Career advice from our Latest Graduate Panel at Bucks

our graduate panel at Bucks

Yesterday, Thursday September 25th, we welcomed our latest graduate panel. These are Bucks graduates who have made it in the creative industries who come back to tell us about the latest trends in creative media, and to help our students gain an early understanding of what it takes to launch their own careers. Our guests this time were cinematographer Barry Gross, Matt Harris, Tammy Riley-Smith, who has just directed the feature film Delicious, BBC Producer Simon Fox, John Osbourne of Brassneck TV,  and TV director Lorna Gibbs.  A number of the panelists will be coming back to Bucks to teach our students the latest skills in new media.

Delicious by Tammy Riley-Smith

Steve Partridge chaired the panel, and his first question to the panelists was this:

How does the rise of new media digital content such as YouTube and mobile devices affect your job in creative media?

Lorna Gibbs said that she was not heavily impacted, as she does mostly live broadcasts. John Osbourne of Brassneck said that broadcasters have "less and less money to spend", but brands (by contrast) have "more and more money to spend" - especially on web content. This means that the market for "short form videos" is growing. And these can still be high quality, such as a series of films that Brassneck did recently for Fred Perry, who commissioned six 15 minute films on the history of British youth sub-cultures, such as Mods and Rockers. They wanted the films for their website. So, overall, there is more and more money for "short form" videos which can "pay very well".

But how do you pitch your ideas? Nowadays commissioners don't just want a paper proposal - they "want a sizzle", which is to say a four or five minute video which encapsulates your idea. John recently made a video about the housing estate where he grew up, and they are creating their own musical about this - which has been given funding for a feature documentary.

John Osbourne

Simon Fox said that web content was still regarded as the poor relation of TV - but it really isn't anymore, and the web should not treated as a lesser medium.  Tammy Riley-Smith said that film was changing fast - consumers don't go to the cinema anymore. But, she added, digital platforms are "saving the lives" of independent film-makers. Theatrical distributors are hard to convince - they want mass audience material. For niche film-makers, you can't get into theatres, but you can get a release online. Delicious (her latest film) got a release on iTunes, and YouTube offered a chance to promote the film. This is "exciting news" for student film-makers - now you have a platform that you can access.

Tammy Riley-Smith

Cinematographer Barry Gross said he is doing more and more work online, shooting on 2k and 4k cameras, with high production values. Higher resolution cameras can now shoot great material; the technology is improving all the time. The trouble is that actors are getting paid less and less for their work, and it is harder and harder to track where the material is being used and broadcast. By the time our current freshmen have graduated, the new media and old media will have "merged into one".

Barry Gross

Matt Harris said that broadcast is still fairly secure, still focused on TV and less on YouTube and Vimeo.

Matt Harris

Tammy Riley-Smith talked about how the industry is changing "not just year by year but month by month...it is changing all the time". Stephen Partridge talked about the positive side of new media - ie how much bigger job prospects are today, because their are "zillions of channels". There is "plenty of work out there" which is "exclusively for the web". He talked about a new Government survey which recently predicted that "half of the new jobs in the UK will soon be in the creative sector".

Stephen Partridge

The next question was: "Who is paying for content, and how has this changed?"

Barry Gross said that the author of content is not being paid in the same way; you can't digitally watermark stuff and he "hates seeing people create stuff and get ripped off".  Animators for example put "a lot of time and love" into their work (Amen to that - Ed).  Music videos used to have budgets - now they don't. Stephen Partridge argued that it is still possible to make money - but Barry pointed out that only small players and the majors (like Disney and DreamWorks) still survive - the middle-sized companies have disappeared. He asked "honestly, how many people in the room have pirated a film online?" - almost everyone put their hand up.

Tammy Riley-Smith said that the equipment has gotten cheaper. But John Osbourne said that Broadcasters are paying less too; they "know that costs have come down". Tammy said that film-makers "always lie" about their budgets. She also mentioned that there are "lots and lots" of ways to get a film made nowadays - "you have to be guerillas".

The next question was: "What should universities and colleges do to prepare students for the market?"

Matt Harris said that almost all his work "comes through his Twitter account". His advice is: "Get a Twitter Account". Also, don't just email your CV. You have to "try something new - why not send a box of chocolates with your CV? You have to what it takes to get noticed". Sending CVs "by mail or email - it does not work anymore - everyone else is doing the same thing". You have to try harder. "Find the show you like, find out who makes them, find their Twitter account, and congratulate them on their work. Then once you have made a connection, try to meet them; ask to shadow them for a day - you will eventually get a job". That is how Matt made it work for him.

