Event Reports

GMG Masterclass on File based workflow: P2 vs XDca

Date: 19th Jun 2008

With so much on the market at the moment it's rather confusing which direction to take when hiring or purchasing with so many differing formats on offer - and some purchases can just be a disaster.... what would GMG recommend?An evenings masterclass to play with and discuss some of the truths behind the new formats like XDCAM HD & P2 HD, disk and memory card vs Tape. We'll also cover some of the workflow issues related to working with editing the new formats via Final Cut Pro & Avid Media Composer.Tom Barnacle and Pete Ragg from Altered Images Ltd will be hosting tonights session and will bring the camera's with test footage to show on true HD monitors for observation as well as either an Avid or FCP system to show off how they compare when it comes to the new HD formats.... they'll also bring a Playstation 3 to discuss how many of their clients are starting to actually deliver HD to the end user!An evening of tecchie talk, sarnies, beer and networking..

GMG May Event: Life inside the Big Brother House

Date: 28th May 2008

Eugene Sully (the rightful winner) of Big Brother 6 came along and shared his story and some insider knowledge about the Big Brother house... !

GMG April Event: Working and thriving in rural Glo

Date: 30th Apr 2008

This workshop was aimed at freelancers, small creative businesses, artists, designers, writers and all those engaged in creative work. Various issues that arise when living, working and running a business rurally were explored: 1. How are you managing and developing your business? 2. What kind of work do you make with and for rural audiences? • the challenges you encounter working in Gloucestershire • your creative / business development and training needs • the resources you have, and the ones you need to thrive • Where to turn for advice, support, assistance, mentoring, critique, etc.• possible solutions, and how to embrace the challenges. The workshop was led by Richard Povall from SW based Aune Head Arts. Rather than reinvent the wheel - links and contact details are within the following pages:- Helen Owen's ARTIST PROVIDERS DIRECTORY (the one I was telling you about last night) can be downloaded from http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5915 http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=80 for info on GLos County Council - Helen Owen's role/funding etc http://www.bigartweb.plus.com/gaf/ http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=4597 Artists and Craftspeople in the area

Ideas & communication skills to help Media SMEs

Date: 26th Mar 2008

What a diverse and packed evening! This event brought lots of new faces, even tickling the fancy of other SWScreen cluster members who travelled up from Cornwall and Bristol! Hugh Mason flew in to offer members finance and advice which his company provides exclusively to creative industry SMEs to help their owners build and realise value... His company has raised or invested directly >£10m since start-up, engaging with over 1,200 SMEs in the UK, Singapore and Netherlands. Hugh's specialism is building wealth in the creative sector through public sector programmes. He also is an expert in TV/Film, Design and Online business support. Following training as a documentary TV producer-director with the BBC (we saw the funny pics to prove it!), Hugh then founded and grew a multiple-award-winning broadcast TV production company. Finding himself as interested in the business side of running a creative company as he had previously been making films, Hugh co-founded Pembridge Partners in 2001. Instead of making complex stories about science accessible to non-specialist audiences, Hugh now applies his strategy, ideas and communication skills to help Creative Industries Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to visualise their futures, set a path for growth and plan their way to success.... See the pdf for the raw basics from his powerpoint and contact details....

Media Innovation Awards (South West) - Plymouth

Date: 14th Mar 2008

Lee and Emma had a fab night at the very glitzy and glam Media Innovation Awards hosted by Plymouth Media Partnership at the Holiday Inn overlooking the Hoe in Plymouth... we're determined to get GMG members and businesses on the map for 2009!!! Watch this space! cf. www.mediainnovationawards.com

