THE BFI MEDIA CONFERENCE. 3 4 July 2014 PROGRAMME. BFI SOUTHBANK bfi.org.uk/education

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1 THE BFI MEDIA CONFERENCE 3 4 July 2014 PROGRAMME BFI SOUTHBANK bfi.org.uk/education

2 BFI Media Conference 2014 Programme Welcome to the BFI Media Conference 2014 This programme contains Schedules, Session details and Speaker biographies. It aims to help you navigate your way around BFI Southbank and the Plenary, Industry, Teaching and Research sessions. For any other queries, please do come to ask us at the Registration desk in the Blue Room which will be staffed throughout the two days. We hope you have an enjoyable, productive and inspiring conference! BFI Education and Corinna Downing Media Conference Programmer/Manager BFI Media Conference BFI Southbank Belverdere Road London SE1 8XT

3 General information Conference noticeboard Changes and updates to the programme will be posted on the noticeboard outside the Blue Room. Conference Assistants The conference s young assistants will be on hand throughout both days, happy to help you themselves or find someone who can answer your question. Delegate badges For security reasons, please wear and keep visible your delegate badge at all times. Finding your way around BFI Southbank NFT3 is accessed from the mezzanine walkway on the same level as the Blue Room. NFT2 is in the foyer down the stairs near Benugo from the Main Foyer, towards the river entrance of the building. The Studio is in the centre of the Main Foyer, between the Box office and Benugo. Learning Spaces 1 & 2 and the Large Meeting Room are on the Lower Ground Floor. This area has restricted access please wait for a Conference Assistant to usher you through with a swipe card. The Library and Mediatheque are in the Main Foyer. Session papers/handouts Speakers will have printed handouts in many sessions. Full conference papers will be ed to delegates one week after the conference, with some also available on the BFI Media Conference page on the BFI website. PLEASE NOTE: We have tight turnarounds between sessions and ask delegates to please not ask speakers for downloads of their presentations as this delays preparation for the next session Thank you. If you have any questions about session papers please ask conference staff. Tours of BFI Reuben Library and Mediatheque Thurs 13:25-13:40, Fri 12:55-13:10 - limited capacity, please sign up at Registration desk. The Mediatheque (12:00-20:00): 14 screens to view fiction and nonfiction films from the BFI National Archive s extensive British film and TV collection. The Library opens 10:30-19:00. Both free of charge. BFI Filmstore: Conference delegate discount The Filmstore holds a full range of teaching resources and DVDs - show your delegate badge during the days of the conference to receive a 10% discount on these and other BFI titles. Luggage During the day, luggage and coats can be left in the Blue Room. For overnight storage, please ask conference staff. Eating and drinking Included in the price of your delegate pass are coffee, tea and biscuits available at Registration and the breaks. A light sandwich lunch is on offer both days. All refreshments are served in the Blue Room. Please ask if you would like any information about local restaurants and cafés. Film Screenings Thurs: The Surprise Film and Q&A is in NFT3, 17:30-20:00, following the Networking Drinks. Fri: Free access for delegates to evening programme at BFI Southbank (subject to availability). See conference noticeboard for details. Networking Drinks Thursday at 16:45 in the Blue Room all welcome! 2

4 SCHEDULE: THURSDAY 3 JULY Registration from 08:45 Breakfast Sessions 09:15 10:00 Opening Plenary 10:15 11:15 Break 11:15 11:45 Session 1 11:45 13:00 Lunch break 13:00 13:45 Session 2 13:45 15:00 Break 15:00 15:30 Session 3 15:30 16:45 Coffee/tea/pastries Specification Support Workshops: AQA Media OCR Film OCR Media WJEC Film WJEC Media BFI for 15 25s: Film Academy, Future Film, Schools programme Jen Sobol, Noel Goodwin, Mark Reid OFCOM Research: Online participation, consumption and creativity Alison Preston Welcome Dr Paul Gerhardt Director of Education, BFI Alison Owen Founder and Producer, Ruby Film & Television (Chair TBA) Coffee/tea INDUSTRY Panel Debate: Re thinking TV News Samira Ahmed, Dorothy Byrne, David Dunkley Gyimah (Chair TBA) INDUSTRY Commissioning Film 4 Features (start 12:00) Sam Lavender (Chair TBA) TEACHING 21st Century Film Language, Technology and the Moving Image An Into Film Approach Jennifer Johnston, Steve Connolly TEACHING Key Media Concepts using HBO s Girls Rebecca Ellis RESEARCH TV, Race and Creative Diversity Dr Sarita Malik Sandwich lunch 13:25 13:40: BFI Reuben Library + BFI Mediatheque Short guided tour of the collections and research resources INDUSTRY Directing TV Continuing Drama Emma Sullivan (Chair TBA) INDUSTRY Creating a Games Company: Scrapbook Development Ashley Collins Richardson, Chris Gray (Chair TBA) TEACHING Horror Film Leanna Arkell, Sally Thomas TEACHING Audience Kate McCabe RESEARCH Enriching Media Learning: Studying Industry Failure Karin Wahl Jorgensen Coffee/tea INDUSTRY Producing TV Documentary: Educating Yorkshire David Clews (Chair TBA) INDUSTRY Film Marketing: A Case Study Hugh Spearing (Chair TBA) TEACHING Enhanced Creativity in Practical Production Andy Wallis RESEARCH Channel 4 and British Film Culture Dr Ieuan Franklin Blue Room NFT3 Blue Room Blue Room Blue Room Special Event Writer Jon Savage on Representations of Teenagers in the Media 16:45 18:00 Networking Drinks Blue Room 17:30 20:00 Surprise Film NFT3 Screening and director Q&A 3

