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 

Sophia Coney 'Time to Direct'

Hello and welcome back to the confetti website for another Industry week blog.

Here we welcome to the stage Sophia Coney, who is currently the Studio director for Lockhart Studios. Sophia has risen up the ladder from leaving University to get this role of Studio director. She graduated from DMU whilst having an internship with a company during her final year there. Since then, she has risen from being an Artist to being a Manager and then on to being a director.

Lockwood studios specialise in virtual content for PlayStation home, producing normally small items although on occasions producing entire environment for the paying customer. Lockwood do turn around many small items such as Skinny Jeans and Light up shoes to an amazing quality and generates a large amount of income doing so. Sophia quoted “Making a product for the virtual world isn’t all about the end product” which is true, because you still have to market this product and get it into people’s hands.

Lockwood have had the pleasure of working under contract from some big games, such games include, War Hawk, Red bull, Uncharted 3, Guitar Hero and Killzone.

Before the end, Sophia spoke passionately about how she would like to see more females in the industry as it is widely male dominated, although the male to female game ratio is split 50:50. She would encourage more women to join the industry because the percentage needs upping! Lockwood currently have a percentage of 20% Females which is 10% above the industry standard!

We were approaching the end of the session, and she again spoke with passion, on how your job should combine what you love and what your good at, and also recommended that students like us should approach companies and apply for an internship to gain experience, as In reality, it will help you in the long run and may even get you a job in said company. Lockwood Studios also offer Internships, so it’s great for local talent to get the opportunity to showcase their ability on an industry wide scale.

Sophia has had a reasonably quick rise up the ladder than some of our other guests this week which in itself speaks words.

This session was reasonably short, but got straight to the point and obviously rather quickly, we thank Sophia for taking time out of her day to visit us.

Thank you once again for reading this blog. 

By Nick Mason, Level 3 Gaming student 

Ewan Lamont, Legendary Games

When I first laid eyes on Ewan Lamont I knew that he was a business man, here is a subtle aura of professionalism and authority which is something which is desired by many; especially me.

Ewan Lamont introduced himself to the room as explained briefly on what he was going to cover over the course of this session, most interesting of which seemed to be that he was going to present the room with the opportunity to play his new game which is currently in development. But before that Ewan decided to talk us though his history and experiences in the video games industry, this started by him explaining how his long running partner Gavin Rummery joined the games industry in 1995. It was from here that we were shown a short News cast which documented the massive impact which an original video game title had on the market which was the brilliant Tomb Raider. Personally I grew up with my PlayStation and the first game I owned for it was Tomb Raider, I loved every minute of it and after taking the trip down memory lane watching this News cast really appealed to me.

Following this Ewan moved on to talk about the implementation of online in the video games industry, this was seen by a trailer which we all witnessed for a title created by a company known as Climax which Ewan worked for and their partnership with Games-Workshop to create an MMO set in their respected universe. This title unfortunately never made it to the market and in Ewan’s words lost the race to Blizzard’s massively popular MMO World of Warcraft. But with that aside he still showed appreciation for working on the project and then moved on to ask the audience about what roles they wanted to do in the games industry. This led to a variety of job roles being mentioned, which was really interesting to see the amount of diversity amongst the room.

This brought Ewan to his next point which was setting up an indie company, he explained how the decision needed to be a viable option but explained how the industry is changing in a way which supports this particularly in that digital media will be better than retail in 2013. With that in mind Ewan went on to talk about how starting up your own business like this requires a collection of certain attributes, these being;

1.     Being passionate.

2.     Being enthusiastic.

3.     Obsessing over the project.

4.     Letting it consume you.

Now the last two might seem like a negative however Ewan assured us that they are vital to the success of a new business and that they are a big part of the requirements involved. This brought Ewan to his next key piece of advice, the fact that funds are the key and to prepare for being a little skint! So, what else is required for the succession of a new business? This was what Ewan came to next; he showed us just how important working for Hire and that the Investment process is a difficult venture however it is very important to the growth of the business.