GMG January Event: Gloucestershire Skill Swap

Date: 30th Jan 2008

With funding from Knowledge West, The Gloucestershire Media Group has partnered up with academics from The University of Gloucestershire and The West EBusiness Group... Flash, Ming, Swish, Gif, Javascript, Silverlight, SVG and lots of other tecchie words fllled the air of the Beehive on Wednesday night as GMG launched the quarterly meets of the all new Gloucestershire Skill Swap.. The idea is that the group is open to all – anyone who considers themselves working in or interested in being a part of a grassroots community group of new media practitioners and thinkers who are willing to come together to share their knowledge – the focus of the group will be quarterly events hosted here at The Beehive, but in the interim the group will have an online presence... My Aims: Loosely based on a Community of Practice model (Wenger, 2004), the group will be democratically self-directing with a voluntary co-ordinator (at present Emma Heathcote –James, who is the bridge between GMG and the University, but am happy for some enthusiastic member to take this over and to work closely alongside) – we also need some tecchie bods to create a website type forum to link us all together inbetween meetings… I want this group to be a one stop shop for members needing advice and so forth in a knowledge share kind of way.. Membership is voluntary and the group will be self sufficient and thus there will be no charge for membership or attendance at meetings… the idea of it being informal and meeting up over a beer type of arrangement. I feel the Beehive is a perfect venue and they have agreed to offer this room to us free of charge for the group. Eventually I would want a range of sectors to be encouraged and represented (industry, academia, government etc) at such meetings... When the group meets a variety of learning methods will be employed in line with the proposed subject matter and learning objectives of the members. In between the events, the co-ordinator bases future events around exploring the knowledge requirements of the group and then reaching consensus. Following consensus, the co-ordinator plays the role of event marketer, manager and host. All of the virtual work is co-ordinated through freely available virtual collaboration tools…. All this is to discussed this evening of what you want the group to be and how it should evolve….. Email me your thoughts emma@thegmg.org

Arts Matrix Questionnaire Download

Date: 30th Nov 2007

ArtsMatrix is currently looking at the services it offers, and how best to develop them to ensure they match the needs of the regional creative community. As part of this process we are contacting everyone who has used our services in the past two years to find out what you think. It would be very helpful if you could take the time to answer the questions in the attached word document and email them to Madeline@artsmatrix.org.uk, it shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes. Please feel free to leave out any questions you don’t want to answer. To say thank you, they’ll enter every returned response in a prize draw for a £50 Marks & Spencer voucher, which will be drawn on Friday 7th December....

GMG November Event: Advent Art Launch

Date: 28th Nov 2007

With VIPs from the University mingling with VIPs from the Council mingling with GMGers and the 24 artists featured in the online Advent Art catalogue business cards were being swapped faster than the mince pies being taken from the plates!!! Launch date Sat 1st Dec www.adventart.co.uk

GMG October Event - Halloween

Date: 31st Oct 2007

For all who attended and for those who didn't but are curious! Click on http://ghosthunt.myphotoalbum.com and got to the Halloween Ghost Hunt album, then click on the first photo then click NEXT, etc (nb. If you click Slideshow you won't be able to read the descriptions). Click on COMMENT to add any extra information.... Film in progress......

Creative Partnerships Schools on Screen event

Date: 16th Oct 2007

Over 80 people from across the South West attended the in augural Schools on Screen event and were treated to an inspirational 3 hours of young people's presentations on digital media and film. The event showcased the work of nine Forest Schools namely Berry Hill, Soudely, Severnbanks, Offa's Mead, Forest View, Steam Mills and Newnham St Peters Primary Schools, Lakers Secondary School and Heart of the Forest Community Special School along with a show reel by Forest Forward, the young people's film group from Cinderford Artspace. Speakers at the event included Carolyn Black from the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust, local poet Fi Benson, drama practitioner Lisa Joyce from the Forest Youth Theatre, David Grange from Creative Solutions, Mark Young from Cinderford Artspace and Laura Hylton from the Young People's Film Council. Huge thank you to all the young people, teachers and creative professionals who helped make the event such a great success. Watch this space for details of Schools on Screen 2008! The Forest of Dean is leading the way with digital media in schools - a series of bold and interactive Digital Media Workshops are planned for April 2008, organised and led by pupils from Forest Schools, further information to follow in the December edition of the E-bulletin.