5 SCHEDULE: FRIDAY 4 JULY Registration from 09:00 Session 4 09:30 10:45 Break 10:45 11:15 Session 5 11:15 12:30 Special Event Lunch break 12:30 13:15 Session 6 13:15 14:45 Session 7 14:45 16:00 Break 16:00 16:30 Closing Plenary 16:30-17:15 Coffee/tea/pastries INDUSTRY The A Z of Making a Short Film Rachna Suri (Chair TBA) INDUSTRY The BBFC and the 12A Lucy Brett (Chair TBA) TEACHING Business Skills for the Media Industries Victoria Walden TEACHING TV Drama Christine Bell RESEARCH The British Film Industry by Numbers Alex Tosta Coffee/tea INDUSTRY Developing a Game Franchise: Fable Mike West (Chair TBA) TEACHING News Providers in the Online Age Roger Gillett RESEARCH Watching (Digital) Media Learning Keith Perera Writer Owen Jones on Representations of the Working Class on TV Sandwich lunch 12:55 13:10: BFI Reuben Library + BFI Mediatheque Short guided tour of the collections and research resources INDUSTRY Producing TV Drama: The Smoke (finish 14:30) Noelle Morris (Chair TBA) INDUSTRY Commissioning Original Programming for Youtube (finish 14:30) Rosie Allimonos (Chair TBA) TEACHING Changing Media Regulation (finish 14:30) Rob Miller TEACHING Using ipads in the Classroom Hélène Galdin O Shea RESEARCH British Cinema: Edgar Wright s Cornetto Trilogy (finish 14:30) Frances Smith INDUSTRY The VFX Industry Ian Murphy (Chair TBA) INDUSTRY Writing for TV: Babylon Jesse Armstrong (Chair TBA) TEACHING Editing Michael Parkes TEACHING Documentary Mark Piper RESEARCH Cinema Technology and Early Cinema Andrew Utterson Coffee/tea Adam MacDonald Director, Sky 1 HD Chair TBA Blue Room Blue Room Blue Room Blue Room NFT3 17:15 Thanks and conference close 18:00 Conference desk closes BFI Southbank screenings Free access for delegates to evening programme at BFI Southbank (subject to availability) 4

6 PLENARIES We are delighted to present two leading industry figures to speak at the Media Conference Plenary sessions. Each will offer unique insight into the creative and business priorities shaping their work, the role they play in driving their organisations, and their thoughts on key current and upcoming developments in the media industries. Opening Plenary: Alison Owen Alison Owen is one of the UK s leading film and television producers. She earned an Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA Award (Best Film) in 1998 for Shekhar Kapur s historical drama Elizabeth, which collected a total of seven Academy Awards and twelve BAFTA nominations. More recently, Saving Mr. Banks garnered a total of five nominations at this year s BAFTA awards, including Outstanding British Film. She is the founding partner of Ruby Film and Television, which she launched as a production company in Projects in the works include Gemma Bovery, a take on the classic Madame Bovary ; Tulip Fever; and Suffragette, from an original screenplay written by Abi Morgan, directed by Sarah Gavron, with Carey Mulligan starring in the ensemble piece about the Suffragette movement. Owen executive produced Stephen Poliakoff s Dancing on the Edge, an original series for the BBC, which aired on Starz in the USA, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, and earned Jacqueline Bisset a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV movie; the first series of the detective show Case Histories for the BBC, airing in the USA on Masterpiece s Mystery strand in 2011, starring Jason Isaacs as Kate Atkinson s hero Jackson Brodie, with a second series airing on the BBC in Owen also executive produced the Emmy -winning Temple Grandin, HBO s inspiring true-life drama, which picked up seven Emmy awards, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Outstanding Lead Actress (Claire Danes) and Outstanding Directing (Mick Jackson). Closing Plenary: Adam MacDonald Adam MacDonald runs Sky 1 HD, the most watched entertainment channel in pay tv. Benefitting from Sky s commitment to invest 600m a year in UK content and production, Sky 1 has flourished and is home to more home grown shows than ever and the best of the US. Under Adam, Sky 1 has commissioned Micky Flanagan s first ever documentary series, to air later this year; Yonderland, from the makers of Horrible Histories; Critical starring Lennie James and written by Jed Mercurio, writer of Line of Duty and the return of Jack Bauer in 24 which was the biggest Sky 1 launch this year. Previously, Adam was VP of Programming, A+E Networks UK a joint venture of A+E Networks and BskyB responsible for programming strategy and production for HISTORY, Crime & Investigation Network, BIO and Military HISTORY channels in the UK, Africa, Middle East, and other key European territories. During his time there, ratings at HISTORY increased by 75% and across the A+E portfolio of channels by 25% over two years. Prior to that, MacDonald was Creative Director, IWC Media, executive producing Iron Chef UK for Channel 4 and Wreck or Ready for BBC One. MacDonald has held senior posts across the broadcasters, latterly as Controller of Daytime and Digital Factual at ITV where he oversaw This Morning and Loose Women. He also commissioned Deal or No Deal, Come Dine With Me and Coach Trip as Head of Daytime at Channel 4, where he saw share increase by over 30%. Prior to this, MacDonald was Head of Planning and Scheduling, BBC One, where he began his career. Conference plenary sessions are supported by Creative Skillset s Film Skills Fund which is funded by the Skills Investment Fund (SIF). Please look out for information about their work in delegate packs and at their stand in the Blue Room. 5

