sweat, this was an amazing opportunity to work on my mic skills, I’m glad it paid off.

Game City Nights received huge praise from students that I spoke to as the night went on, Rhianne Murphy had this to say :“Brilliant night whether you play Tekken or Not. Shows the true talents and passion of our gaming course.

So, overall, the night was a blast, and I would recommend it to anybody who is considering trying it out next year. Take your chances and attend every session that is offered to you, so much knowledge is on offer all because you are a Confetti student, although a few of the sessions on offer this year weren’t really my taste, I made the most of it and in the end learnt a lot and mostly I had a great time once again blogging.

Industry week in general has been much better than last year from a gaming stand point, it built on a huge foundation, adding more to the line-up for us, and thankfully increasing my work load. Now sadly, this is my last Industry Week. For now. As I won’t be progressing onto the FdSc course this year, but who’s to say that I won’t be back in the future?

“Take your opportunities and run with them”

Thank you for reading my blogs over the past 2 Industry weeks, I hope you enjoyed them.

By Nick Mason, Level 3 Games student

@MrNikosMason <Shameless Plug 

Neil Roberts 'Go on and draw some more'

For the second year in a row, we are delighted to welcome Neil Roberts back to confetti, this time for a more hands on session.

This is brilliant, we were graced by Neil last year twice in a row is just a blessing in disguise for all budding concept artists/ illustrators out there. Having over 12 years of experience on the video games industry and a wealth of experience doing other projects such as comic covers/scripts and also book covers. During his time in the Video games industry he specialised in Character art.

Here are some projects Neil has worked on, Black Library, Horus Heresy, Rebellion: 2000AD and has also worked on some BBC comic strips such as Sarah Jane’s Adventures.

This session developed into being a skills development session for all budding concept artists, I even had a go and enjoyed it, and I’m more of a narrative/story driven creative.

Having this wealth of experience, it was truly an honour to have Neil assist us in creating at least a very basic piece concept art, he introduced us to a basic brief, “Design a Robot from the English Civil war (1642-1651) this is how Neil would go about the brief.

1.       Initial Response

2.       Get Down as many ideas as you can

3.       Don’t worry about tidiness

4.       Keep it simple

5.       No need for detail yet

6.       Draw without borders or edges

7.       Draw everything that springs to mind

8.       DRAW DRAW DRAW

Then

1.       Re-Sketch the idea that you like

2.       Research more about the idea

3.       Redraw, develop

4.       Add colour/details

Use as many layers as possible, layers are your friend.

Neil also quoted near the end, “Give quality a reason to be there” That really reflects in his work, and explains on its own why he has been so successful in the industry and in freelance.

“Go and draw, when you’re finished drawing, go draw some more”

It was surprisingly hard to cover what I haven’t covered last year, this session was amazing to have Neil constantly walking around the room handing advice to us all.

By Nick Mason, Level 3 Gaming student 

Ronnie Renton 'Take a walk on the wild side'

Hello and Welcome back to another addition to the Confetti industry week website.

Today, we welcome an incredibly successful man onto the stage, after working at Games workshop at a high level, he did the unthinkable of walking away from such security of a high level job, while admitting that his main drive was fuelled by stupidity he stuck with it and made his dream a reality.

After realising when he was reasonably young that he liked Fantasy Sci-Fi toys, he embarked on his career with passion and determination, he then started working for Games Workshop, little did he know, he would be standing face to face with them in the industry years later!

He worked for a while in games workshop, and turned rags into riches because by 2007 they were turning over an impressive 120 million, in good time, Ronnie went on to complete an MBA at the London Business School, and between now and then, had gained a large amount of grey hair!

Mantic games were born after he jumped off the cliff and left Games workshop, but he wasn’t done there, he decided that Mantic Games weren’t going to be his only venture in business, thus prompting in his inclusion to the Plumen team, who have currently created an award winning, energy saving light bulb, Winning the Brit Design of the year in 2012.

Both ventures are currently fighting hard and doing exceptionally well, with Mantic’s Dreadball and Plumen’s light bulb both breaking the $1 million dollar sales barrier. He admitted that Mantic did take a while to really get going, and swallowed a lot of funding early on, but it recuperated with the aid of Kickstarter, which is an impressive system in which the audience can help to fund said project, and make it blossom into reality.

After Mantic’s previous success with Kickstarter, Ronnie spoke of his delight of this, and plans to use Kickstarter again in the future, introducing new titles and hoping to get even more funding to aid his cause to bring table top gaming back to the forefront in gaming, and he is doing a brilliant job with Dreadball. I will admit this, I haven’t really heard of Dreadball before today, but I am now wanting to try this and maybe get into making this table top game a hobby.

Nearer the end of the session, it was again opened up to questions and he was bombarded with a few great questions and had given some great answers, but mainly the questions focused on his time with the games workshop, and how he would compete with them in the industry. He admitted during this time, that Games Workshop are going to be very hard to work with and why wouldn’t they be? They earn a colossal amount of money, but Mantic are aiming to put themselves right there at the top, breaking into the top 5 in their section in the industry. More questions flooded about Kickstarter, which also lead to him admitting, that Kickstarter can put a lot of pressure on products and to get them out, as it does.

Ronnie gave out some key information about his ventures and this was greatly appreciated judging by the amount of questions he received nearer the end of the session.

“Know what you do, and do it well.”

Thank you for reading this blog

By Nick Mason, Level 3 Gaming student