Matt Spivack sits down with head of the National Film and Televsion School’s hugely successful ShortCourses@NFTS, Peter Ansorge, and the founder of Cinema Jam himself, Jared Fryer, to talk about their partnership, origins and ethos.
Be sure to check out ShortCourses@NFTS and all of their incredible learning opportunities here and see what’s next for Cinema Jam’s weekend Bite-Size Courses here.
Your career trajectory is impressive and interesting. I know you spent 20+ years with Channel 4 & BBC , among other things. Can you tell me a little about your career progression and how it led to you running NFTS Short Courses?
Peter: First, the BBC and then Channel 4. I was involved in the early days of Film on 4, a Channel 4 invention. My boss at the BBC and at Channel 4, because he was asked to be the first head of drama at Channel 4, a man named David Rose. We have two new buildings going up at NFTS, and one of them going up in the beginning of July is going to be called Channel 4 David Rose Building. I found that to be a rather nice circle.
When I started in TV, in the UK at the BBC, there was no such thing as an independent producer. Everything we did at the BBC was done in-house. Channel 4 invented independent producers. You suddenly called people who chose what kind of drama goes on commissioning editors. Which, now, everyone is called. The whole industry is based on independent producers. There is very little in-house production at all. So I have seen great progression, things are always changing within the industry.
In the UK, film and television is a very thriving industry. But when I started at the BBC, you learnt on the job. You were in house with established heads of department. They took you through by demonstration; editing, script editing, casting. They still made a lot of drama in the early days, the multi camera, studio and film. I remember the first time I saw Steampen, which was used to edit film on at the BBC. You can grasp quiet quickly what happens. Now that doesn’t happen anymore within the Broadcasters. On the whole, people enter the industry through independent companies but they don’t have that cultural background learning because nobody can afford to do that anymore. There are exceptions, but the focus is different.
Four years ago, I bumped into Nick Powell who is the director of NFTS, who I knew quite well in the Channel 4 days. He said if you have any ideas for the school, please get in touch, so I did. It was just at the time when it was clear that TV drama was having a kind of renaissance. But it wasn’t having a renaissance here, it was coming out of cable channels in America and also Scandinavia. I felt that the TV drama was being produced under less favorable conditions here than I had known and that the situation for writers had changed. So I dreamt up this two-week course called Writing the Pilot, where in the light of things like Mad Men, The Wire, people who wanted to come and do that at the school, they could. I had no idea if this would work, because it would actually involve writing a pilot TV drama over a two-week period. But it did work out and, in fact, some of those writers have gone on to be commissioned by independent producers.
Then what happened was that the head of short courses left to go to Channel 4. Nick asked me to throw your hat in the ring for the job. He said heavy competition for the job, which I don’t think there was. But that’s how I’ve wound up doing this.
It’s a mistake to think you can plan too far ahead in any career. You have instincts and make right and wrong decisions, but the actual people who have the five year plan, it always goes wrong. It depends, I think, on a little bit of talent or a gift in the particular area that you want to go into. But then it also depends on persistence but it also depends on a bit of luck. That’s been my experience throughout my career.
When and why was ShortCourses@NFTS established?
Peter: It has been going on for about 20 years. The idea, then, was that people either could not afford the two-year MA course or might just want to come to just improve their skills and we would cater that. It was also to do with bringing in a little extra money. The bottom line for short course, whether it is two days, two months, whether it’s a diploma course one day a year, is that they have to at least make a break even. So it was kind of commercial, but it was intended to do that and for a long time it didn’t do that. Partly, because the film school was a film school. When I started in this industry there was no film school. There was no theory of how to write a script, which in some way was very liberating. When the school in Beaconsfield first started, the first one, it really was regarded as a place for alternative filmmakers, to experiment, to make reputations. It wasn’t looked on by the industry really as a source for recruitment. Now that has changed beyond recognition.
