Created in Birmingham

I thought I’d post my response to an email I received from someone the other day. The emailer said (and these are a couple of extracts):

I am currently looking for creative projects to get involved with in the Birmingham area, specifically film or media based projects. I have lots of transferable skills through studying film on my course and I am looking for possible work experience (unpaid) in TV, film or any kind of production, as a runner, film grip and/or any position where the skills I have may come in useful.

My biggest focus is finding opportunities, getting out there and getting involved in anything I can, from possible collaborations to arts events, workshops, anything to keep me busy and anything that allows me to be creative and continues the type of work I was doing on my course.

I couldn’t think of anything specific but gave a few starting places. I operate on the assumption that CiB readers know much more than I do, so if anyone can add anything then please do in the comments. My reply:

Hey

I can’t think of any specific opportunities at the moment. It’s a bit of a funny time for that kind of thing at the moment, what with Screen WM (who used to put on events and so on) closing down a few months back and Creative England (the body taking their place) only just getting up and running. In the meantime it might be worth looking at http://www.bsin.co.uk/ and seeing what they’re up to.

Also, have a look at these events, get yourself along and see who you meet:

• http://www.producersforum.org.uk/
• http://www.creativenetworksonline.com/
• http://www.birminghamsmc.com/
• http://www.helloculture.net/ (this is on tomorrow)

Maybe see what courses are happening at http://www.macarts.co.uk/ or http://light-house.co.uk/

Cheers

Chris

If the text is too small there’s more information on the Light House website.

The poster was a tad long so I’ve cropped it a bit. I’d best give a nod to the people who had their logos on the bottom – Light House, Reference Point, We Make Art and Barnbrook.net.

• American Independents Day comes to Birmingham
  “Ted Hope & Christine Vachon have produced over 120 independent movies between them (including Boys Don’t Cry, 21 Grams, American Splendor & Happiness).” They’ll be at the Spotted Dog in Digbeth on 7 April
• Using Film in Education – West Midlands Seminar
  At the Light House on 12 May
• Welcome to the human race — ELO-ke Night 2nd April
  Dirty Bristow are putting on a night of Electric Light Orchestra Karaoke on Saturday 2 April
• Arcane Magazine
  “We will bring you the latest news on Birmingham club nights, promotional drinks offers at bars, restaurant deals, music events, sporting events, dance shows, comedy nights – and so much more in between”
• Interview with Lee Kemp, Fullrange
  “I could genuinely count the number of useful creative networking events i’ve been to on the fingers of one hand shortly after I’d pulled that hand out of a blender”
• Due to Birmingham’s flourishing industry and…
  The Birmingham Stock Exchange building’s been sold for £8m. Cue musings about Sherlock Holmes’ story about a young stockbroker taking up a new job in the city
• Second Home Sketchbook | While the paint dries and the renders crawl…
  Chris Randall at Second Home Studios has got himself one of those blogs. Could be interesting.
• Interview with Will Grant, Buto
  He’s the Technology Director there.

Just a quick one to tell you about some more Christmas fairs going on over the next few weekends. Since I’ve already mentioned a few, I may as well be consistent. Plus, I like the decorative flyers.

THE SoURCE are hosting their eco gift fair at Moseley Exchange tomorrow from 10am – 4pm. Entry is free and they’ll also have a cafe area and home baked cakes, see the full list of stallholders on their blog.

The Barber Institute‘s Christmas Craft Fair is next weekend, 4 December from 11am – 4pm. Along with the usual array of gifts and artwork, they’ll also be holding a free family crafts workshop, making cards and decorations, plus Christmas storytelling throughout the day.

Light House are holding their renowned Festive Flair on 11 December from 11am – 4pm. Take a look round the selection of local talent selling their work and gifts, with a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie. Entrance to this is also free.

Also in association with Festive Flair on the same day, is the Queen Vic Designer Maker Festive Fair at Wolverhampton Arts Gallery. Kids will have the chance to meet Santa, plus there’s storytelling, free family craft activities and a local choir performance throughout the day.

The Disability Film Festival Day takes place on 3 December, at various venues arcoss the country, including  The Public, mac and Light House.

The festival will be packed full of international shorts, a selection of films from Oska Bright, themed discussions and archived films, in the UK’s first celebration of disability and film.

The Public and mac will also be screening the BBC’s feature length film ‘Raspberry Ripple’, while Light House will be hosting a directors workshop in association with Film Nation.