7 SPECIAL EVENTS The conference includes two session led by leading writers and commentators. With strong and thought provoking views on how media cultures impact on the lives of young people and society as a whole, we welcome them to share their latest ideas. Jon Savage - Representations of Teenagers in the Media (Thursday) Jon Savage is a writer and cultural commentator. His books include The Official Biography of the Kinks (1984), the award-winning England s Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock (1993), Picture Post Idols (1992), The Faber Book of Pop with co-author Hanif Kureishi (1995, reissued 2002), Time Travel: From the Sex Pistols to Nirvana Pop, Media and Sex (1996), Teenage: The Creation of Youth (2007) - which formed the basis for director Matt Wolf s feature documentary Teenage (US 2013) for which Jon co-wrote the screenplay - and The England s Dreaming Tapes (2009). Owen Jones - Representations of the Working Class on TV (Friday) Owen Jones is a columnist for The Independent and The Guardian. He was born in Sheffield and grew up in Stockport. After graduating, he worked as a trade union and parliamentary researcher. His first book, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, was published in June He is currently working on his second book, on the British Establishment, for Surprise Film and Q&A The conference has in recent years presented previews including Mark Cousins A Story of Children and Film and Asif Kapadia s Senna. The film screening and Q&A this year are preceded by Networking Drinks in the Blue Room for delegates and speakers. This year s title TBA. 6

8 BREAKFAST SESSIONS Specification Support Workshops Speakers TBA General help and guidance from leading teachers of each specification. Useful for: Teachers of AQA Media, OCR Film, OCR Media, WJEC Film or WJEC Media BFI for 15-25s: Film Academy, Future Film, Schools programme Jen Sobol Manager, BFI Film Academy Noel Goodwin BFI Education Programmer for Young People Mark Reid Head of BFI Education An informal opportunity to meet the key staff leading on areas of formal and informal activity for young people at BFI Southbank and UK-wide, find out about existing offers and upcoming programmes and how it might support your teaching and benefit your students. Useful for: All teachers of film and media. Online Participation: Comparing Consumption and Creativity Key Findings from Ofcom s Adults Media Literacy Research Alison Preston, Head of Media Literacy Research, Ofcom This presentation focuses on recently published media literacy research from Ofcom the Adults Media Use and Attitudes report. It gives an overview of the types of activity people are carrying out online, and looks at how this differs by age group and how activity has changed over time. It focuses in particular on the types of creative and participative activities people say they carry out, including writing reviews and giving feedback; and how important they find user-generated information compared to more traditional sources. It also covers the use of apps and browsers, and which method people prefer for different types of activity, as well as a comparison of the types of concern people express about their online experiences. The quantitative findings from the report will be supplemented by clips from our innovative qualitative project Media Lives. Study focus: Digital Media and New Technologies; Audience SESSION 1 Panel Debate: Re-thinking TV News Samira Ahmed Journalist and broadcaster Dorothy Byrne Head of News and Current Affairs, Channel 4 David Dunkley Gyimah Videojournalist, lecturer in Digital Media & Communications at University of Westminster How does classic TV news male editor, presenters, guests, a desk, elements of viewer participation - and the industry structures of staff, production processes and scheduling ensure that news continues to be produced in this way? How have digital production and opportunities for audience interaction already had an impact on TV news and where might they go in future? The debate considers how online alternatives are changing the type of news that attracts audiences, diminishing the role of the editor, increasing the role of aggregated Most watched news and offering all varieties of information under the title news. It also considers how news is taught currently at 16+ and how it might develop to accommodate and anticipate industry change. Study focus: British TV industry; TV News and news across platforms; Digital Media and New Technologies; Audiences Commissioning Film 4 Features Sam Lavender Commissioning Executive, Film 4 Film4 develops and co-finances feature length films for theatrical release in cinemas that will also eventually play on Channel 4 and Film4, this year including Steve McQueen s 12 Years a Slave. Their 7

9 subject matter is often contemporary and is usually be made with British-led talent or with British content. As one of two Commissioning Executives on the Film 4 team, Sam is responsible for developing and exec producing a slate of between 8-12 feature films a year. In this session he focuses on how he helps new writers, directors and producers develop their work in the context of Film 4 s aim to respond with versatility to the needs of each project and the practicalities of internal and external schedules and structures. Study focus: British film Industry; Representation; Role of Channel 4 across UK film and TV 21st Century Film - The Language of the Moving Image: An Into Film Approach Jennifer Johnston - Programme Manager (Northern Ireland), Into Film Stephen Connolly Writer, Consultant and Teacher of Media at Bishop Thomas Grant School, Streatham This session suggests a range of ways to teach film language and representation topics using materials newly developed by Into Film. Taking a differentiated approach to a single film, the workshop is aimed at both experienced teachers of film and media as well as those more recently encountering Moving Image teaching. As well as exploring ways of learning about the language of the moving image at basic, intermediate and advanced levels, there is also be a chance to see and discuss some of the resources that are being developed by the Into Film programme. Study focus: Study of the language of the moving image and associated literacy issues, in particular OCR GCSE, AS and A2 Media Studies; WJEC GCSE and AS Film; AQA GCSE Media Studies or CCEA's Moving Image Arts specifications Teaching Key Media Concepts using HBO's Girls: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun? How Lena Dunham changed Television Rebecca Ellis - Freelance writer and the Head of Film & Media at Thomas Rotherham College Zeitgeist hit Girls is a case study to illustrate how to teach Key Media Concepts from textual analysis to more complex critical approaches such as authorship, providing links to Lena Dunham's body of work. We look at fandom and critical responses to the programme and the ways in which it challenges and adheres to theories of representation. The session also looks at 'how we got here', putting the programme into context of the development of contemporary HBO and exploring the differences between this and other predecessors including Sex & The City. Study focus: Key Media Concepts in WJEC, OCR & AQA AS & A Level Media Studies TV, Race and Creative Diversity Dr Sarita Malik - Lecturer and researcher, Department of Sociology/Communications at Brunel University, London This session puts together history and analysis to consider the relationship between race and UK public service broadcasting. Building on earlier work that recognizes a paradigmatic shift from multiculturalism to cultural diversity, it identifies a third phase, creative diversity. Creative diversity provides a further incremental de-politicization of race in public service broadcasting contexts. Here, ideas of quality and creativity are foregrounded over (structural) questions of (in)equality. Sarita Malik situates the rise of creative diversity alongside parallel developments in the crisis of multiculturalism, UK equality legislative frameworks, and creative industries policy and argues that creative diversity shifts the paradigm of the multicultural problem (in public service broadcasting), enables the marketization of television and multi-culture, and ultimately continues to safeguard the interests of public service broadcasting. Through a critical review of recent literature and policy concepts, the session examines how notions of race and ethnicity, broadly linked here to the UK s visible ethnic minorities, namely Black and Asian (South Asian, African, and Caribbean) Britons, are discursively formed, produced, and circulated through cultural policy. Sarita Malik suggests that the latest diversity plans of UK public service broadcasters are indicative of a discursive turn to creativity in how race and racism are now officially handled and driven underground, after multiculturalism. The particular nuance inscribed in creative diversity originates from an emergent post-racial discursive politics (not from post-racial times) and toward economic rationalism. The depoliticization of difference in public service broadcasting coincides with the creative marketization of television and multi-culture accommodated by a wider shift from state to market in public provision (Garnham, 2005). Thus, 8