Following this explanation of business growth Ewan brought us to the second part of the lecture which was where he began talking about the titles his company has worked on as well as his current title in development names “Type 0” what interested me most about his initial explanation about his work in progress was that it was created using a new type of software called HTML 5. This new software format is a form of coding for software which is completely universal with devices, if there are internet capabilities then it will run this software! And that is an amazing feature.

What came next was the opportunity for the entire room to take part in playing Ewan’s new game but not only that we were to contribute to the Quality Assurance of the game itself. This was what really got me excited as the process of working with a game currently in development is an industry standard job and the fact of the matter was we were all given the opportunity to take part and try it for ourselves. Getting the opportunity to really reach out and touch the video games industry is something which is consistent with every single event at Confetti Medias Industry Week and it is something that keeps my interest and passion for games flowing every single day. It is only here that students like myself are able to rub elbows with an industry professional like Ewan Lamont and really learn just how the industry works.

By Samuel Johnston, FDSC Gaming student

Sean Denny

It’s hard to believe at just nineteen years old, Sean Denny was just starting his career in the music industry and at such a young age, who knew what he could achieve. He started as a temp general assistant at Sony Music and his career continued from that point.

Sean has now had 12 years in the music industry but with what can only be described as a Ulrika moment, he might not be where he is today.

Sean started out with his love of music and wanted to be a DJ but one idea lead him to his career now and that idea was just to move to London and work at a record label. Although this can only sound like a non reachable dream to some, to Sean it seemed simple. He told his parents and went on to do a lot of research into what he wanted to do. During his research he stumbled across the Sony website and sending them a CV would seem like the obvious answer to many but this wasn’t the case as he was told that they get sent a lot of CV’s. This could be down putting but not to be put off, Sean did some research and decided to contact them and ask what he would need to do to get into the job he wanted, this is where he found out about a Temp general assistant job and after a few interviews and meetings he got the job.  Although it started out as making teas and photo copying it didn’t damage his determination to succeed in the music industry.

This determination and love for music got him to become a label assistant then a label manager. During this time he was told he would make a good radio plugger and was approached by various people and was attempted to be ‘poached’ a few times. He continued to make moves to various labels including Champion Records and Gut Records. After a short spell away from the music industry, Sean became an independent radio plugger and started work in A &R with RCA which he still does now. He was also offered his own record label under RCA which is called Space in Time.

During Sean’s talk we found out a lot about his career and what he does but he also had the opportunity to give his opinions and advice. The major points of his job as an independent radio plugger is to simply convince people to listen to music that he thinks is good a worth a listen and radio play. As part of his role within A&R at RCA, he helps to build artists and bands up the ranks.

Sean had a lot of advice and experience to give but one main point he continued to make is that you should stay true to who you are, be individual and not to follow what you don’t want to do, just go out and do what you want to do and what feels right. In Sean’s words in the music industry the rules are there are no rules, so just work hard and stick to what you feel is right.

When asked his favourite genre of music for Sean it was just one answer and that was music! This showed that his love and passion for music is evident and a major part of himself and his work. I left truly inspired and if there was anything to take away from this talk is that a good work ethic and passion and love for music is key and everything else will follow.

By Jessica Sansome, Level 3 Music student 

DJ Fantasy

'Refresh Yourself!'

Day 2 of Industry Week! This morning, I was introduced to three diverse and very knowledgeable characters from the Music Industry.

As this was my first music event, I was really excited and anticipated for this session.
The guys began the session with introductions, where we got to find out a bit of background info on them. The session was lead by all three, with Spyda, a drum and bass MC, introducing the other two guests first.

DJ Phantasy has been in the industry for 23 years and has worked alongside a wide range of big industry names and labels. He expressed the importance of the main message - refreshing yourself, before introducing the final guest.

Harry Shotta is an MC rapper recording artist, with his influences deriving from the erratic hip-hop scene. He was fortunate enough to work with famous names, with the opportunity to experience a studio environment from a very young age. He then went on to achieve a Music Degree, along with the title of Best Lyrical MC and now tries to incorporate other genres of music with his grounded roots.

MC Spyda then spoke about himself, explaining the importance of technology and how it has helped him to gain success and how accessible communications are today.

All three of these inspiring artists spoke with truth and enthusiasm through each of their experience, whilst giving us all the chance to get involved and deliver our ideas and backgrounds.