Entry to all events is free. For more information on events and screenings, take a look at the full rundown over at the list of venues.

Wolverhampton based director Mark Jeavons will be premiering his latest feature film, ‘Whatever Happened to Pete Blaggit,’ at the Light House on 16 November at 7pm.

The film, starring local talent Rob Leetham alongside ex-Coronation Street star Adam Rickitt, is a surreal comedy about an angry wedding videographer disillusioned with life. Just when Pete thinks that his life can’t get any worse everything is turned upside down when he is abducted by aliens.

A Q&A session with the director will follow the screening, to attend email info@lighthouse.co.uk or call 01902 716055

Take a look at the trailer on Youtube.

Light House‘s animator is residence, Drew Roper, has received the audience award in the humour category at The Animatron Babelgum Animation Film Festival – the world’s first online and mobile competition for Animation and Anime.

Take a look at his winning animation ‘The History of Denim’, created to retell the origin of denim for designer LUKE, which originated from the West Midlands.

THE HISTORY OF DENIM – LUKE 1977 from Drew Roper on Vimeo.

The next Animation Forum event is to co-inside with Flip Animation Festival on 4 November at 7.30pm – 10pm, Millennium Point.

Animating the West Midlands is a free event which will feature locally produced shorts from Flip 2010, and an introduction to Second Home Studios’ Viral Kitchen scheme. You’ll also have the chance to catch up with fellow animators in the iBar at Millenium point.

The event is open to non-members plus those without tickets to Flip. To reserve your place email info@light-house.co.uk with ‘Animating the West Midlands – RSVP’ in the subject line.

For more information, visit Animation Forum or their Facebook page.

Flip Animation Festival is happening on 4 – 6 November in Wolverhampton. The festival is organised by Light House Media Centre and hosts a programme of educational workshops for young people, along with experimental animation for grown ups, plus industry led panels, feature film screenings, international showcases, retrospectives of short films and spotlights on animation studios.

While there are still plenty of events yet to be announced, here’s a peak at a few of the highlights announced so far;

Workshops in Introduction to Animation and Writing an Animated Comedy with The Brothers McLeod, both on 4 Nov.

Gaming themed workshops, including an Introduction to Building a Game with XNA and Big Screen Gaming on Halo: Reach, also on 4 Nov.

Young animators aged 14 – 16 are invited to the free Film Nation: Shorts Animation Workshop on 5 Nov.

Plus Wolverhampton Art Gallery are also running an exhibition entitled RE-animate which will be on until 27 Nov.

Tickets have yet to go on sale for this year’s festival, so keep an eye on the Flip website for the latest announcements.

The Photography Collective and Birmingham Photospace have teamed up in association with Rhubarb Rhubarb, to bring us Contact. From 3-18 September the Rhubarb East Gallery will play host to a collection of seven emerging photographers working in the West Midlands.

Curated by Kathryn Kliszat from Light House, exhibiting artists are gwbenson, Ian & Mark James (Jimmy Photo), Hannah Rumsby, Jo Hallington, Jasroop Grewal, Rita Fletcher and Matt Murtagh.

The variety of styles and formats challenges the viewer to consider how contact is made between objects both animate and inanimate, between the past and present, between analogue and digital and between photographer and subject.

The exhibition will be open Thursday – Sunday, 11.00am – 5.30pm, and there will also be an Artists’ Talk on Thursday 9 September, at 6.30pm, allowing members of the public to meet the photographers and discuss the stories behind these powerful images.

An article on the Guardian’s film blog has asked:

Can Birmingham’s eclectic lucky dip of a festival help rejuvenate its Digbeth base?

That festival being Flatpack. Now, I was always told that if the title of a newspaper article asks a question then the answer is most likely ‘no’. In this case, the answer given is revealed to be more like ‘well, first of all Digbeth needs a cash machine, some residents, public transport, a post office and some street lighting’. Which is fair enough.

Hanging the cultural hopes of  an entire area on one annual festival (no matter how good) was a bit of a reach anyway.

On another matter, two parts of the article jumped out:

Amazingly, points out George Clark, a curator who put together Flatpack’s Build Them in the Mind programme of short films, Birmingham still lacks a proper arthouse cinema. This in England’s second-largest city.

Which is true but needs tallying against Ian Francis saying:

“I hate it when people say Birmingham is apathetic” about film and culture, he says. “The interest is there”

Which is also true.

That there’s only one independent cinema in Birmingham is a bit of a shocker, but mac reopens soon and don’t forget the Light House is only just up the road.