It isn’t perfect, it has evolved, but short courses now is run on the basis that people have done something in the industry, they want to move on and the course can be meaningful for their careers as well as just a fun thing to do. That, I think, is working. For instance, the courses that I personally teach about screen-writing, particularly for television, they’re not mirrored anywhere else in the terms that if you’re an independent producer now, you are a writer. The majority of independent producers can only commission a script if they get some sense from a broadcaster that they might be interested in that project. Purely for its own sake, it won’t get commissioned, or the writer won’t be paid - that’s different from what it used to be. I’m slightly exaggerating, but not much.
Short Courses can be used both for people starting career, or secondly if you are in the middle of your career, or want a change and want to find out what is really happening. The great thing that happens, whether it is a short course or in fact all of the courses, even if it is only two days and you can have either eight or nine, or six or seven, if it works, the course, they form a bond. It’s not networking but they mutually support each other and I think that is to do with this particular generation, which doesn’t have the advantages of my generation. I never paid a penny for my education and that was true for a lot of people, and that has changed. It has completely and utterly changed. The advantage of this generation is that they really do support each other, not in the sentimental or self-deluded way but because they have to. Because nobody else does.
What are the major ways short courses and the university have associated with each other?
Peter: That’s something that I really wanted to change. Before I came, Short Courses was very much an isolated item within NFTS. The other tutors responsible for the other MA courses like cinematography, screenwriting as well, obviously the directors, producers course, everything else, they tended to really not know at all, what we were. Now that has changed at the school. I have made an effort to, I mean there is some very very classy people, HODs, there is a great cinematographer, the head of editing edited Happy Valley. Although they tend to be on the grey side of life, they are really rather professional. So there are now, absolutely, there are interactions.
It is always a problem with equipment for example, because everybody is very tightly scheduled and budgeted. So if you say ‘can we have some cameras’ it is kind of down to luck whether they are there for us or not. But, for instance, my last screenwriting course, the certificate course. I extended my two week course to two months. So they write, as well as a script, also a bible for the series, which is the whole breakdown of the thing. It was three days a week for about two months and it began in January. Because it was held at the school under short courses, participants did start to bond with the other students to the extent that one of the writers has written one of the big graduation films this year for the directors. I am very keen on that process.
How is your department differentiated from the rest of the school?
Peter: Well they are MA courses, and therefore they have to be ratified by, in this instance, the Arts School in London. This is to do with academia, it is nothing to do with NFTS. Now that’s going to change because curiously enough, the government, the day before the election, passed some legislation about further education. That means, if we want to, we can actually award our own degrees, we don’t have to get them ratified. I know that John Warden, the new director following Nik, is very keen to do that. So that does open a lot of possibilities.
But the MA courses, because they have to be ratified in an academic way, although they are all practical, the school is not there for theories. If you want to edit, you will learn how to edit. If you want to make films, you make films. It was a little prescriptive in that each little module needs to be ratified, which wasn’t a problem. That, I think, there will be more flexibility with, but Short Courses doesn’t have that problem.
The great thing about it and I like about it, is that you can do what you like. You can take a punt out of everything. As long as enough people sign up, or the very least it has to break even, it will run. If not enough people will sign up, so it’s not even going to break even and it will cost us, it doesn’t run. Sometimes, you wait here and you still advertise the same course and it does run.
Do you ever foresee Short Courses almost being an experimental ground where you can try a new type of focus or course that maybe then eventually be applied to NFTS?
Peter: Absolutely. Because my thing is drama, one thing that is very very lacking, I think and I think everyone needs, is what the role of the actor is in drama. Because I have a good descriptive mind, I have a good sense of camera frame and lighting, but if you can’t direct actors the audience aren’t going to respond. That’s one thing that would have been very difficult to put into the MA because it’s not allowed but would now be possible. So that’s one of the areas.