They gave sound advice on the rapidly changing and developing industry and how to break-in, revealing the harsh and sometimes shocking realities but standing the ground on staying true to yourself and not to pitch-bend too far away from your unique sound.

With Harry Shotta having attained a degree in music, working hard at West Minister, he learnt a lot about the legal aspects of the music industry, which was very insightful, teaching him etiquette in the studio. Spyda then expressed the importance of this, giving us tips on how to approach managers, whilst we present knowledge and talent along the way.

Spyda also elaborated on how smoothly technology has made his life, claiming that his only necessity is his laptop, which he can use from home to work from.

There were a LOT of important, rhetorical statements in the speech, reminding us to keep up-to-date, believe in ourselves and most importantly - network!

Electric Mayhem was filled with just that, with laughter, reality and truth, as the guys revealed stories of their time in the music industry, as they spoke both amongst each other and to us about getting to where we want to go and what to watch out for along the way.

The guys then showed us videos and amazing tracks which they had worked on, proving that if you want to do something, you can and you can get extremely positive results.

For the rest of this workshop, the guys had set up the studio to provide the budding MC's in the room to have a go at MCing with Shotta himself. I think I can speak for many students here when I say that this was the perfect opportunity to break down walls of fear and replace them with encouragement!

After the session, the guys hung around, giving us students the chance to network, ask questions, give music to and take pictures, which they welcomed with open arms.

A very inspiring session which I was pleased to be part of! And from some, well, watch this space!

By April Allwood, Level 3 Music student

Sean Denny

The next session I was fortunate to attend, was that of Sean Denny, an independent radio plugger with his own label, who works for the extraordinarly successful business, Sony.

Sean opened his session with background information, revealing that he has also been involved with A&R, and how he relocated to London after the lack of resources around at the time to accommodate his dreams of becoming a DJ. He worked at a music label in London for a while, before approaching Sony for his next venture.

As Sean spoke about working his way from a temporary general assistant to his current title, he explained that going on what you feel is right at the time and how you should let that determination transition you along, is the best way.

Throughout his career, Sean spoke if the influential names and labels he had worked with, including The BBC, NME, Radio 1 and RCA to mention a few, including his ventures, working as a national & regional radio plugger, getting to travel to different locations including Reading and Leeds Festival.
He spoke with excitement as he outlined the best parts of his career, including the penultimate first radio play of artists he has worked with, travelling, networking, going to gigs, stating that his job has no disadvantages in his eyes.

Sean then shared with us his dreams of djing at Glastonbury.

In Sean's eyes, unique sound is what he looks for the most, as he spoke a little more about A&R. He looks for things that are different and has worked with bands such as Gotye and Wookie.
This speech shed light onto the radio perspective of the industry and was eye-opening for me to rethink my career path.

By April Allwood, Level 3 Music student

Sef Naqui, RocNation LBE

"Team Work Makes the Dream Work' - Sef Naqui, RocNation LBE.

Sef is a multi-talented artist manager, A&R man, vocalist and producer, to name a few, and has gained immeasurable experience of the music industry both behind and front stage. Sef owns London Boy Records, which is his own music label, alongside his brother whose networking efforts eventually lead to the dealings with the big man himself - Jay Z, therefore getting them to where they are today .

Sef presented hid discussion by giving us a brief encounter of his childhood and influences, dropping some well-known names from the delights of Michael Jackson to Teddy Riley. Sef stated that through the many artists and role models he aspired to, he was able to appreciate and learn the arts of songwriting, music business, expecting failure and onto more technical aspects such as beats, song structures and also developed his singing.

As Sef got older, he became influenced by the likes of KC and Jo-Jo and Jodea, which helped him to excel in his singing. Being from a religious background, Sef had the opportunity to sing in church, where he made the decision that he wanted to be a singer.

Coming from a less-advantaged background than other people his age, meant that he was often surrounded by distractions, drugs and violence, stating a very powerful message to always stay on track, be self-disciplined and also proving that you can come from literally nothing, but beware of the sharks.