Chocolates with your CV - a new way to get noticed? Photo: Wikipedia

Steve Partridge said that most undergraduates find networking hard, but this can be the most important thing in terms of building a career.

Lorna Gibbs said that "no experience is bad experience". Even jobs you don't like can provide you with good experience. She also said "never lie about your experience, because it will always catch you out". The industry is "still quite small...and it goes around".

Lorna Gibbs

John Osbourne said that to find work "you have to hustle". He added that Bucks was "awful" when he was here. It is "much better now...else I would not be here now". He had to "get out there and do it himself", he would "go to London and work for free" to find work. "What did you do?" asked Steve. "What didn't I do?" replied John. He "worked for everyone, to get a real flavour for the industry". John said you have to make it personal, you can't just email the office your CV. If you don't make the effort, you won't make it. He added that "spelling mistakes" will cost you work. No-one will hire you "if you can't run a spell check".

Simon Fox said that all the great people "are looking for ideas...you have to get out there and make a nuisance of yourself, in the nicest possible way".

Tammy Riley-Smith said "you can't sell yourself if you don't believe in yourself". So, over the next three years, you have to figure out "what it is you want to do". She thought it would be "glamorous working for a production company...but it was bloody awful". So, find "what you want to do, and develop that, find your self-belief". You have to "know thyself".

Matt Harris "studied TV production at university". He networked by "going on reality TV shows". He did "ridiculous numbers of pilots", mainly dating shows, one of which got aired.  He got to know people, and he would get called back. It was "not a normal way to get a job", but it worked. They "see you are keen, and they will employ you".

Barry Gross worked on Desperate Housewives in Los Angeles

Barry Gross said he moved to the UK and had to hustle - but at least "he was in his forties", so he was able to do it. Networking is a lot about trust; his contacts really helped him when he first moved to LA. "Get onto a [film] set", he added, because "it's not like anything else you have experienced". Another thing: "never talk smack about anyone". And, don't "buy stuff on payments", because it's important to work for free from time to time. Also, "go to whatever you're invited to", and "hang out with the smokers" outside. Networking is "so important".


The closing question for the panel was:
What current innovations and technologies are exciting you right now?

Lorna Dean Gibbs mentioned "The Mars system" which is changing broadcast TV. Barry Gross said that 5K cameras are appearing now. The Canon 5D "changed Barry's world", because it has a "very shallow depth of field". In the end though, it's all about what you do with the camera. A camera is "just a box with a hole in it". New cameras "can make people look like they've just been dug up", because "the cameras are so good".

Other general advice for students included the following:

John Osbourne said that to get your ideas made, "you need a great title". A great idea "with a bad title, will not get made". Tammy Riley Smith said that "collaboration is key".


To read more about our recent Graduate Panels, follow this link. 









 

Graduate Panel at Bucks on Thursday at 3pm - Who's Coming?

A recent Graduate Panel at Bucks

Thursday September 25th is our latest graduate panel, where we bring back Bucks graduates who have made it in the creative industries to hear about the latest trends in creative media, and to help our students gain an early understanding of what it takes to launch their own careers. It takes place at 3pm in the Gateway Lecture Theatre. Talks like this can be vital in terms of bridging the gap between university and the world of commerce. So, who is coming on Thursday?

Ben Chalk

Ben is a Bucks animation graduate with two years studio experience as a designer working on projects from initial ideas, concepts & strategy right through to launch. Ben has been designing at United Agency for the past two years, and having been the creative lead for just over a year now is responsible for the overall visual design of all of the big campaigns, app designs & brand identity. Together with the development team Ben works collaboratively to help design and shape the user experience and user interface across an array of projects.

Gateway Building - our main media hub

Simon Fox

Simon is a producer/director/editor/media trainer, is experienced in all areas of programme making and production and has a wide variety of industry skills and experience. Production credits include being AD on the World Athletic Championships in Athens, which was broadcast live to an audience of 20 million and was commended in its home country of Greece. Simon helped set up the interactive newsroom at ‘The Telegraph’ newspaper and trained print journalists to adapt to a multimedia environment. For two years he was a producer/broadcast journalist for the BBC’s flagship technology programme Click, writing, producing, and shooting features for the show which is broadcast on BBC World and News 24 to a world audience in excess of 100 million.


