IW22 Final Day Highlights

Industry Week 2022 wrapped up on day 5 with more outstanding talks, jams and workshops!

Every year, we want Industry Week to be as inclusive and accessible as it can be, and we’re confident this year – our first-ever hybrid programme of events – didn’t disappoint!

Interactive esports workshops from FACEIT and JD Wu

Early on in the day, Simon Bond and Reece Fowler joined us from FACEIT, an esports platform founded in London. The company has administered leagues for games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, Rocket League, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2. Simon and Reece were on hand providing the benefit of their experiences working on a range of high profile, Tier 1 events, and delving into the importance of storytelling in live broadcast.

In the afternoon, students were treated to an insightful masterclass on technical directing delivered by the Emmy Award-winning Freelance Director/Technical Director, JD Wu. JD has over a decade of experience in esports and he specialises in live broadcast with a focus on gaming and entertainment. JD flew in for Industry Week all the way from the US, and he was accompanied by returning favourite, Kevin Cheung, a freelance esports broadcast production specialist who delivered a solo session focused on esports observing on day 4, click here to read day 4’s highlights. As part of the duo’s workshop, they shared their tips and tricks about working in a professional esports broadcast production, they also gave students the opportunity to get behind the wheel, operating some of the technology on display as part of the broadcast.

Media masterclasses from Victor Perez and Hugo Guerra & He Sun

The award-winning film director, producer, screenwriter and visual effects artist, Victor Perez delved into the process of achieving photorealism through the use of high-end visual effects techniques. Victor has racked up some impressive film credits including Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He spoke about how he was first inspired as a child watching Star Wars, and how that started him on his creative journey, first as a graphic designer, before beginning a career in the film industry as a photographer and digital compositing artist. Victor later became a 2D technical director and consultant, and now oversees the creation of feature film visual effects as VFX Supervisor.

We asked 2nd Year BTEC Level 3 VFX and Animation student, Tsvetina Doycheva, for her thoughts on the session:

“Victor talked very technically about his job which, sometimes, when there’s lots of detail, it’s hard to take it in, but we found it interesting because he was funny and passionate.

“When it comes to Industry Week… they are a performance after all, and Victor Perez is a great performer.

“One quote that stuck with me was when he said ‘compositing is destroying an image in style’ and I really liked that because we do some compositing in our course, and the way he described it… sometimes a process can seem quite complicated but when he says it like that, it just helps it makes sense.”

Later in the afternoon, Hugo Guerra & He Sun explored the use of visual effects production in video games. Hugo is an award-winning Director, VFX Supervisor, and former Head of Nuke Compositing at the Mill London. Originally from Portugal, he has collaborated with studios like the BBC and Sony Studios, and throughout his 20 year career, he has worked with clients like Audi, Adidas, Nike, IKEA, Panasonic, Discovery Channel, Sony, Activision, and Ubisoft to name a few. He Sun started his career in the games industry, contributing to games franchises like James Bond: GoldenEye, Dead Space, and Sniper Elite. He has since stepped into VFX for film and TV. His credits include The Lion King (2019), The Mandalorian (2019) and Maleficent: The Mistress of Evil (2019). He Sun recently established the VFX division at Rebellion Film Studios in South Oxford, UK. The studio is emerging with the technology between the real-time game engine and USD based VFX workflow, offering high-quality VFX for film/TV, CGI trailer, cinematic, and virtual production.

As part of their session, Hugo and He Sun gave students a chance to go behind the scenes of a full CG cinematic for the game Sniper Elite 5, covering the trailer’s concept and creative vision. They went through the entire process, from showcasing the motion capture shoot and stunt performance, to going over the animation, modelling, lighting, rendering, compositing, 3D graphics pipeline and colour grading. It was a brilliant opportunity for students to gain knowledge from a real production project done with industry standard software.

“Hugo and He Sun are really cool guys. The way they talked and showed their work at the same time, it really keeps you engaged. They answered my questions, gave me the answers I needed, and took the time to explain them in a really detailed way.

“My key takeaway was when Hugo talked in detail about lighting and gave tips on the best way to change your art from something that looks digital into something that looks very real.

