takeITon.

Four students have been learning the tricks of the trade in film and television production thanks to the takeITon campaign and Screen East – an organisation dedicated to promoting the film and media industries across the region.

The budding film students have been helping EEDA to produce video case studies of companies who have benefited from the takeITon programme of support. The takeITon programme is an initiative designed to help small businesses in the East of England to improve their understanding and adoption of IT. EEDA worked in partnership with Screen East to find a local company who could deliver top-class videos while offering some of the region’s finest talent a step up the ladder through a structured training programme.

Norfolk-based film company, the JMS Group, won the tender to film the case studies and agreed to coach the four trainees as part of the work . Each trainee took a brief from EEDA and worked with a full production team on everything from writing the script to the editing the video’s final cut. Prior to filming each trainee spent an afternoon having hands-on training with cameras, lighting and microphones, and learning how to set-up and work an auto-cue.

On the day, trainees worked as production assistants and even got to post-produce the case study they had researched and set up. Here they covered everything from selecting the shots, choosing the music and even learned how to author a final DVD.

Jan Pinkerton, head of business ICT and intelligence at EEDA said;

“We welcomed the opportunity to work in partnership with Screen East to help young film talent get a step up the career ladder through on-the-job training. The importance of training and gaining hands-on experience in the current economic climate cannot be underestimated.
We now have six professionally produced outstanding video case studies that are a real credit to the trainees and to the JMS Group.”

Laura Cuthbert was one of the trainees involved in the production of the videos;

“Working with EEDA and Screen East on the takeITon case studies has given me a range of experience in all areas of production and given me the opportunity to learn from people established in the film industry with a lot of experience and expertise to offer.”

Sam Burton, New Talent Executive of Screen East says;

“The training and knowledge that the participants on the takeITon case study filming  received was invaluable. Screen East are committed to working with new talent in the moving image industry and assisting them to get access to the best industry expertise and training as possible. Schemes like this are a great way to work with companies to nurture that talent, and hopefully help them find work in such a competitive industry.”

John Mountford, Chief Executive of JMS said;

 “What made the opportunity so special for the trainees was that by having six productions to work on, there was plenty of scope for each trainee to gain real experience in a variety of roles, from camera to sound, scriptwriting to music, interviewing to post-production.  And aside from the location shooting, JMS has all the key skills right here under one roof”

The final video case studies can be found on the takeITon TV page where businesses can also find out more about the campaign and the support on offer from Business Link East.