Lorna Dean Gibbs

Lorna is a very experienced television professional who has worked as a director, vision-mixer, cameraman, P.A. and Technical Manger for over 30 years across all genres of live and recorded programming. More recently Lorna has specialized in news and sport output and currently work for the Premiere League (IMG) and several production companies that have covered events such as the Commonwealth Games, London 2012 Olympics and Wimbledon Tennis. As a director Lorna has worked for likes of ESPN, BBC World, IMG/TWI, Eurosport, Al Jazeera, Sky and Channel. Programme output over recent years has included Wimbledon Tennis Championships (2010, 2011, 2012), Bundesliga, Serie A, Erevidisie, International football, Europa Cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby, FA Cup football and an array of news output.


Barry Gross

Barry followed the Hollywood-trained Gaffer path through to the role of Director of Photography. Features have included Features Rage, Kick Off and The Lost. Barry has also produced commercials for the likes of Nokia, Penguin Books, Ch4 Paralympics and Sky Movies HD. US TV lighting credits included Bones, Chuck, and Desperate Housewives. UK TV credits included GlobeTrekker-Madrid, BBC4 Duffy-The Man Who Shot the 60s, and Saving Face.



Matt Harris

Matt works for Halo Post Production, who make factual and comedy TV. Programmes include Outnumbered, Mrs Brown’s Boys and Richard Hammond’s How to Build a Planet.



John Osborne

John is the CEO of Brassneck TV, the independent production company he founded in London in 2008. He has created and executive produced many hours of factual television, including Exposed, now in its third series on Sky Arts and sold to over 40 countries worldwide. His director credits include the Banff-nominated Sport Matters: One Night in May for Sky 1 and the History Channel's most watched UK programme Hillsborough Remembered. He has also produced a string of music and arts documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4.


Tammy Riley-Smith

Tammy Riley-Smith is an award-winning writer-director. Her debut feature, Delicious, starring Louise Brealey & Sheila Hancock, was premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. It was officially selected for Vilnius, Miami and Nantes Film Festivals before its theatrical and digital release in summer 2014. It reached no.2 in the iTunes romantic chart, and is still listing in the top 100.

Her short film, Ain’t Misbehavin’, won the Kodak Short Film Prize, an award from Turner Classic Movies and was selected for 11 international film festivals, including Cannes 2001. Tammy won WFTV’s Directing Change Award in 2003, working as trainee director to John Madden on Proof, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins. Previously she was a Development Executive at Working Title Films, Assistant to producer Alison Owen on romantic drama Moonlight and Valentino, and Director’s Assistant to Mark Joffe on romantic comedy, The Matchmaker.


To read about previous graduate panels, follow this link.

Graduate Panel Friday 21 March 2014 - jobs, careers, and how to make it in a digital world

From left, Jude Winstanley, Jaffar Ali, Beaumont Lowenthal, Stephen Partridge, Scott Humphries, Andy Thomas and Thom Day

Yesterday, friday 21 March 2014, was our latest Graduate Panel, a regular event where we invite Bucks Graduates to come back to their university and talk about how they forged their careers in digital media. They all studied here at Bucks and each one of them understands better than anyone how to turn the skills they acquired at university into a successful career in the entertainment industry.

The panelists were:

Jaffar Ali

Jaffar Ali – Jaffar recently graduated with a BA (Hons) in Animation, Games & Interactive Media from Buckinghamshire New University. Having gained experience in creating photo-realistic 3D using post-production software packages to model, texture, light, render and composite, Jaffar recently got an internship with high end broadcast virtual set company Vizrt. Jaffar’s current skills base ranges from creating high quality still renders to having a fly through or 360° turn table camera animation.

Thom Day

Thom Day – Thom graduated in 2011 and is currently a Media Technician at ITV’s London Studios. As a Lead Assistant on a number of high-end productions, Thom is in charge of liaising with production and creating media logs for both production and post to follow media movements. This includes dealing with multiple workflows (Studio EVS, Live Broadcast and Entertainment fiction and non-fiction). Since graduating Thom has also worked at Molinare Post Production as an Edit Assistant, Platform Post Production as a Bookings Assistant and at Take One TVas a Production Assistant.

