Freelance/Student £140
Members £115
*Tickets include lunch
A day long workshop that covers some of the basic production skills that can help you create high quality original content for your podcast that will make you stand out in the crowd. Deborah Dudgeon and David Prest, of award winning audio producers, Whistledown, will dissect what makes a successful podcast, how to plan it and put it together, and explain some of the simple marketing tools that can ensure your podcast reaches its audience.
Over the course of the day you will:
– listen to some great podcasts and work out what makes them successful, as well as what doesn’t work so well
– script an introduction to your own podcast
– learn how to plan your podcast, work out a format and running order
– get advice on selecting the right presenter(s) and guests
– experiment with microphone use and how to capture good quality sound
– understand rights issues and financing
– learn how to reach your audience
– and ultimately make your own 5-minute podcast to take home.
About the trainers:
David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will teach the course. Whistledown is the largest provider of speech programmes to BBC Radio, providing landmark series such as Radio 4’s The Reunion, and Feedback, as well as a wide range of features and documentaries. Whistledown also works with universities and commercial clients to make podcasts and audio guides.
Image: via Shutterstock / MAFord
]]>Freelance/Student £280
Members £230
*Tickets include lunch
This two-day course gives an overview of the Canon EOS C200 and Canon C300 MkII cameras and is particularly focused on anyone wanting to self-shoot documentary, character led films, feature style magazine films, or corporate videos.
Through a series of modules, you will learn how to shoot video with either camera, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each, learn how to deal with sound, lighting and movement. You will look at different styles of shooting, comparing treatment types and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of directed filmmaking against more ‘organic’, ‘run and gun’-style filmmaking.
We will explore structuring a magazine-style shoot and a corporate shoot, finding the message and discussing how to deal with corporate clients and what contracts or arrangements we should draw up.
You will also look at story structure, how the ultimate narrative of the film is achieved through editing techniques, and how that narrative should inform how we shoot. You will look at what qualities make a film compulsive and go viral and how you can incorporate those techniques in your shooting.
More than anything else this is a two-day shot-in-the-arm for independent videographers, useful to both beginners and those already shooting with any of Canons EOS cameras, or similar, who want to improve their skills or make better films. It is also ideal for anyone wanting to take the next step on from DSLR filmmaking.
We will look at:
– The C200 and C300 cameras, their operation, what is the difference and which camera best suits which roles
– How to work out what type of film you need to shoot for your output and what shots and sequences you need
– The application of each camera to corporate, online, news and documentary filmmaking and what should be your approach
– Lenses
– Shooting, composition, ‘run-n-gun’ coverage, directed sequences, interviews, exposure, light and lighting
– How to get the best out of each camera and get professional, broadcast results.
Places on this workshop are strictly limited. If you already own a Canon C200 or C300 please do bring it with you, but Canon are kindly supplying a number of cameras which participants can use on the course.
About the trainer:
Dean Arnett is an award-winning, self-shooting producer, with 23 years’ experience. After many years working for the BBC, he is now freelance, shooting documentaries, corporates and TV features with a variety of cameras, all around the world. He also provides training for the BBC, PA, Archant and other media groups.
Supported by
Freelance/Student £140
Members £115
*Lunch included in the ticket price
Never has there been greater demand for stories based on real events. On screen, on the stage, on radio and in publishing, the crossover between fact and fiction is increasingly relevant, and increasingly lucrative.
Are you interested in learning how to turn true stories – either contemporary or historical – into compelling drama or fiction? This one-day workshop focuses on the art of fact-to-fiction adaptation. How do you know what makes a good story for drama? What are the tricks of crafting complex, sometimes unwieldy stories into satisfying fictional journeys? How do you make historical stories resonate with modern audiences? What are the ethical and legal implications of turning real people into fictional protagonists? And how do you go about pitching these stories to commissioners, producers and publishers.
The workshop is led by writer and journalist Hugh Costello, whose screenplay for the HBO film Bernard and Doris (based on a true story) was nominated for an Emmy. He has written many dramas for TV and radio and specialises in transforming complex real events – such as the banking collapse and the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church – into powerful dramatic stories.
Image: via Shutterstock / jessicahyde
]]>Freelance/Student £250
Members £200
Final Cut Pro X has redefined the post-production process for journalists and video professionals, and is now the software of choice for BBC News. Until now all non-linear editing systems were based on film editing. FCP X works with new paradigms from tapeless workflows.
This two-day workshop will guide you through this revolutionary new way of editing by taking you through an edit from start to finish.
“As a teacher, I can sincerely say that Simon is a way above par educator. Aside from his comprehensive expertise on the subject, the clarity and structure with which he presented the course, ensured that I took in as much as was possible. . . . It was worth every penny – thank you!”
“Simon is the best teacher that I ever, ever had. He gave absolutely clear, understandable explanations and answered all my silly questions!”
“Simon is an outstanding trainer! I have been on several technical courses and this is definitely the best! Great if you like fast-paced learning.”
We’ll look at how to import and organise your media, create a rough cut, trim and cut, add music/effects/titles and voice over, colour correct and export for multiple platforms.