GMG September Event: Size Matters! Branding...

Date: 26th Sep 2007

Thanks to our gorgeous pals at Gloucestershire College and to Graham Dodderidge and Silver for helping us pull off a fabulous event on Wednesday evening on Brand - am still amazed how Graham managed to get everything in from motorbikes to custard, HP Sauce to sexy women to illustrate how we as creatives need to explore brand in our own media companies!

GMG August Skittles & Networking

Date: 29th Aug 2007

A small select few but the competition was fierce (Girls Team won with 116points to the Boys 114) with Roger who tallied the highest personal score which was worth special commendation as he never actually left his chair! Chatter turned to collaboration ideas and soon everyone began "creatively juicing" - the end result? Check out the GMG collaborative film idea and Halloween event: GMGs PRESTBURY MOST HAUNTED which will take place on Wed 31st Oct.... date for the diaries chaps! More info elsewhere on the site!

GMG July Event - Sound Affects: Music Composition

Date: 19th Jul 2007

Linking arms with The Cheltenham Film Festival, BAFTA and The Uni of Gloucestershire, GMG hosted this evenings key note talk and panel discussion as a survey of the nuts and bolts of the role of music in film and how the worlds of music and film collaborate. With an audience 120 strong this was one of GMGs biggest events yet demonstrating how musicians work in the film business and can experiment with sound. The evening kicked off with the fabulous Howard Blake giving a wonderfully informal introduction to himself, his work and what it really is like working with the film business... The second part involved a panel of six,headed "Music contracts for film". Chaired by Christopher Cook our panel of industry experts were guided by the audience questions, incorporating in their own stories of how they made it to where they are now. Questions included tecchie know how, working digitally and remotely and how musicians should go about getting their work out to filmmakers.

July Event: Screenwriters' Festival tie-in

Date: 5th Jul 2007

GMGers kicked off the evening with a champagne reception with the Spanish Embassy and dignatories in the Jazz Suite before moving down to the marquee to join festival delegates for the fabulous key note talk by David Hare on "Input and where to put it".... then onto the Cafe tent for a knees up and Spanish Party.....

DTI Consultation paper

Date: 1st Jul 2007

See attached report...

PACT Rights Lab

Date: 14th Jun 2007

Attached notes from the Pact Rights Lab event which was very informative and there may be something useful in the write-up....

GMG May Event: Soundbeam

Date: 30th May 2007

"Thank you for allowing me to attend the event last night . I found it interesting, informative, inspiring and enjoyable..." went one of the emails this morning in respect to our Soundbeam event... Soundbeam is a device firing a series of ultrasonic beams which, when interrupted by a performer, can trigger the projection of sound and also image. Martin Kiszko won Composer of the Year Award 2004 (Education and Community) from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters for his Soundbeam work "Inua". He is now working on the world’s first film using ultrasonics as a filmmaking tool. This evening saw some of Martin's phenomenal music composition for natural history as well as Soundbeam work ranging from choreography in Worcester Cathedral to Music Therapy amongst special needs students. Well, Studio B was buzzing, members were inspired and well, I think we all want our own beams and now!

Notes from Money and Media Seminar

Date: 4th May 2007

See attached notes from this seminar....

April Event: Downing St comes to Cheltenham

Date: 25th Apr 2007

So, what can the www do for whoever's in power? What roles are pod and vod casts playing in the political world and what does digital communications mean to government? Ever wondered what it looks like behind the famous front door of 10 Downing Street? Check out the interactive tour on the Prime Minister's website which was developed using cutting-edge technology, you can swoop down the Grand Staircase with its portraits of past PMs, take a virtual wander around the beautiful State Rooms or see inside the Cabinet Room, where so many important decisions have been made... But fun things aside - the need to empower local communities is a matter of cross party consensus. Yet, although we as a general public have more access to information and ways of communicating with each other than ever before, Government still struggles with how to communicate effectively, particularly at local levels, and especially with socially excluded groups.... Is this where the www is a godsend? This evening were are joined by Jimmy Leach who is Head of Digital Communication for the Prime Ministers office at No.10. and who divulged all the fun things that go on behind that famous black door..... Especially new tecchie developments such as the two-way dialogue between central govt and the electorate and those infamous e-petitions.... See Simon's blog of the night http://simondickson.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/can-no10s-new-web-enthusiasm-survive-transition/ and Jimmy's website is http://www.pm.gov.uk

