Confetti students enjoyed day three of Industry Week 2022 with more talks, masterclasses and live performances. Take a look at some of the highlights below!
Liz Doogan-Hobbs MBE – Live Events Production & Management
Liz Doogan is an expert in putting together live events at the highest level – throughout her colourful career she’s gone from winning her first world title in water ski racing at the age of 21, to managing her own multi-million pound events specialist company, Liz Hobbs Group. During her session she discussed her career as an athlete and her transition to broadcasting, having worked both in front of the camera and behind the scenes producing for the likes of Sky and the BBC.
Liz delved into the challenges she encountered being a female in a largely male-dominated industry, explaining how “as a woman [she] felt she had a limited shelf-life in the industry and how this led to [her] wanting a business and not a career”. Liz turned her hand to artist management supporting musicians, actors and presenters, before pooling her experience in sports and music into her new venture, Liz Hobbs Group. She has since built up over 20 years of experience in event production and event management, getting involved in everything from stage and lighting design, to organising tours, commercial sponsorship, marketing, PR and ticketing. Liz was an early pioneer in integrating music into sporting events, having worked with the likes of Boyzone, Spice Girls and Bryan Adams – asked what her top tip is for students, she said:
“I recommend that you pick up a business course or upskill yourself in the business element of what you’re doing, it’s important to know how the business works. That’s why Confetti’s music business course is a really good idea!” – Liz Doogan-Hobbs MBE
Carolina Giammetta – Writer & Director
Carolina took students through some of her writing and directing credits, showing examples from her Channel 4 crime thriller, Before We Die, and her ITV drama series, Hollington Drive. Having started out late as a director, Carolina explained how she first trained as an actor which she credits with helping her know how to get the best out of her performers. Carolina described how, as an actor, she learned how to hustle, and how this has helped her become successful as a director. She shared her top hustling tips with students:
- Going on filmmaking schemes and networking are a good way to get your foot in the door. You might just speak to somebody that can suggest you for something.
- Constantly send people your work – it’s important to stay on top of this. I have an excel spreadsheet of about 700 people that I try, as best as I can, to write individual emails to when I complete a new short film. There’s a fine line between harassing and putting your name on someone’s mind.
- It doesn’t matter how big someone is in the industry, everyone loves a complement and they will take notice when you are genuine about what inspires you to want to work with them. Everybody in the industry gets these general “I love you work” emails, but it’s about being really specific, what is it that you love about their work? This will get their attention the most.
- Once you get the opportunity to pitch, put together a mood board of your ideas. It’s really good to show the execs this, they want to understand your casting ideas and get to know the look and feel of your vision.
- Sometimes it’s worth pitching, even if you don’t want the job, but you want to get in with the company. You can turn the work down but develop that relationship and it might turn into something you do want later down the line.
Basma Khalifa – Director, Filmmaker, Writer & Fashion Stylist
From directing and fashion styling to securing a mentorship with acclaimed documentary maker, Louis Theroux, Basma can do it all! During this 2-hour intimate “an audience with” session, Basma took students through her experience working on her BBC 3 documentary “Inside the real Saudi Arabia”, showing clips on the big screen and providing rare insights as Level 3 VFX Course Leader, Jacky Gurr, picked her brain. She talked about her can do attitude, saying that she’s happy always to say yes first and then learn how to do it later using tools like YouTube. A recurring theme that has come up in many of our Industry Week talks this year, from Don Letts, to Linda Perry, and now Basma Khalifa, is about being resourceful with what you’ve got and not worrying too much about having the best technical expertise:
“Being a director is just saying what you want – as long as you have a vision, you can direct. I’m a firm believer in upskilling, but I’m not a believer in being a master of every discipline. It’s good to have an understand of most roles but you don’t need to know everything.”
Basma also stressed the need for collaboration, building up networks, and not being worried about someone stealing your idea:
“Team up with someone else and share the credit. The person sitting next to you will probably be able to help you do what you’re doing, they’ll have a different skillset.
“Use your network, help others and it will always come back to you. Keep talking, unless you can chat about your idea, no one will know about it and be able to help you.
“The way the world is moving, the way creativity is moving, there are lots of opportunities out there… but you need to have your finger on the pulse and have to be willing to collaborate with people. Collaboration also helps you know what you don’t like as well as what you do like.”
What’s Basma’s number one piece of advice for up and coming creatives?
“Always be willing to pivot – it’s the most important word when creating content. You always need to be able to pivot and figure out new ways of doing things. All creativity is, is problem solving. If you are worried about things not going to plan, no one knows how you originally intended it, the important thing is achieving the desired end result.”