10 media policy developments are directly linked and seen, in this analysis, to coincide with complex social issues, simultaneously altering the relationship of minority cultures to mainstream, national cultural traditions (Hall, 1997, p. 227). Study focus: Multiculturalism; Diversity; British TV industry; Policy; Race/ethnicity; Audience SESSION 2 Directing TV Continuing Drama Emma Sullivan Filmmaker, Writer, Teacher, Drama director for the BBC The session begins with an overview of the key differences between the work of a director of film or of TV, focusing on how industry structures operate and how the house style of long-running continuing dramas aka soaps - such as Holby City and Doctors, both of which capture approx. 5million viewers per week, are maintained and creatively developed by successive freelance directors. Emma goes on to look at the timeline of her work as TV director in relation to an individual story pitched within the skeletal script structure already in place, the practicalities of managing production of a continuing drama and the impact of audience response at executive level. The session includes a case study of one scene, looking at the process of reading, re-reading, casting, rehearsal and shoot. Study focus: British TV Industry; Continuing Drama/ Soap ; Audience; Role of the director Creating a Games Company: Scrapbook Development Ashley Collins-Richardson - Technical Director, Scrapbook Development Chris Gray - Co-founder and Creative Director, Scrapbook Development Scrapbook Development Limited is a games development start-up based in Sheffield. Having already released Jail Break for PlayStation Mobile and their first ios title Gravoor (a maze game in which Gravoor is guided through 4 worlds and 60 levels, described by nowthenmagazine.com as a puzzler with very addictive gameplay ) on the AppStore, Scrapbook have recently launched their first game of 2014: Paper Skies. In this session the team explains the process of starting their own company, the design, development and approval processes involved in releasing a product for mobile platforms, and the importance of promoting your product and business, concluding with insight into the company s key considerations when planning its next moves. Study focus: Computer Games/Video Games industry; Digital Media and New Technologies; Audience; Genre; Marketing Teaching Horror Film Leanna Arkell - Assistant Head, Head of VI Form & Head of Media, Churchdown School, Gloucestershire Sally Thomas - Technical Media Teacher, Churchdown School This session sees delegates given the challenge of editing in camera some beautifully creative gorgeous gore, including the fastest way to create the cheapest blood in large volumes and using household items to create edible blood that looks great on camera. It also includes how to film and frame realistic gruesome sequences which will help motivate students in the classroom to create quality genre set pieces. Study focus: Useful for all courses with practical work requiring students to create a moving image sequence that looks like a real text. The Critical Mass: Audience as a Critical Component to Deconstructing Texts Kate McCabe - Head of Media Studies, St Gregory The Great Catholic School, Oxford This session covers the importance of Schema and context in reading, as well as a discussion considering the need for a move towards a cultural canon in media. It also includes the common pitfalls in student responses to media texts and a possible formula for analysing unseen texts in media, focusing on Audience Expectations. Kate shares findings from classroom activities (and invites participating delegates to share their own), showing examples of student work and illustrating how 9