Throughout Sef's career as an artist, he met many artists whom he aspired to manage, develop and produce, bringing home the matter that to survive in the industry and go far, it's helpful to be versatile! Sef managed to use what he knew and also what he learned, to push himself to achieve jobs in A&R, management, production, have dealings with big labels and addressed the short-falls and stories, both good and bad, about the industry.

Sef is currently working with some artists whom he hopes are going to follow the dream. Sef has been involved with some spectacular names in the industry and gave the message to stay on track, be cautious, keep fresh, have an open mind and most importantly, which seems to have been the clear message this week - network. And do it BIG!

By April Allwood, Level 3 Music student

Dan Jacobs

CONFETTI were pleased to welcome Author and current Games Tester, DAN JACOBS, to kick-start Confetti's aspiring gaming engineers, publishers, developers and all those in between, into the first day of INDUSTRY WEEK 2013! And I was also lucky enough to get a little insight into the music side of the gaming industry and hearing familiar names such as the delights of Sets and Nintendo; immediately taking me back to my childhood days, transmitted animated, 8-Bit signals to my 90's child memories of play on my Default Mega Drive on Sonic The Hedgehog! Hearing Dan speak of where his passion for gaming and fantasy came from made me wish I'd have brought my 3D geek glasses and my Nintendo Advance along with me!

Having that Dan has experience in working with such dealings as well-known Gaming Industries and names from Sega to Disney, he firstly spoke about business' strategies and how they can work well and also the advantages and disadvantages of this demanding and rapid developing industry. He spoke with such excitement about coming to the penultimate milestone of having the thing all Gamers dream of - the 'GAME RELEASE' of a product that you have put such hard work into.
He also spoke about some legal aspects of the Gaming Industry and how he was once involved in the termination of a release to a few games, thanks to having the stereotyped 'dream job', or so I thought!
After revealing stories about his career that brought laughter, excitement and reaped hidden sweets in the gaming industry to Confetti's driven Gaming Students. 

Dan shed light into the gaming industry and I was actually inspired by his interview, which I didn't think I'd initially enjoy. Being an outsider, more swayed over to Audio and Sound, I was captivated to see that both industries actually do cross over, opening more doors on my journey.  He inspired budding gamers to be prepared for the set backs of being a gamer and to stay focussed on getting that career. Along with this he taught how to become more appealing to gaming employers, which was both interesting and humerous to hear as he told us of the crazy lengths some had gone through along the way.

Dan wrote his book 'Cheat Mode' as a self-guide to his younger self about the industry, quoting "I always wished there was a book that was around when I was younger that taught me what I know now".
With Dan ending his lecture interacting with his crowd, answering their differenciating questions, giving sound advice and, most importantly, giving examples of his REAL Industry Experience. This seminar was a real eye-opener and has now altered my outlook on the gaming industry, as well as my possible career choices.'Cheat Mode' sounds like a great guide for a wide range of people.

By April Allwood, Level 3 Music student

Andy Davis

The second lecture of the day and I find myself sat in front of Andy Davis a Technical Artist working at Rockstar. Andy started by telling us his background, he was into music at first, instead of gaming he was in a band, but when he decided to pack that in he went back to what he was really interested in, which was painting, architecture and 3D art. One of the strange things that he told us was that he wasn't a big gamer and that he was only looking for a career, which I find kind of odd, but hey... he said you don't have to be really into games to be a Technical Artist, I can understand, not everyone is into games as much as me and many others.

His first few games he worked on that got him into the industry were mainly quiz and kids games that he said he enjoyed but he wanted a bit more of a challenge, since Andy was only into the look of a game he wanted to find something more interesting for him. The next job he had was working on the Lego games, games you will probably know, LEGO Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Rock Band, Etc.

Andy highly recommended Technical Artist as a job, because there is not a lot of stress and you get to socialise and meet lots of new people within the industry, but it comes at a cost... this is a job option for those that are really good at maths, problem solving and good communication skills. This job is not for the weak, only the strong will survive.

He described a typical day at work:

Morning: E-mail/sync/task list (Organising)

Lunch: Gaming/Personal projects (Relax)

Afternoon: Core Work

Evening: daily report/ crunch (Long Hours)

Sound like fun? If yes, then this maybe something you might want to look into.