Workflow
- Importing/transcoding files, creating events, keywords, grouping clips reviewing media and marking
- Sequencing clips: Magnetic timeline, adding clips to the timeline, clip timing, auditioning, story lines and compound clips
- Adjusting video: Speed, scaling, cropping, distorting, keyframing and text
- Music and audio: Editing/enhancement and recording voiceover
- Effects: Template effects, adjusting effects, colour correction, auto balancing/matching colour and manual correction
- Sharing: Quicktime/Apple devices/Vimeo/Youtube and Compressor
About the trainer
Simon Ruben is an award winning freelance editor and video trainer with over eight years of broadcast experience across a range of genres. He has designed and delivered popular courses for the Frontline Club since 2007 including Final Cut Pro, Compressor, DVDSP and Motion. He has also tailored courses for FT.com, Save The Children, Accenture, Medecins Sans Frontiers, LV, Soho Editors and the NUJ.
Freelance/Student £140
Members £115
*All tickets include a light lunch
Fiction filmmakers acknowledge that at least half the meaning of a scene, and often more, comes from the soundtrack. But the documentary soundtrack is often ignored, left as a technical aspect of post-production or caught up in debates about different styles of documentary production – observational, single-shooter, personal essay, reality, current affairs, and so on.
Documentary filmmakers often ask how to sound design a documentary. I’ve never found an answer for that. Is it different than for a fiction film? Clearly there is a belief that sound for a type of filmmaking that has its basis in real life events must be different than that for fiction filmmaking. So, how should the documentary filmmaker work with sound?
The way you consider and plan your use of sound – from pre-production through the final mix – determines how you and your production ‘speaks’ to your audience.
In the workshop we will cover:
· What a soundtrack is and how it’s made. What are the components you work with when recording, editing and mixing a documentary soundtrack?
· The relationships between pre-production, shooting and post-production in creating a soundtrack. How does the way you plan your shoot and spend your budget affect the soundtrack and, ultimately, how the audience perceives your ideas?
· The workflow from recording to mixing.
· The relationships between editing and sound design and between image, sound and music.
· How sound changes the audience’s perception of images.
· The variety of techniques for documentary sound including location recording, miking techniques, voice-over / narration, metaphorical sound, synchronous vs asynchronous sound, and the crossover between fiction and documentary sound styles.
· Consideration of the audience or client.
· The ethics of sound: What are we allowed to hear and what is kept silent?
The workshop is organised in two halves:
The morning begins with a 90-minute talk laying out the main ideas of what a soundtrack is and what a filmmaker is trying to achieve through sound. This will be followed by a Q&A session where you can follow up ideas presented in the talk along with your own concerns.
The afternoon session covers specific uses of sound in documentary, alternating talk with clips, prompting an open discussion in which you can discuss your particular interests.
This workshop is aimed at anyone who wishes to gain a more in-depth knowledge of how to use sound in documentary films. The day will give you an understanding of creative and technical approaches to documentary sound as well as a broader awareness of how soundtracks (of all sorts) operate. Whether you are a director, editor, producer, sound designer or location recordist – and no matter your level of experience – you will be able to immediately apply the content of the workshop to your projects.
The workshop is led by Larry Sider, an editor and sound designer known for his work in documentary, fiction and animation, including Patrick Keiller’s London, Robinson in Space and Robinson in Ruins. He leads the Sound Recording and Design MA at Goldsmiths and was previously Head of Post-Production at the National Film and Television School. Since 1998, he has run the School of Sound, a forum exploring the creative use of sound in the arts and media. He is a visiting lecturer at film and art schools in Europe and the UK.
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Freelance/Student £140
Member £115
*The ticket includes a light lunch
This day long workshop will equip you with the digital tools and knowledge to protect yourself, your stories, and importantly your sources in a hostile digital environment. No prior experience is necessary.
Investigative journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed – and the risk of being electronically disrupted has never been greater. With the ever increasing accessibility of sophisticated surveillance tools, almost anyone from state-level security services, to corporations and criminals, could attempt to surveil or disrupt your work.
This workshop will teach you how to digitally protect yourself at a variety of risk levels, whether in the UK or abroad, using entirely free and open source software.
What will be covered:
- you will learn about state surveillance capabilities and the law and how to assess your digital risk and and choose cybersecurity tools.
- you will be guided through installations of a core digital toolbox, including anonymous browsing, encrypted calls and messaging, and PGP encrypted emails
- hands-on training in how your new software works and how and when to use it.
- scenario planning and you will practise using your new security software.
*N.B. Your personal laptop may be preferable to a work-issued laptop, as you will need full administrative control over your laptop in order to install software.
About the trainer
Silkie Carlo is the co-author of ‘Information Security for Journalists’, published by the Centre for Investigative Journalism in 2014, and has trained journalists, lawyers and campaigners internationally. She is Director of the civil liberties and privacy NGO, Big Brother Watch. Previously, she was the Senior Advocacy Officer at Liberty where she led a programme on Technology and Human Rights and launched a legal challenge to the Investigatory Powers Act. Prior to this, she worked for Edward Snowden’s official defence fund and whistleblowers at risk.