GMG February Event: More than Words...

Date: 28th Feb 2007

The Geekalicious Sam Smith (of What is Web 2.0? fame) returned back to talk to us again - this time on a tecchie studded night entitled "More than words". Now, it may be a cliché that a picture speaks a thousand words, but these days video content is speaking volumes.... As we move towards an ‘on demand’ culture, Sam explained how we can take advantage of the web’s capacity to offer visitors a truly multimedia experience... We looked at the difference between streamed media and also had an idiots guide on how to embed different types of audio and video content into our website, highlighting some of the positives and pitfalls involved of varying formats.... it all tied in rather nicely to January's Green Screen and April's Blue Casting event....! A GMG Trilogy!

GMG@Cineworld: Gloucestershire Shorts Fresh Talent

Date: 13th Feb 2007

A collection of short animations from Room MB003 (Animation with Interactive Media) from 1st 2nd & 3rd Year degree students at The University of Gloucestershire under the tuition of Bryan Panks.

Masterclass on Green Screen and Chroma Key

Date: 31st Jan 2007

Everything you ever wanted to know about Chroma Key and Green Screens but were too afraid to ask... for beginners and the more experienced alike, this masterclass provided by Lee Stephens from Action Image Productions (www.actionimageproductions.com) gave us a hands on demo and look see at green screen and it's endless possibilities, whether you're planning to shoot a corporate talking heads, an arty experiemntal piece, something with realistic, surreal or 3D backdrop, Superman flying type stunts, a branded product launch or, erm, something Harry Potter like which requires a very cool magic invisible cloak.... (so wanted to steal that cloak....!)

GMG@Cineworld: Gloucestershire Shorts Fresh Talent

Date: 8th Jan 2007

A diverse collection of work from the Cirencester Media Graduates 2006: BTec National Diploma course...

GMG@Cineworld Local Talent: Filmmakers Screening

Date: 12th Dec 2006

Another diverse programme of films ranging from animations (2D and 3D) to sound, drama, a hand coloured black and white 35mm short, a documentary following Cheltenham's own Dancing Ken, corporates including an anti theft film for Safeway's employees, a members first ever 8mm film created in camera aged 14 to broadcast clips of Max Bear and Tom's Diner...

November Event: Show and Tell – Pecha Kucha”.

Date: 29th Nov 2006

GMGs first members Show and Tell – over 40 of us crammed into the secret room about the Beehive pub for a night to surpass all speed networking nights... Pecha Kucha was conceived in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. But as we all know, give a mike to a creative and you'll be trapped for hours... so the key to Pecha Kucha is its patented system for avoiding this fate! 15 GMG members each had up to 5 minutes on the stage to show and sells their wares.... We had such a varied mix from stunt men to composers, writers to cameramen, directors to facilities, graphic designers to filmmakers, new media bods to art directors..... Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand in Tokyo and and was a perfect avenue to explore the vast GMG Talent Pool, get to know one another better, network and skillswap....

GMG@Cineworld Local Talent: Filmmakers Screening

Date: 14th Nov 2006

The launch of our dedicated 2nd Tuesday of each month screenings of members films at The Brewery's Cineworld complex! What a terrific opportunity to not only showcase local talent and show Gloucestershire what it has on its doorstep (who need's the Big Smoke?!) but also for members to see what everyone else is upto - to skill swap and chatter amongst likeminded fellows.... films this evening ranged from shorts, specially created showreels with the finale being a 35mm short from the can, so to speak....