Next he told us the software we would have to be well acquainted with.

Key Software Skills:

Maya/ 3D Studio Max

Photoshop/ Illustrator

Source Control: Perforce/Subversion/Bit Keeper/Source Safe

Motion Builder

Video: After Effect/Premiere/Final Cut

Flash

Audio: Sound Forge/Logic/Pro Tools/ Cubase/Reason

You will have to know some inside out but only the main ones like Photoshop.

Andy works in London, he said that sometimes you will have to move to where the work is, so if you are thinking of working for a big AAA company then you may have to be prepared to move somewhere the company will need you most, or otherwise... no job for you. In order to get any job in the industry your CV must be written with you job you want in mind, so what I mean is if you were going for an interview for a Technical Design company you will not only want to put what you have done but also send them your work by sending them a link to your website with evidence of the things you have done and also take a laptop to the interview with a tool you have designed so you can show them what you are made of.

Andy ends his lecture by saying that he is proud and passionate about his work, a little Q&A at the end and wished us luck in the future.

 By Ben North, Level 3 Gaming student

Steve Ellis, Crash Lab

On the first day of Industry week the first lecture that was scheduled was a man who had worked on games like Golden Eye, TimeSplinters 1 and 2 and SW: Battlefront 3, this man is Steve Ellis.

Steve begins his lecture by telling us how the industry works and his background on working in the gaming industry, he told us that he started programming from an early age, "eight years old" he said was the age he started, the skills he had at such a young age soon escalated and it wasn't so long after he was in primary school he joined a bunch of thirty year olds at a programming class. Steve also told us that he had worked in many positions and some he liked others not so much. Steve explained how stressful and time consuming the industry is, he had once worked for Rare where he did work on the James Bond Golden Eye game, he said "I liked the idea of working on a FPS but I didn't like James Bond" his team that he was in worked on the split-screen multiplayer side of the game which I find to be one of the best features of the game, but soon after that was over with the company started work on Perfect Dark.

While working on Perfect Dark Steve said that he has had enough of Rare with them being so strict about everything he decided to create his own company in secret, with a couple of his friends that had also had enough of Rare they would meet at his friends house and there they would plan their own little success... TimeSplinters. Not soon after taking the money they all earned from Perfect Dark they funded their own company called Free Radical Design.

From then on Steve and his friends had started their company costing them 50k, they had to find a place to work (base of operations) that was big enough for seven people and then having to learn about legal issues for just encase anything happened. His first game for this company sounded really complicated (I didn't hear the name of this game so for that I am sorry), something about time and time travel to then having to go forward and then back in time to do.... I don't know he lost me after that, but it was basically something about time. He then started work on a game that he first called MPG, but  we know it now as TimeSplinters, at this point Steve had to hire more people and for more people he needed a bigger office, so after that was all sorted out E3 had come around and TimeSplinters was going to be there, but there were some unhappy faces on the Free Radical Design team as their beloved game had been put at the back where hardly anyone could see it, he said that it got a good press review so at least there were a few smiles. Steve and the team felt like a real company after TimeSplinters was released, it had sold over 1 million copy's and won a couple of Bafta awards, after that they made TimeSplinters 2 which was also a big success.

Now it starts to go downhill as his company start to have a lot of problems with legal issues and getting bullied by companies and having to change contracts, apparently IDOS are not a good company to sign with according to Steve because they didn't care about what his company was doing, they then signed with EA which was another mistake because they didn't care about his company or games, fighting through moral drops and false hope, publishers can sometimes be your worst enemy. Then Codemasters came along, like a dashing knight here to save them from their immanent doom, Codemasters really helped them release their games smoothly.

As it came into the next generation of consoles Steve said that there was a sudden craze for developers to make a WWII FPS game which was the direction Steve did not want to take, but he did still want to make an FPS game...