Jack “Jacky” Peters – Esports On Air Talent
Jacky told a packed audience how he got started in esports back in 2014, how things have changed in the industry since then, and went through some key events in his career to date:
“Back in 2014, my options were limited, basically I was doing unpaid work at FACEIT, pulling long hours alongside my day job which was bricklaying. I would have loved to have been able to have the opportunity you guys have, being in an environment like this… learning esports from real people that are actually involved in the scene.”
Jacky showed clips from his showreel, including everything from commentating at ESL’s IEM Katowice and hosting the World of Warcraft: Race to World First for Red Bull, all the way to helping produce the first televised Overwatch broadcast for TBS. His advice for students looking to get their start:
“Just say yes, just give it a go…If someone asks you if you want to a do a role you’ve never done before, 9 times out of 10 it’s worth just saying yes! From there you can meet new people, open new avenues and give yourself a way in, which you wouldn’t find otherwise.”
Jacky was keen to stress the importance of staying on your grind and didn’t shy away from exploring the cut throat nature of industry. His advice to students was to set yourself goals, to not take your foot off the pedal, and above all, network:
“It’s the human element in esports that’s often forgotten. Be genuine, chat to people, be interested and more often than not they’ll be interested in what you’re doing and put you forward for gigs. Don’t keep your head down, speak to everyone.”
Digit Music Workshops
Digit Music’s founders, Simon Tew and Owain Wilson first delivered a standalone talk where they spoke about their respective careers, forming Digit Music and the development of their brand new award-winning, inclusive digital instrument, Cmpsr (pronounced “composer”). Any great invention comes from a strong need and a gap in the market, Simon told us how they noticed that a lot of wheelchair users struggle to access music courses, with some of them only having one finger movement. Cmpsr is a digital instrument designed to be played with simple finger gestures which opens up the scope for practically anyone to use it, whether they’ve got two dextrous hands or the use of only one digit.
Following Simon and Owain’s talk, they delivered an interactive session in the afternoon where students could drop in and learn to play the new instrument. On first inspection, Cmpsr looks a bit like a game controller, which makes it less intimidating to approach and play around with, and that’s precisely the point. Digit Music’s Jess Fisher explains that its designed to not put you off in the beginning and gradually build up your confidence. Jess started playing the Cmpsr with limited musical knowledge, she’s now highly proficient in the instrument and has performed live at a BBC Introducing and Inspire Youth Arts’ event. She’s since gone onto study music theory and shares her passion for Cmpsr as part of Digit Music’s workshops.
The midi-controlled instruments set-up in Rehearsal Room 9, Metronome were programmed to play piano, drums, and strings, with Simon and Owain showing students just how versatile the instruments can be:
“You can take it out and tune it to whatever scale you want, you can add different layers to the music and increase the level of difficulty as you get better. With Cmpsr there’s lots of room to sound good and also to go wrong. If you are someone that wants to make beats but doesn’t understand musical theory, you can use Cmpsr to do that.
“Time, money and commitment are all barriers to music creation. If you aren’t being rewarded quickly enough, you give up. That’s why digital music technology is great, because we can get you to the rewarding part much quicker.”
“Cmpsr demystifies what is otherwise a complex foreign language for some people, and it shouldn’t be. Not everyone wants to be a virtuoso, they might just want that self-fulfilment.” – Owain Wilson, Digit Music Founder
BBC Introducing
BBC Introducing returned to Metronome for a sold-out gig as part of Industry Week. Confetti’s own Left Hand Lane were up first, comprised of students George Hill, Will Bullement, Jimbo (James Earl), and Bobbi Chambers. The four-piece started the night on a high with songs from their current EP (insert photo / video), setting the electric tone for the rest of the evening. Up next were Nottingham Soul duo, Melonyx, they took to the stage with a selection of songs with the crowd vibing and singing along. The duo recently headlined the YOUunique festival at New Art Exchange, an event to celebrate women.
Good Hustles kicked off the second half of the night, keeping the high energy going with tunes from their album ‘Apes’, and last but not least, Catmilk, wrapped up the evening with their latest music. We caught up with Left Hand Lane during the gig who were over the moon to be part of the event, they said:
‘We had a wonderful time performing on the Metronome main stage, Confetti is a really great place to be for opportunities.’ – Left Hand Lane
Industry Week: Day 3 ✅
It's the week that keeps on giving! Today's talks, workshops, live performances and activities have been an absolute joy to attend 👏 As always, a huge thank you to our guests and students for making this event so special. Let's do it all again tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/ael8pNvgNJ
— Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies (@Confetti_ICT) March 9, 2022
Are you interested in attending events like Industry Week as part of your studies? Book onto an open day to find out more about our offer at Confetti.