October Event: Four Docs

Date: 25th Oct 2006

Patrick and Emily ventured up from the Big Smoke to shout the news about FOURDOCS and screen some of their films. Members had an introduction to FourDocs. What it is - What it isn’t - and where it is going... how to get your film onto FourDocs, as well as their new broadband channel. If you upload a film to the site where it could go, get seen or be sold. Essentially - what can FOURDOCS do for you and your career?

Citizen Screentest Competition - Newspaper Articel

Date: 20th Oct 2006

Pdf of the newspaper article launching The Citizen Screen Test in assocation with Cordial AV, The GMG and Viewfinder Film Festival... all entry details here...

September Event - What is Web 2.0?

Date: 27th Sep 2006

The next generation of the internet has arrived. Sam Smith came to renaissance Restaurance at Gloscat and told us what exactly web 2.0 is and what does it means for us in the industry. We talked about everything from blogs to podcasts, mp3 to myspace... as well as all you need to know about the Social Media phenomenon that sites like flickr, youtube and myspace are creating as well as the new breed of bloggers with book deals... Media, and more importantly the consumers of media, are evolving and this evolution is moving fast….

August Masterclass: Summer in the Snow

Date: 30th Aug 2006

Snow Business is the world leader in the supply of artificial snow for motion pictures… and they’re just down the road in Stroud! These guys have been creating fake flakes for more 24 years – and chances are, if you've seen snow, frost or ice on the TV or big screen during that time, from a single snowflake to a terrifyingly safe avalanche… chances are it'll have been a special effect created by them... The team boasts that they are involved with a film set somewhere in the world, every single working day of the year and this evening we had an inside glimpse at the differing types of machines and snow products at the Snow Mill, the international HQ of the company – from outside foam blowers to burning candles, polymer to C90, paper, starch and paraffin wax…. With more types of snow than the Eskimo and Inuit languages have words for (their range consists of over 140 types of snow, frost and ice materials!) it took most of us back to being like kids in a sweet shop! Big thanks to all the team, but especial thanks to Darcy Crownshaw for being such a fabulous host and presenting the first masterclass on the History of Snow and to Andrew Carruthers for the second, showing how it can be done on a budget!

July Event: AHRC Launch and Memory Man!

Date: 19th Jul 2006

On the hottest day of the year and in the hottest place in the country the setting at Oxstalls was perfect with the fountains, ponds (and of course, the baby ducklings!) AHRC launched their KTP and Catalyst schemes and we were treated to some top tips from Dave Turner the memory men on how to remember names, numbers, presentations, pitches via visualisation techniques! Starter for 10 (for those there...) Who can still remember the 20 random objects (I can!) Bottle, Rocket, Pencil, Dog, Soap, bus shelter, shield etc etc etc

June Screenwriters' Fringe Event with Debbie Isitt

Date: 28th Jun 2006

GMG's Screenwriter Lynn Davis (having notched up a Writers Guild Award for his work on "Between the Lines" and chalking up credits for "The Bill", "Back Up!", "Soldier, Soldier", "Casualty" and others as well as theatre work) chaired the evening with writer/director Debbie Isitt. Debbie Issit made her directorial film debut with 'Nasty Neighbours' a British comedy starring Ricky Tomlinson in 2000. She’s back this year with Confetti, a wedding rom-com starring a whole host of British talent including Martin Freeman and Jessica Stevenson. Based entirely on improvisation the film follows three couples fighting it out to win the most ‘original wedding’ competition for fictional magazine 'Confetti'. With clips from both films the evening gave rise to plenty of Q&As and much inspiration...