After a while Free Radical Games had signed on with Ubisoft and Lucas Arts, while his team were working on a game for Ubisoft (HAZE) Lucas Arts wanted them to help make the new Star Wars Battlefront 3, so it ended up with them putting back HAZE and started working on Battlefront 3, Ubisoft were not happy with this and were not sure if they could trust Steve to for fill his contract and release HAZE. Battlefront 3 was soon scrapped and then HAZE just ended up being a mess of a game since they just wanted it over and done with. Soon after Free Radical Games went into administration and resulted in 200 people losing their jobs. In the end CRYTEK saved his company but now Steve wanted out and have a break from the industry. Eventually he became bored and looked into IOS games and eventually he setup a new company that he now works for called Crash Lab.

By Ben North, Level 3 Gaming student

Andy Davis

A Technical Artist with qualifications ranging from architecture to music tech and an impressive CV to match, Andy Davis is a textbook case of somebody who entered the game industry purely by chance, thanks to his logically technical yet inventively creative mind. Andy describes his role as a generalist, because there is no definitive way to describe what a Technical Artist is due to the role varying from company to company. Andy sums it up by saying that the Technical Artist bridges the gaps between Artist and Programmer - even if the "Programmers would probably laugh at our code; they would probably find it childish."

Andy created a tool which massively streamlines the creation of Lego build animations, scaling it down from hours or even days to a matter of minutes. I find his work incredibly fascinating and I can’t see a way which his role could be better displayed to us. I was almost intoxicated by his presentation, and that’s not an over dramatization.

Andy started out his higher education by taking a degree in Architecture, something he enjoyed the logic and technical challenges in - he found himself wanting to do other things and later progressed to take BTEC's in music and computer aided graphical tech amongst other things. After bouncing between courses of study, he eventually found himself working at Traveller's Tales (A subsidiary of the interactive branch of the media giant conglomerate Time Warner) on the Lego franchise (Notably, the Star Wars and Harry Potter renditions).

Andy says he isn't much of a gamer himself - but he thoroughly enjoys the beauty and experience of games such as Limbo. To hear that someone with such a career, with a good history in the industry, isn’t a square eyed nerd is refreshing.

A fan of Manhunt due to its inherent horror themes and general engrossing gameplay (no pun intended), Andy enjoys his work at Rockstar not only due to its past creations but his own work there. Although he is contractually bound not to tell us what he is currently working on thanks to the suits, he was able to share his most previous hit with us - Max Payne 3.

He divulged upon the many, many roles that he has as a Technical Artist. Here's a summary of what he described to us.

The job of a Technical Artist is difficult, but at the same time it’s small and obscure. The role has very few people filling its shoes, but it is in massive demand within the industry - Agencies can't fill all the roles. There are a wide range of tasks which a Technical Artist has to complete.

Technical Artists are expected to have some understanding of programming languages. A few common ones for a Technical Arist are: MEL, MAXScript, Python, C#, C++, Objective C/Android (Mobile Development) and HTML5 (Web Development). MEL is diverse, usable for scripting. dot.Net is commonplace, working its way in with MAXScript and C++ in 3DS Max. Flash is currently popular, but Andy believes it will be phased out by HTML5 in the near future.

Software which is often used includes: 3DS Max and Maya for modelling, Photoshop and Illustrator for image manipulation and design, Motionbuilder for animation, plenty of backups with source control, After Effects/Premier/Final Cut for video editing and Sound Forge/Logic/Pro Tools/Cubase for audio.

Technical Artists are responsible for the creation of tools, which are divided into two categories: Functionality Tools and Workflow Tools. Functionality Tools are tools which provide the artist access to functionality that would be unattainable through other means. An example of this was portals between areas which are massively different in design, so that only visible parts of the map are rendered, to prevent massive amounts of rendering occuring all at once - something unavailable by default in 3DS Max. Workflow tools are tools which speed up the existing artists work flow. These include user interface customisations, selection utilities, automatic rigging tools and more - his work ensures that artists still have the stamina to keep on working whilst maintaining a high standard of quality.

Optimization represents a sizable chunk of time in development for games. In a perfect world, perfect work is always ready to ship. This isn't a perfect world. Higher quality art work tends to be denied by game engines. Artists are often assigned poly limits etcetera before work begins to make sure that their work is compatible - something coordinated by the Technical Artists.