11 work around Audience Expectations can operate, with activities and resources to build contextual awareness. Study focus: Audience for all GCSE or A Level Media Studies courses Enriching Media Learning: Studying Industry Failure Karin Wahl-Jorgensen - Professor in the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies and Director of Research Development and Environment, University of Cardiff In this session we explore the need to study industry failure in media studies. Traditionally, research in our field has focused on success to the detriment of failure; on innovation over resistance to change, and on the cutting edge over the conservative. For example, the scholarly literature is rife with work on news organizations which have successfully adapted to a challenging business climate; on the innovative use of new technologies; or on popular and/or critically acclaimed television shows and films. Such a focus, however, may not be consistent with understanding the plethora of actual practices. Here, we can learn from sociologists and organisational theorists who have long studied systemic failure in other complex industries and systems, ranging from nuclear power stations to health care organisations. The presentation suggests some ways in which the study of failure can enrich our work in media studies. Study focus: Key Concepts; Digital Media; Theories of production and changing technologies, particularly at AS and A2 Media SESSION 3 Producing TV Documentary: Educating Yorkshire David Clews Head of Documentaries, Twofour Channel 4 is now well known for its fixed-camera ob docs including The Family, One Born Every Minute, The Hotel and 24 Hours In A&E. While the fixed-camera technique is still evolving, in Educating Essex and then Educating Yorkshire it captured school life in a way never seen before. For Essex, director David and the production team prepared for two months, watching lessons and getting a feel for the school, before the main seven-week shoot with 62 cameras in the second half of the autumn term. How did this experience work for the crew and the school, and what, if anything, was changed by David as producer for Yorkshire? What are the key challenges and joys of producing fixed-camera ob docs? How do the two series represent their subject, both individuals and pedagogy per se? Study focus: British TV industry; Key Concepts; Documentary Film Marketing: A Case Study Hugh Spearing - Head of UK Marketing, Studiocanal In 2014, Studiocanal s UK releases will include Inside Llewyn Davies, Under the Skin, Suzanne, The Wind Rises and (Media Conference 2014 cover image) Richard Ayoade s The Double, as well as titles as diverse as Robocop and Paddington. Focusing on one Studiocanal title, in this session Hugh offers a unique opportunity to understand the life of a film from its first screenings to the film industry to first screenings for the public, via all the costs, schedules, audience research and launch activity very different in size and scope depending on the budget and ambition of the independent distributor or studio involved. Study focus: British Film industry; Digital Media; Marketing; Audiences Enhanced Creativity in Practical Production Andy Wallis Head of Media, Ashfield School, Nottinghamshire This session looks at ways to produce imaginative and creative film openings and music videos for students. It examines effective research and planning, getting the most out of camerawork and post production skills focusing on sound, colour grading and effects (as a practical exercise), taking 10

12 students - and teachers - out of their comfort zones, ways of celebrating student work and integrating with other departments to enhance creativity. Study focus: All media courses involving practical production, in particular OCR A Level Media Studies (G321, G324), AQA A Level Media Studies (Units 2 and 4), WJEC A Level Media Studies (MS2, MS3) Channel 4 and British Film Culture: Television s Intervention Dr Ieuan Franklin - Lecturer in Film and Media Theory, University of Bournemouth and Wiltshire College (Salisbury) and post-doctoral Research Assistant, University of Portsmouth After financing and producing Oscar-winning films like Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and 12 Years a Slave (2013), Film4 has experienced unprecedented success. Tessa Ross is to leave Channel 4 for the National Theatre, so what better time to evaluate the contribution of Channel 4 to British film culture? This paper will build upon a 4-year Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project (2010-4), which investigated this very topic. In 2012 Chris Smith s Film Policy Review praised the role played by Public Service Broadcasters in supporting British film production. Alongside Lottery Funding, this form of investment provides finance for half the films produced annually in the UK. What effect does this investment have? How have the distinctive identities and roles of Film4 and BBC Films been developed and secured? In addressing these questions, the session considers how the history of Film4 is instructive in exploring the relationship between aesthetics, economics, audience and risk in British film culture, including clips of Film 4 titles and interviews with key figures. Study focus: British Film industry; film policy (regional and national); Key Concepts SPECIAL EVENT: Writer Jon Savage on Representations of Teenagers in the Media SESSION 4 The A-Z of Making a Short Film Rachna Suri Director (Our Lad/UK 2013) Our Lad (14min), a moving contemporary drama focusing on a soldier s unexpected return home from Afghanistan, premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in We are delighted to have its director Rachna Suri join us at the conference to give the full story of the making of the film, from first idea through development, funding, pre-production, production and post to first screening. We consider the practicalities and the highs and lows from the director s point of view, using one scene as a case study in order to understand all the processes and decisions involved. The session includes a screening of Our Lad, and see also Study focus: British Film industry production of a short film; Representations; Role of film festivals The BBFC and the 12A Lucy Brett Head of Education, BBFC This 2-part session looks first at the BBFC today, including their work with young people and the general public and significant changes over time which have led to the new Guidelines, as well as an overview of the Guidelines themselves. It goes on to focus on the evolution of the 12A certificate, including some background to how and why it was created, notable 12A decisions and discussion of key 12A examples since the certificate was launched in Study focus: Institutions; Audiences; British Film industry: Regulation Business Skills for the Media Industries Victoria Walden - Teacher at Strode s College, Surrey and PhD candidate at Queen Mary, University of London 11