Gloscat Arts & Media: Making Waves End of Year Sho

Date: 22nd Jun 2006

Wave upon wave of heartfelt applause marked the presentation of awards honouring some of the hundreds of Arts and Media students graduating from Gloscat this year at their summer show last Thursday evening. The evening had been launched with a private viewing by Tony Charlton who made a selection of 2D and 3D work for display at the UCAS Head Office in Cheltenham. As the 300 or so VIP guests arrived, who included GMG friends, Anna Krenkova of GMG-Train, Dan Howard from the University of Gloucestershire, Pat Roberts, Visual Arts and Media Development Officer at Gloucester City Council, Gloscat Governors, local MP’s and other dignitaries. Also, creative industry partners and businesses were there to celebrate successful delivery of live briefs, guest speaker programmes and work experience placements. These have included L’Oreal, (Fashion Photography for advertising, promotion and publicity), Cheltenham Twin Town Association (‘Annecey’ multimedia DVD), Yellow Shark Recording Studios (work placements), Gloucestershire FM (radio content) and MP’s (Interior design of refurbished local offices). Once the wine was flowing freely, exceptional student achievement was rewarded with Arts and Media Director Andy Ginn and Jenny Storry, Head of School for Creative Media presenting silver and bronze medals to Performing Arts students who had gained prestigious LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) awards in voice and speech. This year the College has surpassed previous year’s highs with a phenomenal 99% pass rate in these challenging and prestigious qualifications. Then, especially nominated Media and Music Technology Students were recognised for outstanding commitment or achievement. Andy was then joined by Brenda Trueman, Head of School for Art and Design who rewarded students who’d excelled whilst studying Photography, Fashion and Textiles, Graphic Design etc. The following show preview allowed guests to peruse the particularly high standard of work from courses ranging from level 1 Introductory Diploma’s to HNC and HND’s in Music Technology, Spatial Design, Stitched Textiles, Graphics/Multimedia, and Performing Arts. This included two screening areas for media video and TV showreels, live radio, dance and acted performance pieces in the theatre, fashion, graphics and fine art displays, animation and interactive multimedia and installation pieces, and live music technology jam sessions performed on decks and in spacious Apple suites. Visitors were delighted by an eclectic array of displayed work, funky music and bold dance routines as well as live performances and a troop of ribbitting frogs making their very own ‘bigger splashes’! Director of Arts and Media, Andy Ginn added: "The feedback from this evening’s event was fantastic and we can all be extremely proud of the depth and quality of up and coming creative talent from Gloscat that will be a huge asset to the creative industries of the future. Thanks to the GMG and our wealth of business and industry supporters for helping to provide a challenging and real-world training environment for all our arts and media students; it’s been a great year and we’re all looking forward to making even bigger waves from our new campus on the docks next time around"

May's Event: Body Language in the Media

Date: 31st May 2006

Body language in the media. In his own unique style, scientist and broadcaster Dr Harry Witchel gave us an insight into the science of body language on the small screen. Looking at everything from Tony Blair at the dispatch box to Maxwell's lying in the Big Brother Diary Room he challenged some of the traditional theories of body language, and discussed the power of body language both on camera and also in business.

Calling all opinionated loud-mouths: Creative Indu

Date: 26th Apr 2006

The GMG and Gloucestershire First, the local economic development partnership hosted the first Gloucestershire Creative Industries Summit which members were invited to come and stick their oar in! Chaired by Dan Howard from The Uni of Gloucestershire, thorny issues which effect media businesses in Gloucestershire were tackled, looking at the bigger picture of how members saw the creative industries shaping up for the future. Is GMG working for you? Do you get any support from Business Link? Should more public organisations and big local companies buy their services locally? Should there be more grants available for small companies to get off the ground?... see the download for minutes and more info from the evening (coming soon!)