Even better, there are quite a few people getting off their backsides to put films on away from the multiplexes. Film nights are rife – off the top of my head there’s Moving Pictures, Juniper Cinema, Kino Concrete, Filmrats, Popcorn, the Animation Forum events, BIFS, Screen Sunday at The Plough and occasional things at The Sunflower Lounge. Those are just the ones I can remember, too. Pretty much all of those are in pubs, which isn’t always going to be ideal and they’re unlikely to show the latest releases, but I think Ian’s right about apathy not being the problem.

Another batch of short films from Screen WM‘s Digishorts scheme are set to premiere next week,  featuring a hefty wedge of local film talent. There’s a free screening event  to see all six Digishorts films at Light House in Wolverhampton on Tuesday 12 January, 6.15  – 8pm, as part of Screen Forum.

The Moon Bird

Names that stick out for me are BAFTA-nominated The Brothers McLeod, who will be showing their dark animated fairytale ‘The Moon Bird‘, and Lewis Arnold, whose film ‘Stained’ is inspired by author Ronnie Thompson’s time served as a prison officer. After the screening there will be a Q&A with some of the filmmakers, so have your hand-raising and poser-posing hats on ready.

To find out more about all of the films on show, visit the Light House website here, and to reserve a free place at the screening, contact info@light-house.co.uk.

Controversial film ahoy. Here’s the synopsis:

Flash wakes up to a phone call from Angel announcing that he’s being released from prison and wants the £500k he’d left with Flash for safekeeping. Short of the full amount and pushed for time, Flash is forced to strike a deal with Evil who more than lives up to his name. 1 Day follows Flash’s race against the clock as he’s pursued by a rival gang, the police, his three irate babymothers and his granny

And here’s the trailer (warning, contains gratuitous, kinda-cool overhead shot of Spaghetti Junction):

As the Light House blog says:

1 Day, which is due for national release on 6th November has caused quite some controversy with the Birmingham Post reporting that it has been criticised for “encouraging impressionable youngsters to join violent criminal gangs” and “glamorising gun crime“  and BBC have reported that at least 2 of the big Birmingham cinemas, Cineworld and Odeon  are not going to be screening it

I’ve no idea whether that controversy is real or just marketing hype. Previous CiB contributor Danny Smith has written about his concerns – he’s coming from a position of some experience and really isn’t the timorous type. Meanwhile Screen WM are carrying an interview with director Penny Woolcock and the Guardian have profiled lead actor Dylan Duffus from Handsworth.

The film’s out nationwide next week and you’ll be able to see it at Star City, AMC Broadway and a few other places.

The Flip Animation Festival brings three days of animational loveliness to the Light House in Wolverhampton, starting on 5 November (although the launch will be at Millennium Point in Birmingham).

There’s a fair amount being packed in – portfolio reviews, screenings of shorts and student films and workshops on game design and scriptwriting. Greg McLeod, from the Brothers McLeod will be animator-in-residence on the Friday, allowing all and sundry to watch him working. In fact, borrowed from the newsletter, here’s a summary of what’s on (follow the links for detail):

Thurs 5 Nov

• Scriptwriting for Animation Workshop
• Games Design Workshop
• Big Screen Gaming
• Get Involved with First Light
• Festival Launch: Animation in the West Midlands: A Snapshot

Fri 6 Nov

• Open Shorts
• Looking at Sound: Hearing Animation
• Studio Spotlight: Axis Animation
• Portfolio Reviews
• Coraline (PG)

Sat 7 Nov

• Open Shorts
• Family Animation Day
• Personal Views: The Brothers McLeod
• Studio Spotlight: ArthurCox Studios
• Flip Animation Challenge
• Student Screening and Awards Ceremony
• Flip Closing Party

Tickets are now on sale via the Light House box office (01902 716055) or on the Flip Animation Festival website.

Light House in Wolverhampton are offering a video production workshop just for women which will be delivered by Film & TV Director Nerina Villa on Wednesday 11th March from 10am – 4pm.

The 1 day workshop will be a ‘hands-on’ introduction to video production techniques, exploring camera operation, lighting and sound. The workshop is designed for all skills levels; beginners, enthusiasts or those with more experience who may be in need of a refresher.

Cost: £35 + VAT (10% discount for earlybird bookings taken before Fri 27 Feb).

For more information or to book contact: Kelly Jeffs on t: 01902 716055 e: kelly@light-house.co.uk