Scott Humphries

Scott Humphries - Since graduating in 2011 Scott has been touring as a live sound engineer. He is currently Production Manager at Little Touring and was previously FOH/TM for You&me Touring working with the likes of Charlie Simpson, Funeral for a Friend, Pop Will Eat Itself, We are Scientists and Wolf Gang. Scott has also worked as a Monitor Engineer and a Staff Engineer, and has worked for companies such as RNSS and SSE Audio Group.

Beaumont Lowenthal

Beaumont Lowenthal – At the moment Beau is working as a trainee editor on a remake of Far From the Madding Crowd, directed by (recently) Oscar-nominated Thomas Vinterberg and starring Carey Mulligan, Michael Sheen and Matthias Schoenaerts. Just before that Beau worked as a second assistant on POSH directed by Lone Scherfig, which stars upcoming actors Sam Claflin (latest Hunger Games), Max Irons (Jeremy's son) and Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey) and is coming to cinemas in September. Before that Beau’s first job was as an editing intern on The Look of Love directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Steven Coogan. The next project for Beau is likely to be working on Joe Wright's Pan.

Andy Thomas

Andy Thomas - Andy Thomas is a talented artist who graduated from Bucks New University in 2002 and, since then, has forged a successful career in the digital arts. He now works for the global multi-national URS, running their digital media team. Andy runs a team of multimedia artists and technicians. They produce 3D Visualisations, animations, graphic design and photomontages for various sectors including Architecture, Landscape Design, Planning, Mechanical & Engineering, Ports, Railways, Roads, Aviation & airports, and Defence & Security.

Jude Winstanley

Jude Winstanley – Jude has worked on a broad array of content from straight factual, factual entertainment, children’s, entertainment and observational documentary; from Who Wants to be a Millionaire? to Bremner, Bird & Fortune to X-Factor Australia.

Jude is experienced in pre-recorded and live transmissions, studio and location based programming and hostile environments. Specialist skills include negotiating contracts, fees and clearance rights with talent, crew, production staff, archive materials, locations, publicity, schedule planning for all areas of the project (prep, production, post and delivery), advising on Health & Safety procedures to ensure safe working environments, Risk Assessments and tapeless workflows.

Stephen Partridge

Stephen Partridge hosted the panel, and opened the discussion by asking the panelists the first big question:

How did the panel members get started in the industry? 

Jaffar Ali had been looking for 3D roles when Bucks sent him an email about an opportunity at Vizrt, a global provider of virtual sets for broadcast companies.  At interview, they asked him how he would solve a problem on production? Jaffar explained that he would seek help from others in the building - just as he did at Bucks, when he would ask his tutors for backup and support on group projects when things didn't always go to plan.

Beaumont Lowenthal talked about how important it is simply to ring up your contacts and ask if there is work available. He did a lot of networking, which led to some lucky breaks, and in his case, luck and persistence paid off.  He contacted "hundreds of people", and got "five or ten responses". One of those contacts led to his current career.

Thom Day talked about how his early jobs often cost him more in travel expenses than he received in pay. But he got work out of these early gigs and the commitment paid off in the end.

Andy Thomas

Andy Thomas talked about the difficulty of finding work when he graduated in 2002, and the frustration of getting rejected or, worse, hearing nothing. His first job he thought "was a bit beneath me", but this ended up being "the best thing I ever did". On his first job he learned "the reality of collaborating on a group project", and the difficulty of finishing things on time and on budget - meeting deadlines is vital.

He also talked about how keen he was in the early days to learn "everything there was to know" about digital media, and recommended that students should do as many online tutorials as possible. Andy eventually ended up at URS, a global company, and pitched them the idea of building a hub of digital artists in-house to do all the 3D development work for URS. Surprisingly, "they went for it" and he now "runs a team of fifteen artists".

Thom Day started as a runner, and tried to do the best work he could to get noticed, to meet editors, "sitting in during lunch breaks and after work", to "get his face known", and eventually "got promoted to Avid assistant". He said you've got to be "willing to do the crap jobs" to get started.

Jude Winstanley warned against "aiming too high". Be ambitious,  but be realistic as well. You can move up the ladder once you are in, but don't aim too high at the start of your career. She reminded us that film and TV production is a freelance business: "there are no staff jobs".

The Unit List - Jude Winstanley's website. Free!