Gloucestershire Skills Festival

Date: 25th Apr 2006

25-27th April - The Gloucestershire Skills Festival was held this week at GL1 consisting of stands hosted by learning providers, educational institutions and various industries ranging from bricklaying to engineering to army to beauticians - and of course the media. Stands provided skills based demonstrations givingschool leavers an opportunity to obtain some real life experience of a variety of jobs. The aim was to highlight to young people the skills needed by industry to ensure that ours is a vibrant and buoyant economy for generations to come. GMG took a stand and members showed off green screen, autocue and camera skills as well as film make up and prosthethics. Thanks to Greg Browning, Action Image Productions and Maximum Effect for all their help and enthusiam over the past few days! http://www.skills-festival.com/gloucestershire

GMG Pub Quiz

Date: 6th Apr 2006

Networking Event at The Green Dragon in Cockleford, Cowley over a pub quiz, chips n dips! Congratuations to "The Vagina Trio-logues" (Dan, Kim and Lynn) for scooping first place

Viewfinder Film Festival 06 Screening to GMG Membe

Date: 29th Mar 2006

A presentation in conjunction with Viewfinder 06 Film Festival of shorts from the Gloucestershire area.... for more info see www.viewfinderfilm.info. The screening consisted of seeing the Viewfinder Regional DVD along with submissions from the Professional Category - for info of which films were selected and show please see the download. Photo by Simon Walden Tel. 01242 255000 www.FilmPhoto.co.uk

Marketing your Media Business

Date: 22nd Feb 2006

Sarah Daly is a marketing and business development consultant who has been running Delphi Marketing Associates since 1987. This session gave a basic introduction to some of the essential things you need to do to market a small business in the media world - finishing with a heated Q&A session honing in on specific questions relating to various members businesses, looking at how they can create and optimise opportunities. The evening finished with drinks and networking

An Audience with Apple

Date: 18th Jan 2006

An event for all users of Final Cut Pro, Logic, Shake, Motion and Soundtrack… GMG in association with Gloscat Arts and Media presented an essential evening Master Class hosted by Apple,SWScreen and Soho Editors. In the first event of it’s kind for the county, senior Apple representative Phil Erhart (Business Development Manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa) personally delivered the latest product and support news and training opportunities tailored for all those working in video, film, effects and audio. So if you missed the event but are working in media or music and need to find out about how to gain prestigious Apple qualifications, or an employer wishing to upskill your team in the light of rapid development in the industry, then log onto www.gloscat.ac.uk for further info and bursary opportunities.... - Photographs by Tegan Lodde (first year student on the BTEC National Diploma in Photography)

December Event: Lighting on the run!

Date: 21st Dec 2005

Big thanks to Jonathan Harrison STLD,GTC who hosted this masterclass (sponsored by SWScreen's ESF funding). Over 40 members escaped the Christmas rush and packed into Studio A of the Film Studios for a sumpteous buffet followed by Jonathan's highly successful and ever popular lighting seminar, with Phoebe our model, copious lights and his broadcast camera. The seminar was a practical guide to creating quality HD or SD digital images on location... Using a selection of the latest lighting equipment, (from light boxes, egg crates, honeycombes, dados, funky gobos... you name it, he had it) Jonathan showed us how you can easily increase your lighting skills. During the course of the seminar he demonstrated, through the use of the right tools and simple observations, the lighting principles needed to make creative and convincing images. He explored the process and techniques that are required to be creative, along with the practical skills needed to produce quality images quickly, efficiently and with confidence. Jonathan trained and worked as a Film Cameraman at Ealing Film Studios for thirteen years and has presented High Definition TV and Lighting Seminars all over the world. He has a wealth of lighting experiences that he brings to the world of Digital Video. He is an award winning lighting cameraman currently working and shooting on location internationally. Photo's below by Simon Walden T: 01242 255000 E: sqw@FilmPhoto.co.uk W: www.FilmPhoto.co.uk

Pact. Content Lab2005 Review

Date: 2nd Dec 2005

Pact is the UK trade association that represents and promotes the commercial interests of independent feature film, television, animation and interactive media companies. Content Lab is a key event for interactive media and took place at the Orange Studio, Birmingham. You can download a review below of the 2005 event ,written by James Ecendance, Director of i2in Ltd.

