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Where do you go after University? A question on every student’s lips – and that first step can be difficult to imagine. Our panel of alumni and industry professionals set out to answer this question and more at Futureworks’ showcase at Bolton Film Festival.
The festival took place on Wednesday 29th September and our talented panel of staff, students and alumni set out to delve deep into exactly how students can break into their first creative career opportunity – whilst still studying at university.
The event was a huge success and gave attendees some incredible advice from current professionals who are actively working in the industry.
The Futureworks showcase opened with a presentation of student, alumni and tutor work to an audience of around 100 people. Our panel then hosted a Q&A session on “How to transition from student to a professional Filmmaker”.
The aim was to provide some guidance into what a student can do immediately following their graduation to land that dream job.
Here’s what some of our panellists had to say about the event:
“The Futureworks showcase was a great opportunity for us to show off what our staff and students are producing – both on and around the course – at one of the best festivals in the north.
The festival is a great way for our students to see the standard of independent film in Britain and get an understanding of what will be expected of them as they move into the industry – which is further facilitated by some great talks, workshops and networking events.” – Tom Bohan (Director and Programme Leader, Post Production).
“Seeing students, alumni, and staff at different stages of their education or careers talk about their work and experience was really inspiring for the students attending the festival.
It’s important that students attend film festivals and watch high quality films so they know where the bar is set. They should all be aiming for excellence in their student projects and films they’re making outside of university.
I wrote and directed a film that was selected by Bolton International Film Festival. It’s a BFI Network-funded short called Inertia.
Inertia is a short drama about Rabia and Maddie, a pupil and teacher who form a friendship under the unlikeliest of circumstances. The story is seen through Rabia’s eyes as she tries to help Maddie come to terms with the devastating loss of the love of her life due to an incredibly rare natural phenomenon.
The film was shot around Greater Manchester and has been selected for 6 OSCAR or BAFTA qualifying film festivals so far, as well as other festivals around the world.
We had Futureworks students work on the film in the camera and lighting departments, as well as in the VFX department.” – Mat Johns (Award-winning Filmmaker and Director).
Futureworks staff were also a big part of the team. Martyn Ellis who is a tutor on Futureworks’ Audio Engineering and Game & Interactive Audio courses worked on production sound for the film.
Marcus Alexander is Futureworks’ Audio Engineering and Music Production tutor and he was dialogue editor and dubbing mixer. Jamie Scott is the Programme Leader for Visual Effects and Jonathan Webster is Futureworks’ Visual Effects tutor. Both oversaw the VFX for Inertia.
Mat is an incredibly successful filmmaker and we’re really proud to have him teaching at Futureworks, we can’t wait to see how Inertia does at the festivals it’s been selected for.
“The Bolton Film Festival panel was an amazing experience. It was a privilege to be sat up there with so many Futureworks people who have come so far in the industry.” – Megan Powell (Producer).
We feel so honoured to have been given the chance to showcase the talent of our wonderful students, graduates and alumni at Bolton Film Festival, and for the lovely feedback we were given by the Festival Organiser:
“For me, your session came across as very strong. As I said at the time I’ve been really impressed with the professionalism of both staff and students, and it came as no surprise to see such a great panel of graduates in this session.”
If you’d like to read more of our blogs, why not head to our Student Successes post for some more inspiration?
You can pop over to our Film & TV student work page to see more brilliant creative projects too.
Or, if you are interested in attending an Open Day, then find out more here.
