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.

Can you tell us a little bit about Victorian Wolverhampton?
Victorian Wolverhampton celebrates the opening of The Victorian Galleries here at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Bantock House. Everyone here is really excited about the displays finaly opening after so much hard work that has gone into the project, and I thought that to engage the community with the displays, we would need a website which can give them a behind-the-scenes look at what is going on. It’s not all just from me! There is a community panel who are researching stories and information.

What was your first reaction to being given the task of setting up a blog?
I was terrified but really excited all at the same time. I have never done anything like this before, I don’t even have a Facebook or Myspace! I also don’t get on too well with computers, but I love researching and learning especially about local things. I’m not from Wolverhampton either so it has been quite a lot of work as I didn’t know very much about the city at all. I didn’t really know where to start, I had to have a crash course in blogging!

What difficulties have you faced when creating the blog and fitting it around the existing website?
I’ve had to be really careful with what images I have chosen to go on the blog, the images from the collections all have to be credited. Also, all of the information has been subjected to some scrupulous examining by the staff working on the displays, which is a bit daunting. Other difficulties have been technical, as this is my first encounter with blogging, I am really learning as I go along however, I do think that I have picked it up really well, the blog is only 4 weeks old!

What have you found most surprising or exciting?
I think the most exciting thing was when after working on it for about 2 weeks, it was then published! I was so happy when I looked at the statistics and found that people had actually been looking at this blog that I have worked really hard on. I knew that blogs are the way forward and that they really do reach a wide variety of people, but it’s great to know that people are actually looking for it or stumbling across it and learning something new. It hasn’t had any comments yet, but I am looking forward to feedback from the community about it. What has been surprising is how easy it is once I knew what I was doing, sometimes I have made mistakes, but I’m learning from them and getting quicker at posting items and working on the pages.

What advice can you give for people wanting to start their own blog?
I would say think very carefully about what you want people to get out of your blog. It’s great that it is a space for you to share things that interest you but why are you sharing it? Also, you have to think about the tone of your blog. They tend to be more chatty than websites, and snappy to so that you engage people and make them want to read more. When I first started working on the blog, I think I took too much of an formal tone, I’ve tried to relax this now and be more myself which is very important but then you don’t want to alienate people either- so it’s about trying to get that balance.

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

The Flair Designer Maker Fair takes place at Light House in Wolverhampton on Saturday November 17th from 10am – 3pm.

Festive Flair returns for another Christmas season offering some of the region’s best contemporary and unique craft and designer wares. Soak up some festive cheer and stroll around over 40 stalls in the courtyard of the historic Chubb Buildings with a glass of warm mulled wine and buy hand-made craft pieces from high quality makers. Flair, Light House’s regular Designer Maker Fair aims to showcase the creative talent within the region so come and enjoy this original shopping experience, meet the designer makers themselves and find something delightful for everyone on your Christmas list. Admission free. All welcome.

Light House media and arts centre in Wolverhampton is celebrating its 21st birthday on Thursday 11 October with a party, a show and a DVD. The event is really aimed at past trainees and associates – the Light House Family if you will – but I got an invite so it’s not exactly exclusive.

As well as drinks we are presenting the work of director and screenwriter Sean Spencer and launching our new DVD featuring short films produced at the centre over the past 21 years. Light House is an award winning production company with an impressive list of titles to its name and this evening we will be showcasing a number of short films as well as inviting Sean Spencer to take the stage and talk about his career since graduating from Light House in 1999.

The evening will begin with a screening of Sean’s work including a number of edgy and distinctive short films that have been screened worldwide catching the attention of high profile organisations such as the British Film Institute and the BBC. Sean is now regularly approached to undertake consultancy work, script editing and mentoring for companies such as Frontline Productions and currently has a slate of feature films in development.

If you know of anyone who’s been involved with Light House over the years please tell them about this, and if you’d like to go yourself RSVP to plot [at] light-house.co.uk or 01902 716055.

The next Out of Hours at Light House is on Monday 3rd September, 5.30-7.30pm and is all about funding. While it takes place in Wolverhampton a lot of these organisations are West Mids-wide so this is pretty relevant to Birmingham folks. (And Light House is a lovely place to visit.)

Guests at this informal chatting session include:

Marina Ibrahim: SP/ARK

Nigel Jordan: Wolverhampton University Creative Media Technology project.

Matt Stocker: Advantage Creative Fund

Chris Adams: Creative and Knowledge Industries Business Adviser for Business Link West Midlands.

Dave Taylor: TIC

Dave Roberts: Creative Launchpad

Sarah Bell: Music for Media Project

Peter McLuskie: PLOT

They’ll all spend five minutes of so explaining what they do and who they can help and then there’ll be a chance to mingle and ask them stuff.

Their next project is Branded consisting of logos submitted by 130 Artists, Agencies and Designers. This is due out later this Summer.

Presumably to raise funds for the printing of Branded they’re currently selling 99 Silhouettes and Free?Fonts at 50% off retail in their shop.

What I find interesting about Début is their open submissions system where anyone can enter a contribution for their books. Presumably this gives them a greater depth and range is content. I’ll be watching them with interest.

Hat tip to Creative Wolverhampton.

Punch Records were inspired to commission Ian Reynolds, one of Birmingham’s maverick image purveyors and a fan of hip-hop culture, to produce this collection of images: to capture live performance, represent the true meaning of hip-hop and re-create moments in history. These images of local, national and international artists represent Ian’s style and his charismatic approach, and give the audience a glimpse of some of the most influential musical artists to have graced Birmingham.

You might remember the exhibition when it was on display at Birmingham’s Central Library last year, as reported in this BBC interview. The Light House show runs until September 14th and there’s an additional “free drop-in DJ workshop on Thursday 9 August, 1-4pm provided by Punch Records. Children, young people and adults welcome.” Email kathryn@light-house.co.uk for more details.