Intellectual Property & Copyright Law Masterclass

Date: 30th Nov 2005

Held in the main lecture theatre of Pittville Campus, the first seminar led by Richard McMorris, a solicitor with corporate media law firm, Wiggin LLP. Entitled “The Beginners Guide…”, his presentation gave us a basic introduction to intellectual property rights, why we have them and how they can be exploited. The focus will be on those types of intellectual property which are most relevant to content production and distribution including copyright and trade marks. The session will began with a brief exploration of the reasons for having intellectual property rights at all and what the law is designed to protect, and went on to look at how copyright works are created, how to work out who owns the copyright in a given work and what being a copyright owner means legally and practically. Attention was then turned to the different ways in which intellectual property rights can be divided up in order to enable rights owners to achieve maximum exploitation of their work together with an overview of the way in which trade mark law operates in the UK. Following drinks and a buffet in the gallery, Part 2 was led by Guy Sheppard, a film and television solicitor also from Wiggin. This seminar was called “What can I do to protect my Work?" and gave practical guidance on what steps writers, directors and producers can take to protect the intellectual property rights they create and which had been outlined in Richard's seminar in Part 1. The session began with a summary of the law of confidentiality which often provides an extra, or an alternative, legal protection to intellectual property rights holders in the industry, and then went on to provide practical tips that such rights holders often find useful and included a brief summary of the Code of Practice framework to which some UK broadcasters subscribe. Both Powerpoint Presentations are available to download as one file in the link below. For more information see www.wiggin.co.uk

October's Event: The HD Roadshow

Date: 26th Oct 2005

One of GMG's best attended events yet ! Thanks to Tom Barnacle from Altered Images for a truly fascinating presentation and insight into the world of Sony and JVC HDV cameras. For more information: www.alteredimagesltd.com

September Event: SE3D came to town with SWScreen

Date: 28th Sep 2005

September saw the launch of The Business Support Programme which is being run by The GMG in conjunction with SWScreen and the SWRDA (South West Regional Development Agency). With funding and bursaries open to all GMG members living in the SW regions it proved an important night and a landmark event for The GMG. Following a great presentation by Clare Reddington of SE3D (www.se3d.co.uk) on the future of 3D rendering over broadband, Mark Leaver (SWScreen) and Greg Browning(GMG) outlined the current strands of funding available – download Greg’s presentation from the website. With the deadline to apply for any of the funding schemes being the 7th October, any who didn't make it please contact The GMG or SWScreen with any questions.

August - The Mobile CInema comes to the GMG

Date: 31st Aug 2005

Just under 50 members braved the summer thunderstorms to attend our August event at the Manor which was hosted by Ben Blaine from Shooting People who brought along the films he toured the UK with a few weeks back in his Mobile Cinema... thanks to all who came for being so patient with the train delays and thanks to Ben for braving the 5hr scenic journey up here!!! ben@shooingpeople.org

July's Website Launch

Date: 27th Jul 2005

45 members braved the rainy summer evening to get a sneaky look at this new website and see the launch of our great new branding. The i2IN guys (www.i2in.com) and those pesky Peskimos (www.peskimo.com) have done a fabulous job on it all - thank you all!

June's Event: The Tsunami, 6 months on

Date: 29th Jun 2005

With over 50 people packed into the room, ITV News Reporter of the Year Eric McInnes and his Cameraman Graham Effenhigh presented us with a superb montage of their time reporting in Thailand back in January as well as tapes of the original news footage. This was followed by a superb heated debate which led onto discussions involving the ethics of filming in war torn countries and issues of moral decency and our own ethics as journalists...

May's Event at Big Shot Studios, Pershore.

Date: 25th May 2005

A spectacular turnout huddled around the £350k Maserati which was being photographed, Top Gear this evening... GMG co-hosted with The GMG which provided fabulous networking opportunities in the Green Room of Bigshots afterwards (www.bigshots.co.uk) Photography by Simon Walden - www.FilmPhoto.co.uk