Part 7-Training & Development

Part 7- Training and development
For this part of the research i will be investigating institutions on sites such as:

http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/
http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/
http://www.skillset.org/
http://www.scriptfactory.co.uk/
http://thedfg.org/news/details/998/why-poverty-uk-shorts

Along with the BFI and organisations such as the UK film council there are other organisations that offer support and training to film makers and writers.

One institution that sets up schemes and projects to help support to filmmakers and writers is http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/. A quote from the website is ‘Lighthouse is a digital culture agency based in Brighton. We support, commission and exhibit work by artists and filmmakers.’ The company works with different filmmakers and digital artists by supporting their films and helping to exhibit them in their own venue. In addition to this continue to help with professional development with the filmmakers by doing things such as exhibiting and commissioning their projects. Lighthouse also offers the UK’s main film mentoring project/programme- Guiding Lights. The scheme was launched in 2006 and has continued to help support up and coming UK talent. The scheme connects a film maker with a leading professional in the industry, who advises and works with them over a period of 9 months. The scheme has helped film makers who took part to attend film festivals such as Galway Film Fleadh, London Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival.

http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/ is an organisation that was set up by filmmakers in 1992,with the idea of helping to train and support filmmakers. The organisation then went on to putting on different year round training courses that filmmakers could attend. They have different train courses such as Screenwriting, Production and directing courses. As well as this, they offer diplomas in each of these subjects.

Another organisation that help to support filmmakers is http://www.skillset.org/. The organisation work in all creative fields such as:; Game design, Animation, TV and Radio. They have setup training programmes to focus on supporting and helping the development of filmmakers and their projects. For example their scheme; A Bigger Future 2. This is a three year plan, that receives funding through Film Skills Fund who seek professional help and advice to strengthen their filmmaking and ideas. The plan focuses on five main points:
•Training in new technologies
•Improving business skills
•Developing creative talent
•Supporting new industry trainees
•Enhancing health and safety skills
They also run and fund exsisting schemes for filmmakers and run film academies which can lead to qualifications such as diplomas and GCSE’s and even masters. For example with their London Film School, the candidate studies on a 2 year course where they make over 200 films a year.
In addition another organisation is The Script Factory which was started in 1996 and has been one of the top institutions in finding and developing the skills of up and coming screen writers and everyone involved in the process of screen writing. They run a variety of training schemes and courses focusing on film, however some TV and Radio courses. They offer courses to people with different amounts of experience and people who work all over the world or work from their bedroom. For example courses such as ‘Story Design’ which involves focusing and examining the more intricate elements of film which really help to tell a story and how you can use the elements to write an engaging story that keeps the audience interested for anything between 60-90 minutes.

The DFG- Documentary Filmmakers Group, is an organisation that was setup in 2001 and ‘is the leading provider of industry-focussed training for established and aspiring documentary filmmakers and a member of the elite Skillset Media Academy Network.’ They run a huge variety of training courses and events giving advice and information for documentary filmmakers with different levels of experience. They do things such as host screenings for the documentaries, supply the filmmakers with different resources and create a network for documentary filmmakers to talk with each other and give and receive advise. They work with companies such as ITV, Channel 4 and 5 to give filmmakers a look into the industry. The DFG also have a partnership with Mosaic Films, a production company who specialise in documentaries and working with documentary filmmakers from all over the world. The company have produced documentaries such as ‘Made in India’ (Channel4) ‘The first in the innovative 'Made In...' Series. Eight short documentaries made by Indian filmmakers on the eve of the 60th anniversary of Indian Independence, giving very personal perspectives on what independence means to them.’.