Leanne Rogers, Class of 2014 | Debut Doco Violet Vixen (2018)

LeanneRogers-2014Grad-LinkedInimageI’m a Project Manager/Videographer at Mediorite, which is a social enterprise and film production company that gets young people into film. Mediorite is split into two divisions: Mediorite, which is run by a bank of award-winning filmmakers, assisted by a young person and MedioritePlus, which specialises in quick, low cost, online content and is run by young creatives. I’m currently the head of MedioritePlus and have more recently been working on larger scale projects as a lead filmmaker on Mediorite jobs, working on more complex briefs.

I was recently inspired to make my first documentary, Violet Vixen (2018). The film looks at the fabulous life of 11 year old Leo who expresses with remarkable articulacy and boldness his distinctive identity. He aspires to be a make-up artist and performer as well as an inspiration to other young boys like him. Since its release on Youtube and Facebook the film has been viewed over one million times.

The idea initially came about when I was pitching ideas to a client. Continue reading

Hannah Skidmore, Class of 2014 | Aesthetica Fest BAFTA-Recognised

HannahSkidmore-ASFF2017_photo-by-Jim Poyner PhotographyIt was always my aim to remain within the film industry after graduation.It’s all happening in London. You want a job in film, London’s is the place to be.” Now if I had a pound for every time this was said to me, I might have been able to afford to live in London! But truth be told, moving to London never really crossed my mind. I don’t buy into the fact that you must be in London to have a good job. It’s easy to get caught up in people telling you how important it is to work in the “big city” but I couldn’t disagree more. There is a wealth of talent right across the country that all too often gets overlooked. Don’t get me wrong, London works for many people, but just not me. I’m a big advocate of taking some of the focus off London so that other amazing cities across the UK, such as Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds etc. can flourish and develop. It’s this desire to stand out from the crowd that drew me to Aesthetica. 

Aesthetica-Mag-CoverHere was this incredible business that produced not only one of the most successful arts and culture publications, Aesthetica magazine, but had its own BAFTA-Recognised film festival, international Art Prize and Creative Writing Award. To top it all off, it was right on my doorstep!  Since joining the team last September as Aesthetica’s Marketing Coordinator, it’s been a complete whirlwind. In less than three months I’ve been front and center for the launch of three issues, we’ve opened both the Art Prize and Creative Writing Prize, and hosted the 7th edition of the Aesthetica Short Film Festival.

I can’t begin to explain how rewarding it is to go to work each day and be surrounded by people with as much passion and excitement for film. The Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) is one of the world’s leading international short film festivals, celebrating independent film from around the world and it really does pride itself on being an outlet for supporting and championing filmmaking. The festival takes place each November across the city of York, showcasing over 300 films from both established and emerging filmmakers, along with numerous industry masterclasses, guest programmes, premiere screenings and special events. To submit your short this year visit: www.asff.co.uk/submit. Entries close 31 May 2018. Here’s ASFF 2017 trailer.  Continue reading

Lewis Coates, Class of 2014 | Ch4 Random Acts: When Voices Unite

Random_Acts_logo_RGBHi all – hope you had a great summer! I regularly enjoy reading what fellow Lincoln grads are up to in the media world, so thought I’d discuss my most recent project. In February I was commissioned to write and direct a short film about social media for Channel 4’s ‘Random Acts’. When Voices Unite (2017) has been broadcast by them on their online platforms it has recently been shortlisted for an award at Danny Boyle’s Shuffle Film Festival in London and Cinemagic in Belfast!

Since graduating, I’ve been working for a creative video production agency in Lincoln, filming and editing adverts and web videos for clients such as Mercedes-Benz, smart and Volkswagen. After 2 and a bit years, I’m now Lead Video Production Continue reading

LSFM Alumni Success | 2017 Lincolnshire Digital & Tech Awards

Lincs-digital&techAwards2017-SteveSmailesphotoCongrats! LSFM Graduate success was at the Lincolnshire Digital & Tech Awards 2017 category: Best Use of Multimedia. Visit Lincoln won for its brand campaign created with Wallbreaker – a video agency run by LSFM 2014 media production alumni Thomas Mckie, Ashley Wilks and Luke Winter who said: We’re chuffed! A lot of hard work went into that campaign. Ash is pictured left of Lydia Rusling, Head of Visit Lincoln.

Runner-up in this category was epix_media, a company set up by 2007 alumni who’re co-directors Zoe Easey and Will King. Story about the awards is in The Lincolnite where images were taken by 2012 graduate Steve Smailes a freelance photographer and he is one of our inspirational LSFM Industry Mentors.  Watch Visit Lincoln: Heritage video from Wallbreaker Productions.