13 Training people to push buttons and operate machinery which in an industry that is dependent upon the creativity of its personnel is inadequate to its needs. (McLuskie, 2000:103). Much of our attention as media teachers is focused on training students to be critical spectators or technically competent producers of aesthetically pleasing texts. But is this what the industry needs? A recent survey, the Creative Skillset Skills Group s Report to the Creative Industries Council (Jan 2012), illustrates the most needed, and most lacking, skills in the creative and media sectors are attracting funding, asset exploitation, risk management, entrepreneurial skills, conflict resolution and core business skills. This session explores Victoria s recent research project and pilot educational scheme focused on developing the media business skills of level 3 students. The learning experience was aimed at narrowing the gap between media vocational education and the needs of the industry; and attempting to prepare young people for long-term employment in the media. This session covers the aims and objectives of the project, its successes and limitations, guidelines for setting up such a project in a school or college, and valuable learning activities. Study focus: Vocational courses and teaching practical elements, specifically for BTEC level 3 TV Drama: Stories, Audiences and Organisations Christine Bell - Curriculum Leader for Media Studies, Heaton Manor School, Newcastle Upon Tyne This session considers the essential links between the media text, the organisation that produces it and the audiences that consume it. When we look at a channel's schedule, television drama constitutes a major part of that schedule. How do television dramas construct narrative and representations? What hybrids and sub-genres are on offer? What pleasures does the genre offer audiences? Why are television dramas important to channels and organisations? These questions will be discussed and the session includes reference to examples of useful extracts from television dramas that address different areas of the specifications. There will also be ideas for classroom activities to engage students and broaden their understanding of this topic. Study focus: Key Concepts; Genre; TV Drama; Audiences; British TV industry, for teachers of GCSE, AS and A2 level Media Studies The British Film Industry by Numbers Alex Tosta - Research Manager, BFI Research and Statistics Unit This session provides a statistical overview of the British film industry from production through to theatrical distribution, exhibition and the rapidly changing home entertainment market, showing how it contributes to UK GDP. Focusing on young people in particular, it will include an overview of film education and the workforce, showing the number of children studying film and those working in film. The presentation highlights some of the issues with the market: cinema is the focus of film release with an audience of 166 million, but film on TV has the largest audience of around 3.6 billion; video on demand is the new(ish) home entertainment (sort of), but how do we know its impact on the market when there is little data on it and US studio films still dominate the market? And will this be the case in the future with China s growing cinema population and increasing flexibility regarding exhibiting non-chinese film? Study focus: Institutions; Audiences; British Film industry SESSION 5 Developing a Game Franchise: Fable Mike West - Lead Designer, Lionhead Studios Including an overview of the key different kinds of games available, how they and audiences have developed in recent years and the impact this has had on the games industry in the UK, the session focuses on Mike s roles on the Fable franchise at Lionhead, from contributing to the script for Fable I to lead combat designer for Fable III. Find out how game designers devise the core elements of a game and gameplay, and how they and the development team go about creating the art assets and 12

14 computer code, within budget and timescale: what are the working differences between independent development studios and publisher-owned (Lionhead is owned by Microsoft)? How does a designer link the capabilities and benefits of different hardware platforms (PC, console, handheld ), familiarity with software technologies and techniques appropriate to each platform and the creative needs of a game s narrative over successive editions? Study focus: Computer Games/Video Games industry; Digital Media and New Technologies; Audience; Genre News Providers in the Online Age Roger Gillett Consultant and Head of Media and Film Studies, Mill Hill County High School, London News is a transmedia product, seen on all platforms, with the internet as a central hub. This session looks at news provision pre-internet and goes on to examine the impact of the web on news providers and news audiences. There will be some consideration of newspapers, using The Guardian as a case study, as well as exploration of the effects of portable technologies and social media on the News Industry. Study focus: OCR GCE Media Studies (G322 Audiences and institutions- Newspapers, G323 Advanced Coursework Portfolio -Television News, G325 Global Media, Media in the Online Age, We Media); OCR GCSE Media Studies (B321 Individual Media Studies Portfolio News, B324 Production Portfolio - The News); AQA GCSE Media Studies (Unit 1 - Set topic Television News) and AQA GCE Media Studies (MEST1 Cross Media Study- News, MEST2 - Current Affairs, MEST3 - Critical Perspectives) Watching (Digital) Media Learning Keith Perera - Assistant Headteacher at St Paul's Catholic College in Burgess Hill and Lead Tutor PGCE English at the University of Sussex Keith s on-going research is into the relationship between youth media practices and formal media study. It is an ethnographic action research study based on the preparation of one A-Level media studies class for their examination over the course of a year. Research data has been gathered in various forms: video recordings of all lessons, focus groups, teacher blog, and students written and practical work. In addition digital data that crosses the boundaries between home/school and work/leisure has been collected: SMS texts, s and Internet search history. It has been necessary to convince a stringent research ethics board of the vital need for this kind of data whilst protecting the students, the school and the researcher in devising effective child protection systems that primarily safeguard the young people taking part in the research. Through a supposedly simple before/after series of action research cycles on teaching film, journalism and new media, the research has questioned notions of digital natives, agency and literacy - immersed in wider debates initiated by the Media Studies 2.0 critique. The session also looks at reasserting the political nature of both youth media practices and institutionalised media learning, offering a nuanced approach to the studying of media texts in the digital age. Study focus: Digital media; Social media; Pedagogy SPECIAL EVENT: Writer Owen Jones on representations of the working class on TV SESSION 6 Producing TV Drama: The Smoke Noelle Morris Executive Producer, Kudos Following an overview of Noelle s work as a producer for the BBC, Red and Kudos, this session focuses on The Smoke, the recent Kudos drama series for Sky 1 HD. We consider how an Executive Producer for an independent production company balances the needs and structures of their own work with the commissioner s requirements from initial pitch to final delivery, also developing and nurturing relationships with writers and directors. The session includes a case study focusing on how some of 13