Technical Artists are responsible to maintain inter company wikis which documents their tools and how to use them. They're also responsible for searching for art, technical and tool bugs utilizing bug hunting software. Silly bugs often arise such as, in Lego: Star Wars, Jar Jar Binks is able to double jump - in fact, he can triple jump. That's because he has a bug which allows him to infinitely jump throughout the entire game!

Andy also informed us about NDAs (Non Disclosure Agreements). These are documents which state that employees can't tell people about what their working on, lest they want to have a series of very serious discussions with the suits in legal. A case of an NDA being overlooked was when a Lego: Harry Potter staff member's CV stated that they were working on Lego: Harry Potter before it had been release - something which an IGN reporter noticed. 30 minutes later, Lego: Harry Potter was leaked via a headline article released by an IGN correspondent - the importance of NDAs being observed in their fullest displayed in one scenario.

Andy also laid out his standard working day, dividing it into mornings which focus on organization of the day, lunchtimes which grant personal time and gaming time, afternoons which are full of work focused on their tasks for the day, followed by evenings focused on filing reports, then the infamous crunch time at the end of the day to get work done without exceptions - he also noted that lots of industry standard overtime is unpaid.

Andy's presentation has enabled us to learn quite a lot about industry practice and his role. I can say without a shadow of doubt that Industry Week is going to impress me vividly.

Questions & Answers with Andy Davis

        Here's a summarized, paraphrased log of the Q&A that followed Andy's insightful presentation:

Question: Working in London, is there a lot of potential for working in the games industry?

Andy: Yep, I'd say a lot of computer game companies, especially those with global influence, have studios in London. The creators of Brink are in Croydon. EA and SONY have locations in and near London. London is definitely the UK capital of the games industry.

Question: You've moved around a lot, is it something you have to do within the industry?

Andy: Yeah, you do. I've never been in a company which has been forced into closure, but there is a lot of scope for staying at one company if you're able to and you can handle it.

Question: What do you have to put forward to prove yourself good enough for a job?

Andy: That's really interesting actually. You don't have to put much on paper for your work but you have your tech to talk about - you have to get that into the interview. You need to show off your tools and your work, images aren't always good enough and demonstrations with descriptions are probably the best way to go to get a TA job.

Question: Do you show it off before or during the interview?

Andy: The best way to do it would probably be to give images and descriptions beforehand, then show the work on a laptop or something when you're in the interview.

Question: How quick is the expectation to change workflow at new companies?

Andy: What I find is that it takes a few weeks to get used to a new company. I've found annoyingly that companies tend to use software differently to the company before, such as your previous using 3DS Max but the new one using Maya. You have to get used to their file systems and procedures too, but after a few weeks you're really expected to hit the ground running.

Question: What do you consider your best achievement?

Andy: You keep getting bigger and bigger tasks, more intricate tasks keep getting thrown at you. I've worked on a fairly complex mathematical problem lately and I really enjoyed it. Its hard to pick your best achievement. It sounds boring but if you have a passion for it you'll do well - there's no way to make it sound sexy.

Question: Have you done much work with 2D plugins for Photoshop?

Andy: I'll say no, because my last real work with 2D was during my degree. It's a very interesting area but you won't typically get an opportunity to work on it.

Question: Do members of teams request plugins and changes personally?

Andy: Yeah, what we do is our bug mapping system has a category for tool requests, so if artists are thinking that something is tedious and they want it shortening, they make a tool request. This is passed onto our managers, who decide whether the request is good or not, then if it it is good it gets passed onto the TA's.

Question: Your wide job roll lets you work with lots of people, is there much difference?

Andy: Yeah, I used to work in environment art. I attend art meetings but I don't do art work. Programmers would probably laugh at our work if they saw it. TA tends to be former artists so we feel like artists but our work tends to not be as creative.

Question: How many TA's are there in ratio to other team members?

Andy: Tricky question because we worked on a tiered studio basis. We work hand in hand with other studios so I don't know about the team sizes. At TT the art team was roughly the same size as the programmers, and the designers were about half the size. The bulk of artists are environment artists because that's where most of the work lies. There are few character artists and even less vehicle artists. TA typically only occupies 2 or 3 spaces. When I was working on a DS game for 6 months there was 2 of us. Triple A projects which take years will probably have a lot more. It's determined by the type of game your making. It's logic at the end of the day.