Image via Shutterstock
]]>Freelance/Student £85
Member £70
*Ticket includes a light lunch
From pitching to an editor or presenting to an audience, to interviewing key witnesses and getting in front of the camera, speaking well in public is a necessary skill to help you tell your stories.
This one-day workshop will cover some of the main stumbling blocks associated with speaking effectively in public. These include relaxation, voice projection, effective use of pauses, owning the text and good and open body language.
The course will include plenty of practical exercises and opportunities to develop better public speaking technique, through utilising the subjects covered throughout the day. We will also watch some examples of great public speaking and have an opportunity to discuss what makes them so great.
The workshop is suitable for anyone who finds it difficult to speak in front of an audience, whether their reasons be professional or personal and is run in a friendly, fun and supportive way.
About the trainer
Hugh Barnett is a classically trained actor who, after eight years of treading the boards, became a teacher in adult education, designing and teaching courses in acting and public speaking. He also runs one of London’s only harmonica courses. The main ethos of his teaching is to increase his students’ potential by reducing their self-consciousness.
Image via Shutterstock
]]>Freelance/Student £140
Members £115
*Tickets include lunch
Radio can be an incredibly powerful way to tell a story, and it’s a growing medium. This one-day course will get you started with some of the key techniques of radio documentary making.
You’ll cover the editorial essentials such as spotting an idea, building a narrative structure, finding the right contributors, as well as how to use sound creatively to grab the listener’s attention. There’ll also be tips on pitching ideas to programme editors or commissioning executives.
During the day, you’ll get hands on experience of working out a story and learning how to pitch it. You’ll hear lots of inspiring audio, and analyse the techniques used, and you’ll learn some of the principles involved in capturing the listener’s attention, and how to hold it.
At the end of the course you will have a better understanding of the potential of radio, and should be in a good position to pitch to broadcasters such as BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or making audio features and documentaries for online broadcasters.
The course would suit those from other media or communications disciplines who are thinking of broadening their skill base as well as those completely new to the field.
About the trainers:
David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will teach the course. Whistledown is the largest provider of speech programmes to BBC Radio, providing landmark series such as Radio 4’s The Reunion, and Feedback, as well as a wide range of features and documentaries. Whistledown also works with universities and commercial clients to make podcasts and audio guides.
Image: via Shutterstock / MAFord
]]>Freelance/Student £125
Members £100
Never has there been greater demand for stories based on real events. On screen, on the stage, on radio and in publishing, the crossover between fact and fiction is increasingly relevant, and increasingly lucrative.
Are you interested in learning how to turn true stories – either contemporary or historical – into compelling drama or fiction? This one-day workshop focuses on the art of fact-to-fiction adaptation. How do you know what makes a good story for drama? What are the tricks of crafting complex, sometimes unwieldy stories into satisfying fictional journeys? How do you make historical stories resonate with modern audiences? What are the ethical and legal implications of turning real people into fictional protagonists? And how do you go about pitching these stories to commissioners, producers and publishers.
The workshop is led by writer and journalist Hugh Costello, whose screenplay for the HBO film Bernard and Doris (based on a true story) was nominated for an Emmy. He has written many dramas for TV and radio and specialises in transforming complex real events – such as the banking collapse and the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church – into powerful dramatic stories.
Image: via Shutterstock / jessicahyde
]]>Freelance/Student £150
Members £120
Join us for a day long masterclass, moving from the basic elements of television and video packaging through to the most sophisticated techniques, making extensive use of tape material. It is designed to work for both newcomers and experienced professionals who want to improve their storytelling.
The session will be led by Vin Ray, a former BBC Foreign Editor, Executive Editor and the founding Director of the BBC College of Journalism. During his time at the BBC, Ray was in charge of on-air talent and recruited and developed many of the corporation’s best known journalists. He was described as ‘a revered teacher’ by Andrew Marr, one of the many journalists Ray trained. In 2004, he was awarded the Dart Centre’s ‘Distinguished Media Leadership Award’ at a ceremony in New York. He left the BBC in 2010 and now works as a writer, consultant and trainer.
Here’s what participants had to say about Vin’s masterclasses at the club:
“Truly inspirational and motivating.”
“Just an excellent, informal course.”
“Everything and more than I expected.”
“I learnt more in one day with Vin than I have in three years at college.”
“Really enjoyed the course. The way he presented things was easy to understand.”
“So much to know, so very interesting.”
“Brilliant.”
“I can’t wait to apply what I’ve learnt!”
You will learn a range of essential craft skills and techniques: how to write sentences that work for TV and online video, techniques the great writers use, how to use natural sound, how to script pictures, how to make stories flow, and how to achieve clarity. You will learn some powerful techniques for structuring stories. We will also look at what makes a good piece to camera, and more personal issues like vocal delivery. Along the way we’ll look at issues like using humour and reporter involvement.
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