15 the core elements of The Smoke - a character-driven script, the SFX required for a series focusing on the emergency services came together in production. Study focus: British TV industry; Key Concepts; Genre Commissioning Original Programming for YouTube Rosie Allimonos - Head of Content Partnerships, Original Channels, Google EMEA Google and other technology giants such as Yahoo, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and Microsoft are challenging traditional producers of television content in the increasingly competitive world of highquality digital video. Google streams via YouTube, commissioning web channels - the most popular of which gain more than a million views per episode generating online video ad revenue and impacting on the production of drama and other genres as well as on audience viewing habits for cable, satellite and terrestrial. Broadcasting online offers unique access to audience insight: YouTube has instant feedback from its Comments section as well as data revealing exactly when audiences fast forward or switch off. In this session Rosie offers insight into why YouTube stopped being a place to put clips and started being a channel and her key considerations when deciding what to commission next. Study focus: Digital Media; New technologies; Drama; Social media; Cross platform; Changing Media Regulation Understanding Contemporary Media Regulation Rob Miller - Media and Film consultant, freelance writer, examiner, private tutor and editor of Edusites Ltd. MediaEdu and FilmEdu This session focuses on whether there is a need for media regulation in the digital age. The concept of regulation is at times complex but fundamentally simplistic regulation of the media seeks to protect sections of society who may be victim to passive consumption, but is this still relevant? As an interactive session it examines the workings of media industry regulators, and develops theoretical approaches incorporating existing theory and debate. Study focus: Introduction to Regulation PCC (print and online); Television Regulation and Censorship - The role of Ofcom; Regulating Films and Video Games - BBFC and PEGI; Advertising and the ASA. Relevant for OCR A2 Media Studies (G325 Section B Contemporary Media Issues), WJEC A2 Media Studies (MS4 regulation topic), AQA Media Studies (MEST1 and MEST3) and also OCR A2 Film Studies (F633 topic Film Regulation and Classification). Making Learning Visible in the Media Classroom with the Help of ipads Hélène Galdin-O Shea TeachMeet organiser, conference programmer (Pedagoo London, researched) and Teacher of English and Media at Park High School in Stratford, London This hands-on session looks at a range of activities whose purpose is to encourage reciprocal teaching, a great tool in our AfL palette, and scoring high on Hattie s list of strategies that work. The aim is to use the ipad as a flexible tool which allows to record students ongoing work, helping to assess their learning and informing teacher planning to ensure learning is happening over time. This session will show a few useful apps to make this work well but most importantly, will showcase a range of tasks using ipads. The session explores the time-saving possibilities of using the Ipad as a camera and editing tool including making work available for audience review on YouTube. Using the ipad for structured research is also something worth exploring (and combined with the use of QR codes), as is the great app that is Explain Everything, a great tool for powerful AfL. There will also be an opportunity to explore ways of using Twitter, blogs, and other resources. PLEASE NOTE: This is a hands-on session with a limited number of ipads available. More delegates can be accommodated if they can bring their own ipads: when completing your Session Selection Form, please note whether you will bring an ipad or wish to borrow one. Study focus: GCSE and A Level classes and all exam boards The Special Relationship: British Cinema and Hollywood in Edgar Wright s Cornetto Trilogy Frances Smith - PhD in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, lecturer at the University of Winchester 14

16 The session explores concepts of transnational cinema and relates them to the way in which Shaun of the Dead (2004) Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World s End (2013), collectively known as the Cornetto Trilogy, playfully rework the conventions of Hollywood cinema in a uniquely British setting. The session will unpick what aspects make these films particularly British and consider what attributes are derived from Hollywood in order to consider the nature of the transnational. If time, the session will also analyse the construction of British masculinity in the films and explore what traits are seen to be appropriate or otherwise with reference to the Hollywood action hero figure that the films do much to satirise. Study focus: National, transnational and global cinema; British Film industry; Hollywood cinema; Gender and popular cinema SESSION 7 The VFX Industry Ian Murphy VFX Compositor and Trainer We are exposed to the UK s VFX talent every day, from the films in the cinema to commercials, idents and promos on TV; VFX is no longer the icing or gloss on a film or television production but often integral to both story and style. The UK s VFX industry is world renowned and strategically important to the future of the infrastructure of film production in the UK: its quality work attracts studios to shoot films here, since it is in their interest to maximise activity in the UK throughout the filmmaking process and VFX can be one of the highest earning areas of the filmmaking process (in 2010, VFX was a significant lure for the $920 million of inward film investment). In this session Ian covers wider issues for the VFX industry, links to key issues surrounding the teaching of skills needed by the industry, as well as focusing in detail on one film and the VFX work it involved. Study focus: British Film Industry; VFX; core skills for VFX Writing for TV: Babylon Jesse Armstrong - Co-creator, Executive Producer and Writer (Peep Show, Fresh Meat), Writer/co-writer (The Thick of It, In The Loop, Four Lions, Babylon) Having developed and written for film and television in the UK and US, Jesse has also moved beyond writing into producing and directing, allowing him to work with a script throughout its life on a production. In this session we explore how Jesse writes, often with Sam Bain and other key collaborators, what his methods are for bringing the script to screen, how TV and film operate differently and why comedy is his preferred genre. Focusing on Babylon and this take on modern policing as a case study, we look at how he created characters and constructed narrative and how far and in what ways he held on to his initial vision through the production process. Study focus: British TV industry; Genre; Representations; Screenwriting Teaching Editing for A-Level Media Michael Parkes - Teacher of Media, Bilborough College, Nottingham In this session, Michael considers ways in which you can help your students to understand the crucial role of editing in making meaning in film and television texts. Please note that this is not a practical editing workshop. There will be activities to take away to use in your own classrooms. Study focus: All courses involving theoretical study of editing. Teaching Documentary and Spectatorship Mark Piper - Head of Media and Film, Godalming College VI Form College, Surrey This session focuses on pragmatic approaches to teaching documentary and spectatorship studies. It aims to provide guidance on choosing suitable texts which students will find engaging and inspiring; helping students apply relevant spectatorship theories to a diverse range of texts within the context of documentary; providing classroom resources and practical ideas to approaching the topic; 15

