Questions

What would you say to someone considering the Skills Bootcamp?

Go for it!. Do not hesitate, jump in with both feet. The Skills Bootcamp provides an excellent ‘in’ to the profession. It exposes the rigours of what is required and inspires in the process. The professional standards are obvious and excellent and ultimately beneficial. If you really want to get into FILM/TV production business, this is a key step to take…take it!

How was your experience of accessing Skills Bootcamp careers support?

Veronica Thomas and her university team have been excellent in staying in touch, both monitoring individual progress and proffering sincere encouragement. In addition, the team from Create Central, partners with the university in Skills Bootcamp, have also maintained contact and promoted a variety of jobs, courses and events, all related to life on the production side of Film/TV.
Both groups have provided first class service across the board, both on the course and after. Neither can be faulted in the dedication and effort

What are some of the best things about your Skills Bootcamp experience or your biggest achievements?

I will offer two parts as my answer to this.
Number one, is the insightfulness and passion of the lecturers and guest speakers. Their love of their respective jobs and the in-depth knowledge they were able to impart to the Bootcampers was invaluable, not to mention inspiring. And this relates to all categories featured during the course. I particularly enjoyed the too and fro of the Q & A’s sessions which were very interesting, in no small part due to the aforementioned passion of the guest speakers.
Number two, is the practical experience of having an opportunity to both record sound and monitor levels on our cohorts short film project, which formed the culmination of the course. Through this I found I was able to absorb real skills and apply them to my own film, which, at the time of the course, was still being actively filmed.

Please provide details of any employers in the relevant field who have invited you for an interview after completing the Skills Bootcamp.

I have not looked seriously into gaining work since the course as I have been fully involved in my own independent film project, which, at time of writing this, is now in post production stages. I will remain fully focussed on this until project is complete.

Tell us about yourself and your journey to studying a Skills Bootcamp.

I am principally a writer/producer and currently working on an independent feature film. An integral part of the project was the role of recording sound; as our original sound man had to leave the project after less than a week, I had to step in and take responsibility, very much flying by the seat of my pants, and taking guidance from the expert DoP. I managed but was frustrated that I did not fully understand the process of what I was doing. Then I found out about the Skills Bootcamp, and considered it was the logical step to get involved. In addition to learning facts about sound recording and shadowing the sound team at BBC’s Doctors, I found the range of professional insight proffered on various key aspects of Film/TV both fascinating and informative.
I would heartily recommend the Skills Bootcamp to anyone interested in getting into the production side of Film and TV.

Why did you choose to study a Skills Bootcamp at the University of Birmingham?

At a time I was looking to improve my knowledge of Sound I stumbled onto the fact University of Birmingham was running a Skills Bootcamp, an element of which included practical sound recording opportunity for Film/TV.