Question: How often do other skills come up in your work?

Andy: Photoshop, everyday. Illustrator sometimes comes up for smaller things, but most of it can be done in Photoshop - some people just don't like Illustrator. I've not done video editing but I've seen TA that do. It's really down to what task we get from our bosses.

Question: Do you think your skills will open up other jobs for you?

Andy: I'm not sure if many jobs are similar. Say you're a rigger, you could probably get a job in films - the TV and film industries use TAs in animation. Companies like Adobe and Autodesk are probably places you could go. The only other area would be web design. TA skills could make you a good web designer. It's all down to what you do.

Question: Do you all get royalties?

Andy: I'd say that every company has a different policy. TT offered a bonus instead of royalties - they also paid overtime. Every company has a different strategy. I think overtime is one of the best ways, so you know your time input earns you plenty of money. Money is important!

Question: Have your tools ever ended up not how you expected?

Andy: You can be surprised, but when you get your brief you tend to focus on it to tick all the boxes according to the specification. You often realize there are a lot of things a single tool can achieve. Rarely you'll have to drop it because it just doesn't work, and you're probably unlikely to fail, it's just the connotations which can distract you.

Question: Do you interact with other teams?

Andy: Yeah, say if somebody in Edinburgh makes a request, I have to make sure its done how they wanted. At Rockstar, we do video conferences to get everyone together and we have a messaging system. We often work as one big studio.

Question: Do you sit in with teams other than art?

Andy: Ultimately we are artists, but we work under a TA lead. We have our own meetings sometimes, we sit in on art and a few others but we wouldn't sit in with the designers or the programmers.

Question: What other rolls would you do?

Andy: I'm keen to do other things but as games go I think TA is the best for me because of its wide range of problems which I have to solve.

Question: What do you see as the future of TA?

Andy: I hope that it will become more advanced with better technology rather than constantly having to reinvent the wheel. We don't know the future of the industry because the next consoles could change everything for us. Rumors are one thing but we don't know how anything will go.

Question: Any advice?

Andy: Absolutely. Possibly the best thing you could do if you want to be TA is look into the roles. Every company expects different things from TA and if you find you can tick every box, they'll want you.

Question: Are portfolios necessary?

Andy: You'll find they'll be flexible about it - I suspect I think that because my approaches from companies comes from my long history in the industry, my website doesn't even say I'm a TA. A website is the way forward.

Question: Favorite game?

Andy: I would say Limbo. Its really stylish, really stepped down. Its not about killing, its pretty, the ambiance, and I wanna reply it again and again. I hate Bejeweled, but its infected me and my phone and I can't keep off it. I'm addicted to online poker as well, too much for my own good. Limbo is the short answer.

Question: Preference, 3DS Max or Maya?

Andy: Maya. MEL is better. I'm more skilled in 3DS Max but Maya is just a really solid piece of software. You should still make sure you know both, though.

Question: Could you make software instead of tools?

Andy: I'd say there is a really thin line between tool and software, which is really hard to draw. Tools could be software. It's a semantic argument.

Question: How restricted were you working on Lego?

Andy: The Lego games were never really a problem, most of the problems were in the licenses. People from LucasArts for example kept getting involved and giving us problems with our work but Lego never interrupted us. It wasn't as restrictive or tedious as it sounds. I don't think there are any restrictions really, its all about consistency.

Question: Does the company own the tools you make?

Andy: This is contractual. Most companies say anything you make there is owned by them. The actual code is theirs but your algorithm and idea isn't.

Question: Can Rockstar executives overrule decisions made at Rockstar London?

Andy: Its not something that has specifically happened but in theory it could technically happen.

Question: What is crunch time like?

Andy: Its different at every company. Companies sometimes pride themselves on having no crunch time. No crunch time is blissful. It's not typical unfortunately. Our crunch time ended up being 60-70 hours a week at the end of Max Payne 3 for about 2 months. It's often unpaid. Passion in your work is a necessity.

By Lewis Bradley, Level 3 Gaming student