Jude also talked about www.theunitlist.com, a free website which helps place talent in jobs, and which she recommended all our graduates check regularly.


What makes a good CV?

Thom Day said you've got to get your CV to the right person, and make sure your CV looks nice, is short and punchy, and has all the main points at the top.

Make it good

Andy Thomas says he likes people who phone in and don't just email their CV. Three members of his current team got their job "by cold-calling". He does also run a test for candidates at interview - an AfterEffects test, to see if the candidates really know how to do what they say they can do. Lots of applicants don't really know how to do what is on their demo reel. Andy once interviewed a candidate who - astonishingly - showed him one of Andy's own online tutorials and presented it as his own work!

Scott reiterated that a phone call can be important. Sending out emails can be a "pointless" exercise.

Beaumont Lowenthal emphasised that you need to re-do your CV for each client; tailor it so that "you're not just sending out the same CV to each employer".  In the end though, "it's all about referrals". Recommendations count.

Jude Winstanley, who does a lot of recruitment, and is always on the lookout for fresh talent, complained about students with annoying answerphone messages, which made her want to move on to the next candidate. She said that CVs for TV production follow a certain layout - and that students should follow this. Key skills need to be right up there. Can you drive? Can you drive a lorry? Do you speak French? What cameras can you? Then, she wants to see your experience, in reverse order - most recent jobs at the top.


Should graduates accept unpaid work?

Jude Winstanley stressed the importance of not accepting unpaid work, which she described as "illegal" - although doing two weeks of unpaid work experience is permissible. Also, she added, students can be employed for free, but not graduates. Scott Humphries said he sometimes "took payment in microphones" when he started out, working for bands who he knew could not afford to pay him.

Learn to use it

What new technologies should undergraduates be aware of?

Thom Day said that a good knowledge of Premiere is increasingly necessary at ITV, not just Avid, which is gradually giving way to Premiere. Jude Winstanley said that Photoshop is now a requirement, and people don't get hired without it. She also recommended learning SEP, Avid, and After Effects.



(Editor's Note: For more on jobs and employability, read our guide to getting your first job. For posts on what studios look for in a great demo reel, try this link, hear what London's Blue Zoo has to say about finding work, and take a look at this video by Sony Pictures Animation. You can also watch Alex's ten minute video on creating a great reel, and read this post on the perfect demo reel. Also, check out our guide to animation careers here, and also take a look at this map of digital studios - a great place to start your search for work in the business. Learn the nuts and bolts of freelance life by reading our guide to invoicing clients, and our guide to putting together a great CV.)

Graduate Panel Friday March 21st - how do graduates find work in digital media?

Last year's graduate panel discussion

On Friday March 21st we will be running a Graduate Panel from noon until 3pm for all our undergraduate students studying Film & TV Production, Animation and Audio & Music Production. The idea is to bring back some of our most successful alumni, those who have progressed well within their first few years of graduating and beyond, to share their experiences and make suggestions as to how our students might achieve that vital big break into their chosen field.

Who will be there? Our guests will be Bucks graduates, many of them working in animation and digital media, who will be returning to the Uni to share their insights into how they forged their careers. They were themselves students at Bucks, so they know better than anyone what it takes to turn a degree from BNU into a successful career in digital media.

Who is coming?
Among the returning animation graduates will be Jaffar Ali, who recently landed a paid internship at Vizrt. You can see an interview with Jaffar about his new internship here. Also attending is Andy Thomas, who has built a stellar career doing design and architectural visualisation for the multinational engineering company URS.

Why should you come along?
This 

Graduate Panel will be our third such event. We have had great feedback from previous panels, which have been full of helpful advice and guidance to students on how to forge a successful career. We encourage all our students, not just those in their final year, to make the effort to attend.

Free cakes! Yay!

Are there any freebies?
Yes! By way of a small bribe, there will be coffee and cakes laid on, so be sure to eat as much as you possibly can.

Where is it happening?
The event will take place on Friday at noon in N4.06. It is building number 4 on the map below, on the 4th floor.

To find out more about what you can expect, see our post about last year's Graduate Panel here. In the meantime, put together a list of questions for our panelists. How, really, did they get their jobs? Was it talent, connections - or just plain luck? Come along, ask the tough questions, and hear the answers.

---Alex

(Editor's Note: To see more about how we're taking active steps to help our graduates find work, check out our commercial project for Rocketseed, and our short film done for a global aid agency.