17 constructing a coherent scheme of work. During the session we will watch a range of material Koyaanisqatsi, Être et Avoir, Biggie & Tupac - and discuss ways in which audiences understanding of reality and truth can be challenged by the form. The main aim is to offer inspiration and innovative and practical approaches to teaching the topic. Study focus: A-level Film and Media, particularly WJEC Film Studies but also OCR Film Studies (Film & Audience Experience) and AQA Media Studies (Investigating Media / cross media topic) Early Cinema: Learning to Love the Past Andrew Utterson - Assistant Professor of Screen Studies, Roy H. Park School of Communications, Ithaca College, New York Approximately 120 years after the so-called birth of cinema in 1895, as teachers and students of film, one of the fundamental questions we face today is how best to transport ourselves back in time to contextualize and understand the history of cinema, not least in its very earliest years. Specifically, how might we best understand and explore this history in relation to the particular moving image experiences, cultures, and practices of an entire generation of students for whom cinema arguably exists in the past tense, i.e. subsequent to what Susan Sontag described in 1996 as cinema s ignominious, irreversible decline? With a particular focus on early cinema (i.e. its very first decades), this session analyses and discusses a series of recent films including Martin Scorsese s Hugo to consider exactly what we might learn of early cinema through today s late - or even postcinematic -lens, and indeed of the birth of cinema through its subsequent death. Study focus: AS and A2 Media, particularly OCR AS (F631 topic Cinema in Context: Early Cinema ) the specification for which mentions by name several of the shorts that Scorsese references and extracts in Hugo; WJEC A2 (FM4 topic Varieties of Film Experience Issues and Debates: Spectatorship and Early Cinema Before 1917) and also potentially OCR AS (F631 section Cinema in Context: Contemporary English Language Film); OCR AS (F631 topic Cinema in Context: Developments in 21st Century Cinema and Film 2000 present); AQA A2 (MEST3 topic Critical Perspectives: The Impact of New/Digital Media) 16

18 SPEAKERS Samira Ahmed is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and visiting professor of journalism at Kingston University. She presents Newswatch on BBC1, and her TV work includes 2 series of Sunday Morning Live, The Proms on BBC4 and the acclaimed Channel 4 series Islam Unveiled. She presents Something Understood on Radio 4 and Free Thinking on Radio 3 and makes documentaries for Radio 4, including I Dressed Ziggy Stardust and Archive on 4: Riding into Town about Westerns. She writes a column for The Big Issue and contributes to newspapers including The Guardian. She won a Stonewall Broadcast of the year award for her report on "corrective" rape in South Africa while a reporter and presenter at Channel 4 News. Samira began her career as a BBC News trainee and has worked as a reporter on Newsnight, the Today programme, as the BBC's Los Angeles Correspondent and news anchor for Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin. Rosie Allimonos is Head of Content Partnerships, Original Channels, Google EMEA. Throughout her career she s focussed on combining the art of storytelling with the power of digital technologies. Before joining Google, she worked with the BBC as a Multiplatform Commissioner where she pioneered the BBC s most successful digital content ventures, developing made-for-web dramas, narrative gaming and augmented reality experiences (see her TED Talk from 2011 in which she argues for working across silos to create narrative Passionate about innovation in online video, Rosie worked closely with the BBC s R&D arm where she conceived The Mythology Engine a prototype that mapped long-running TV series into a transmedia wiki for unlocking the BBC archive. She has won numerous awards for her work including SXSW, BAFTA and a Webby for online series. Leanna Arkell is Assistant Head, Head of VI Form & Head of Media at Churchdown School in Gloucestershire. She and Sally Thomas run a highly successful Media Department at Churchdown, motivated by a belief in drawing out the best in their students and having a great deal of fun in the process, coupled with a thirst for ever-expanding their knowledge. They have presented their work on Horror previously at the MEA conference 2013 and the OCR annual conference See their work at Jesse Armstrong is co-creator, executive producer and writer of 8 series of Channel 4 s Peep Show. He also wrote for The Thick of It from its inception and co-wrote the script for the film In The Loop. With long-term collaborators Sam Bain and Chris Morris, Jesse co-wrote the script for Four Lions. He also cocreated, executive produces, and writes comedy drama series Fresh Meat (C4) and co-created Babylon with Sam Bain and Danny Boyle, focusing on modern policing, politics and PR. Working as a solo writer, Jesse wrote The Entire History of You for Charlie Brooker s Black Mirror C4 series (since optioned by Warner Bros. and Robert Downey Jnr s Production company), the first season finale of HBO s Veep and an as-yet unproduced screenplay about Rupert Murdoch and his family which appeared on the 2010 Hollywood Black List of best unproduced screenplays. He has a film about US political strategist Lee Atwater in development with Adam McKay s Gary Sanchez Productions. He is currently developing a TV series about contemporary UK politics called Sex & Politics for Kudos and BBC TV based on his short story Life During Wartime, and a pilot for HBO about freebooting young men in Africa called The Ambassadors. He is also completing a novel for Jonathan Cape about a group of idealistic young people who travel to Bosnia during the conflict with the aim of stopping the war through the power of experimental theatre. In 2013 he directed his first short film, No Kaddish in Carmarthen. Christine Bell graduated from Goldsmiths, London University (BA Hons: Drama and English) and Newcastle University (MA: British and American Modern Literature, Film and Television). She has been teaching Media Studies for 28 years and is currently Curriculum Leader for Media Studies at Heaton Manor School, a large secondary school in Newcastle Upon Tyne. For several years she has been an examiner for WJEC and at present she is Principal for the AS examination and a Team Leader for the A2 internally assessed unit. She has also delivered CPD events around the country and spoken at conferences. She is an experienced author having contributed to Exploring The Media, 17