Wallbreaker posted on its site that Visit Lincoln: commissioned the creation of three individual videos that would be used as social media marketing tools, with an aim to encourage people to consider Lincoln as their next possible place to explore.  Continue reading

Alumni Q&A session | LSFM Creative Enterprise module

Love our graduates back on-campus to share experiences and connect with our students from our annual network event Meet the Graduates (2nd November 2016) to teaching modules. TODAY half a dozen alumni will join our final year students in the Creative Enterprise session and module co-ordinator Zara Healy said: we welcome 6 of our graduates who are all working in multimedia roles. They have all graduated within the last 5 years from LSFM – some are freelance, some are employed full-time and at least 3 have set up their own creative industry companies. The one and a half hour session will be a Question and Answer about how this module’s assessment – pitch and paperwork – has helped graduates in their own pitches, how to develop ideas and present them to help them in their roles in the Media industry.

GemmaLowe_2Gemma Lowe | Class of  2012 & LSFM Industry Mentor: I currently work as Press and Media Content Officer for the Lincoln College Group, producing multimedia and written content for a wide range of marketing purposes and managing digital communication projects and social media across Lincoln, Newark and Gainsborough Colleges.

I am also Media and PR Manager for Lincolnshire Scouts, managing and producing media and marketing output across the county. Continue reading

Michael Henry, Class of 2009 | MUTE (2016) released 21.05.2016

MUTE-poster_May2016Independent filmmaker Michael Henry, our 2009 graduate and one of LSFM’s industry mentors, has been in touch about the general release of MUTE (2016). The film will be available on demand, DVD and to download, from Saturday 21st May 2016 then it will do the rounds at various international film festivals. The 76-minute film, by award winning production company Quandary Productions (QP), has a freedom of expression theme.  

The indie said: Filmed in and around Lincoln, the independent film stars some of Lincoln’s finest acting talent including Nikki Mclusky, Tom Bridger, Charles Cromwell and Rob Smith. The film was shot July 2015, with the help of over 30 film students from the local College and University. The crew on MUTE included LSFM media production alumni: James Jackson, Producer/Sound Recordist, Louise Bawtree, Associate Producer and Nathan T. Dean, script supervisor. The feature film was written and directed by Michael Henry who explains his idea of MUTE.

Pre-order DVD (£5.99 before 21 May) | More info about digital download on the QP site Continue reading

Rachel Hagreen, Class of 2014 | Career Update: Sorted. Food!

A brand new blog post and another brand new job. That’s right, I’ve moved again. I’ve only been in London for under 2 years and this is already my third job.  But this one is the one.  In July 2015 I wrote a blog on here about having to start my own cooking channel because it was so difficult to get a job in online food video production. Little did I know that starting How To Kitchen would actually help me secure a job on my favourite cooking channel on YouTube, SORTEDfood.com

As of April 2016, I became a camera operator and editor for the channel and have loved every second of it so far. This was the video I filmed on my second day working for them. Needless to say I nearly threw up on my first shoot day (not even joking).

Since then, I’ve been busy shooting and editing a number of their varied videos. The interview process was absolutely terrifying. Continue reading

Lincolnshire Digital Awards 2016 | Finalists – our LSFM Alumni

Best-Digital-Startup_FINALIST2016Good luck to finalists in the Lincolnshire Digital Awards 2016 on Thursday at The Engine Shed. Organisers said the awards are “to both reward and bring individuals and companies together who are at the forefront of digital within the Greater Lincolnshire area.” In the Best Digital Start-Up category are four companies for this award and two of the finalists are our alumni with a business that is less than 3 years old:-

TallLime-logoTall Lime 
Ben Atkinson 
BA (Hons) Media Production and MA Digital Media

Wallbreaker-logoWallbreaker Productions 
Thomas McKie, Ashley Wilks and Luke Winter
BA (Hons) Media Production

Rachel Sweet, Class of 2014 | Creator Sweet Essence Media

Rachel-Sweet-GraduateDuring my final year at Lincoln School of Film & Media (2014) I worked solo on projects and this was all down to what I could personally do, to understand what are my strengths & weaknesses – of course I loved every moment of working in a group because it was an extraordinary experience & I will never forget the people I once worked with.  I have always been passionate with my work & I have loved the feeling of having the freedom of what I can produce, so I discovered a few weeks after graduation I could develop my own business. The planning process of creating a business took me just over a year to establish, it has been a long & winding road over the last twelve months but it has been worth the time & in order to build a business you need to be 100% in what you are doing you need to be sure that everything meets the criteria.

I got guidance from multiple sources while I was in the “thinking” stages of starting up a business & they were much needed, I have attended meetings from the (Uni) Careers & Employability team. Continue reading

Alumni at Standby Productions | Vote! Talk of Manchester Award

Chloe-Ward_Grad2014 Graduate Chloe Ward is a Producer at Standby Productions. She has good news on the indie, set up by 2005 alumnus Simon Owen, and it needs your vote to clinch a business award:  We’ve been nominated for a Talk of Manchester Award, under the category of ‘Best Video Production Co.’ The award is decided based upon public votes and voting closes THIS Friday. We’d really appreciate it if you could share our news and VOTE!

Standby in category 14 Best Video Production Co. | Vote: www.surveymonkey.com

We’ve created a campaign film for our nomination in the TOM awards to spread the word and gain crucial votes – we jumped at the chance to do something different. We shot the cheesiest and most sarcastic film we could and it came out beautifully!
Standby_TOM-award-nomination-1_2015