Steve

How Do I Find a Job in Media? - Our Graduates Reveal the Secrets

How do graduates in digital media find that crucial first job? And the second? And how do you build a career? Last friday a dozen Bucks graduates who are currently working  in the creative industries came back to their alma mater to talk to our undergraduates about what it takes to find work. They They discussed many things, but the recurring theme was employment - and how to find it. Below are some of their tips for graduates looking to find work.


1. Turn up on time 
A number of members of the panel mentioned good time keeping as important, which is as much as to say - be reliable.

2. Don’t be a d**k
No-one wants to work with people they don't like. Be nice!

3. Don’t smell bad. 
Try not to smell like a hangover. 

4. Learn to blag it – but not too much. 
Be confident, and try to say "yes, I can do that". But don't promise to do anything you know you can't pull off. No-one likes to be let down, and Producers will not forgive you if you make them look foolish. Be protective of your reputation - it's a small industry. 

5. Surround yourself with people who like doing the same stuff as you do
Be part of a community of artists who enjoy doing the same kind of work. You will learn from them, and they will learn from you. You might even set up a company together.

6. Work for free or for low wages – but not for too long 
Be willing to do work for modest sums, or for travel expenses, or just for the experience - in order to break into the industry. Unpaid internships can lead to a job. 

7. Contact as many companies as possible
Expect rejection, don't take it personally. Do your homework, research companies that need your skills; offer to help them out for low wages or for work experience - it may lead to a job.

8. Offer to help out on a shoot
Film shoots always need bodies - offer to help out. Again, you'll probably be doing it for free, or for travel costs, but this can be great experience.

9. Create your own mystique.
Find the thing that you do well, and get known for it. Make people feel confident in what you do. Like the sound guy who walks into a room, taps on a table and listens for the echo. It means nothing – but it looks good

10. Watch out for what’s on your FB page
People looking to employ you will check you out, so make sure your public profile isn't embarrassing. Your hilarious views on politics may make your friends laugh but it might cost you a job.

11.  Be really good at what you do
This is the obvious one. If you are not confident in your work - who else will be? 

12. You’re only as good as your last job – and your next job.
As a freelancer you will be judged on the last thing you did. Make sure everything you do is completed to a high professional standard. 

13. Ask not what your client can do for you, ask what you can do for your client.
Clients are looking to you to solve their problems, not create more. Try not to be too needy or high maintenance. Be a problem-solver not a problem-creator.



(Editor's Note: To see more about how we're taking active steps to help our graduates find work, check out our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, and our short film done for a global aid agency. For more information on working as a freelancer, check out our recent post on Portfolio Careers.  For advice on careers, check out our guide to animation careers here, and also take a look at this map of digital studios - a great place to start your search for work in the business.)

Graduate Panel on Friday - Who's Coming?

Some of the companies our graduates have worked for

Friday 22 November is the launch of our brand-new Graduate Panel - aimed specifically at careers in the creative digital arts. The panel will take place on Friday November 22nd from midday until 15.00 in the General Lecture Theatre (GLT).

Who will be there? Our guests are all Bucks graduates, all working in digital media, who will be returning to the Uni to share their insights into how they forged their careers. They were themselves students at Bucks, so they know better than anyone what it takes to turn a degree into a career. Below is a complete list of who's on the Panel. Bring a notepad, and get ready with your questions.


Rob Brandon
Since graduating in 2008 Rob has worked on award winning short films and music videos, following his undergraduate Exposures Film Festival successes both in 2007 and 2008.

Both long and short form work has been shown on terrestrial and digital television channels across the UK, Austria and Germany, including the BBC, Channel 4, ORF, Red Bull TV, Propeller TV, MTV & NMEtv, as well as work featured on prestigious websites and blogs including BBConline, Redbull.com and FakeDIY. Most recently Rob has worked as a full time Video Editor (2.5 Yrs) for the Red Bull Media House in Salzburg, Austria.


Chris Church
Chris is Senior Producer, Commercials at ITN Productions.

Film by Monika Dzikowicz

Monika Dzikowicz
graduated from animation last year and has worked on a short feature, and is now working on an animation for the Animation Talent Award. <http://animationtalentaward.com>


George Hambleton
George graduated last year and is a freelance sound engineer, currently working on Channel 4's Stand Up for the Week and preparing for a tour with ChainSka Brassika. Worked artists such as Happy Mondays, The Beat, The Selector, The BlockHeads, Kids in Glass Houses, to name but a few. .