“I’ve really enjoyed Industry Week, it’s great to hear the path that others took to get to the point where I want to be one day.” – Ahmad Kabib Alban, BTEC Level 3 VFX and Animation student, 2nd Year

Opportunity and diversity talk from the UK’s youngest MP, Nadia Whittome

Nadia Whittome’s talk was all about equality and diversity, and what we can do if we want to get involved in activism and help keep the momentum. Nadia was elected in 2019 as the Member of Parliament for Nottingham East and at 25 is Parliament’s youngest MP. She takes home a workers’ wage as an MP, donating the remainder of her MP salary to local causes. As part of the session, Nadia described her early career having working as a hate crime worker in Nottingham, and prior to that as a care worker. She told students how she was inspired to enter politics in response to the Bedroom Tax, and has since become a passionate advocate for participatory democracy and remains a committed activist and campaigner on migrants’ rights, workers’ rights, climate justice, and child poverty. It doesn’t matter if you’re into music, games or media, you can’t help but be moved by Nadia’s passion for creating meaningful change.

Nadia discussed real issues around employability and social mobility in the creative industries. The creative industries account for approximately 12% of the UK economy (£224.1bn in 2018), but the reality is that access to these opportunities can be limited and challenging for some groups in society. Asked for her thoughts on a way forward, Nadia said:

“It’s essential the curriculum needs to be decolonised. If the curriculum doesn’t include and recognise people of colour with a view to liberation then it’s an educational system that’s failing everyone.

“We [young people] have every right to be angry, but we also have every reason to feel positive. It’s normal to feel disillusioned and burnt out but we have to keep nourishing one another.”

“We’ve got an amazing creative scene in Nottingham and loads of exciting things are happening. It’s really important that we keep having a thriving creative scene. It’s one of the things that makes us punch above our weight as a city.”

Artist-manager talk from Becky Hill and Alex Martin

Students were given a rare chance to see artist and manager together exploring the relationship that makes a career tick. British singer-songwriter, Becky has been in the public eye ever since she first auditioned for the Voice in 2012, she has achieved hit records and received recognition from her fans and peers in the industry. BBC Radio Nottingham’s Dean Jackson interviewed Becky and her manager, Alex Martin, to a packed audience in the Venue, Metronome. Becky and Alex talked about the importance of having the right relationship between artist and manager, and ‘how you know when it’s right’. Becky said that “Artists are nothing without the team around them”, and has been outspoken in her admiration for Alex, recently bringing him up on stage to thank him in her BRIT Awards acceptance speech.

The importance of collaboration and not being afraid to show people your work are key messages that have flowed through Industry Week sessions from Basma Khalifa, to our Games Expo, and now Becky. We’ve pulled together some inspiring quotes from Becky and Alex’s talk which we hope will spur you on in your own creative journey:

“Alex had faith in me when I didn’t even have faith in myself” – Becky Hill

“Trust is a really important element to our relationship” – Alex Martin

“The management-artist relationship is a lot like a normal relationship you experience in real life. It’s a close and intense one. You’ll know when someone is into what you do and wants to make something with you” – Becky Hill

We asked students what they took away from Becky and Alex’s session, and for their thoughts on Industry Week:

“It was really really good. I like Becky’s music and she was obviously like 18 when she went on the Voice, so it was nice to listen to her and I felt I could relate to her. It was nice to see that we all have similar feelings, I didn’t know that she got so anxious… she was so real. It was nice to hear her speak about her struggles as well as never giving up.

“Oh Alex was lovely! He was really helpful, he was giving loads of nice tips like explaining what he looks for in an artist. I took some notes down of things to do – 1.) create a portfolio 2.) get my music out there 3.) email as many industry professionals as I can – he said email as many as 50 people, even if you only get 2 responses.

“I love Industry Week. One whole week to hear all of these different things from industry people you’d never normally ever talk to or hear from, I mean… that’s what we’re here for at the end of the day. And they talk about real things. 100% I love it.”

Mesha Terry, BTEC Level 3 Music Performance & Songwriting, 2nd Year

“I think just being given the opportunity to talk to them (the guests) personally, ask your own questions, and being able to give them your music, it just really helps put the course above other colleges.”

Joshua Barnes, BTEC Level 3 Music Performance & Songwriting, 2nd Year

Now that we’ve brought you up to speed on day 5, it’s time to wrap up Industry Week 2022 as a whole. Instead of us telling you how great it was, let’s find out what students have been saying online, remember #IW22

And it’s not only students who have been raving about this week’s events – our guests have really enjoyed the experience too, taking time at the end of their talks – and taking to social media – to let us know what a great event this is:

One of those most vocal has been famed BBC documentary maker, and protégé to Louis Theroux (yes you read that right!), Basma Khalifa:

OnDemand

Lastly, we want to say a huge thank you to all of the guests that joined us for this exciting week of events – and to all our students for attending and enjoying. We hope you come away from this week feeling inspired and excited for your futures in the creative industries!

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.