David Rolfe
David is a highly respected and experienced Producer and Director. As MD of Screenpro Films Ltd in the 1970s David was engaged in the Middle East filming specialist with contracts in Saudi Arabia, The Emirates, and The Oman. This was followed by a spell as a feature film post production supervisor for Paramount, Warner Bros., EMI
and other major distributors. During this period David was also Producer and Director of The Silent Witness – and Investigation into the Shroud of Turin, and was winner of BAFTA and Gold Awards at San Francisco, New York and many others. David was also a founder member of PACT and consultant to BBC Worldwide at this time.
During the 1980s David was Senior Producer London Weekend TV. He produced and directed series and episodes of:
Credo (ITV’s regular series on religious issues)
The London Programme
Weekend World (ITV’s flagship weekly current affairs programme) including award winning specials on The Underclass, The Collapse of Communism and The Threat of CFCs to the Environment
The Thatcher Years (Three hour studio special to mark her 10th anniversary as Prime Minister)
Jesus – The Evidence (3 hour special for Channel 4 on revelations in New Testament scholarship)
20th Century Box
The Walden Interviews
The Skag Kids
Family Affairs, and many others.

David also jointly oversaw LWT’s transition from film to video for factual output.
During the 1990s David took on the role of Senior Producer and Chairman of The Performance Group, an independent partnership comprising:
Performance Films, (Broadcast Commissions)
Performance Communications (Corporate Commissions)
Performance Consultants (Coaching based training for industry and commerce.)

David was responsible for establishing Performance Coaching, a business that pioneered the use of coaching skills in all areas of the workplace, took turnover from £60,000 to over £2m in 2 years.
David also undertook the following roles during this period:
Series Producer of Wild Islands 26 part film series on British and Irish Wildlife for ITV
Producer of Postcards from the Country (4 of 8 episodes) for BBC Natural History Unit
Panoramas for BBC 1 on AIDS, Satanic Abuse in Orkney and Horse Racing & the Jockey Club.
Gorbachov’s 5th Anniversary Event live from Moscow.
Executive Producer - Fight Again – A History of the Labour Party. (Three Parts) For BBC 2 Recorded at TLS.

During a 2000-2002 - Sabbatical David invented and patented an amphibious vehicle, now in production. (See www.ezyboat.com)
Between 2003-2006 David worked again with Performance Films Ltd, filming and editing sensitive and confidential subjects in the UK and abroad for Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Seiko and the World Health Organisation and developing film projects.
Between 2007-2008 David Produced and directed Shroud of Turin, presented by Rageh Omaar for BBC2 and RAI.
We are delighted that David will join the Graduate Panel on Friday November 22nd from 15.00 in Gateway Lecture Theatre.


Radek Sienski
Radek graduated in 2010. Since then Radek went on to win a few awards for my short films (such as Yobi Filmmaker of the Year 2010, Best Young Filmmaker at the Fastnet Short Film Festival 2010 and best film at Campus MovieFest 365, London 2011 (A Question of Time) and worked as a VFX supervisor on comedy/horror feature 'Kill Keith'.

 Radek studied editing at the National Film & TV School in January 2011, and is currently involved in various documentary and TV projects.

 He recently worked as an Editing Tutor/Advisor at BFI Film Academy teaching the technical and creative side of Avid.

Recent credits include 'Recession' directed by 3 time Bafta winner Beryl Richards, Sky Living's drama 'Talking to the Dead' (assistant editor) and BBC1's documentary 'Fox Wars' (audience: 2.4m).


Tom Wynn
Tom graduated last year and set up RiseMedia Ltd. in late 2011 with three friends who studied Digital Film and Screen arts at Farnham UCA. Tom took the role of Production Coordinator and location sound recordist. Clients to date have included FIXI Crescent Suzuki World Superbike Team, Lloyds British GBmoto British Superbike Team, The King Blues, The Institute of Hospitality and many more.


Cathy Valve
Cathy graduated in 2013 and is now working at Red Bee Media (http://www.redbeemedia.com/)

---Alex 

(Editor's Note: To see more about how we're taking active steps to help our graduates find work, check out our latest commercial project for Rocketseed, and our short film done for a global aid agency. And don't forget the Careers Fair at Bucks on November 21st.)