But I’m always been quite open to anybody who turns up with a good idea and I found that at the BBC and Channel 4 and that’s what I’m looking for, people who come in saying “why don’t you think that” and you don’t always have to say yes. But once in a while you say yes, and that will be the thing that takes off. That’s the good thing about short courses, there aren’t any restrictions, other than the fact they have to be about film and television. That is quite fun.
What is your vision for NFTS ShortCourses and how might it evolve or change?
Peter: One of the things I didn’t quite realise when I joined and started this job which is now January last year, so a year and a half has been now, is that this kind of activity is getting more and more important for the industry, for the TV and film industry. Both on a creative and kind of craft level. Because I’ve suddenly realised, as I said to you at the beginning of this conversation, that I learnt, the BBC told me what to do. Even though I was having a job and getting paid, I was being taught what to do properly. That doesn’t happen anymore.
So the NFTS has become far more important I think actually for the culture, because in the UK the craft is booming. If you’re a production designer at the moment in film and television, you will never be out of work. Unless, you know, you make a big mistake or something. Partly it is because of the money flowing in into the film studios in America because of our tax breaks. So the bulk of the jobs will be working on international productions, not on UK creative productions, which is another change.
So the industry needs, it actually does need people. For example, it sounds boring, but production accountancy is absolutely crucial for any film or big TV drama - there is a shortage, there is an absolute shortage. They’re all working, all of the time. So we’ve set up an production accounting course and film finances here in London as a diploma course one day a week for a year. And those guys can be, not assured, you can never guarantee it, of work when they come out of that course. It might not be as a production assistant but you can work your way up.
How did you determine that that was a missing gap of skill?
Peter: Because I talk to people. That’s one thing that you’ve got to do. You develop stuff as an independent but I had not been brought up to speed about what was happening in television or film - both on a technical level and a wider business level. I’m much more up to speed now as I just talk to people, and they suddenly say there’s no product and I’m like “what do you mean?”.
That’s true generally so I would hope that the school expands, both on a creative and craft level to be even more important to the industry that it is now. I think that’s starting to happen, it’s just beginning to happen.
Maybe there will be a time when more people in the industry will see a reason to pool resources, to say “hey, we’ll give you some funding to focus on these areas”.
Peter: That’s the course I just described, the certificate course, it was partly all three media. But the organising manager is a person called Sarah Gaiter, who happened to be my cost controller at Channel 4 and we’ve always kept in touch. So I had a lunch with her and she brought me up to speed with a lot of these things we’re talking about, but then she asked about the course and I said well everyone wants television clients now so she put money into it, she put bursaries into it. Because she said that’s much cheaper than you paying for it. Which, in a sense, is true. So that’s the kind of thing I’m looking for. Not just in drama but wherever we can find it.
Can you tell me something surprising or a fun fact about NFTS? Just something that maybe the average person might not know that would surprise them about your job from a day to day basis or what you see at the school.
Peter: Well, in a sense where I’ve been I’ve always wanted it in some ways to be fun, because I think show business is. I think people misread that, just telling people jokes and not caring. But if the work isn’t to some extent fun, its not working, I think. Even if it’s tough, it’s hard, it’s fun. The nature of filmmaking, is fun. If you think of the early days of what made film popular, it was the silent comedies, it was Charlie Chaplin slipping over a banana skin and all that, and certainly at the school, because you’ve got a mixed bag of people, quite a lot of comedy happens. I think, people who get that in some ways, I think enjoy it more. It’s not perfect, nothing’s perfect.
It’s the lighter side of the experience. Obviously there’s a lot of work to do, but there’s fun and interesting situations that come out of it.
Peter: It’s like in a script that works with an audience. If within the first five minutes you can make the audience laugh - it doesn’t have to be a joke, they’ll sit back and relax. It’s true whether you’re running a crew or whatever. You can work the other and be serious and never make a joke but it does have a positive.
So it is a fun place I think. I mean I think that’s what the guys that did that, unless they’re just plugging my course, they spot it and you know they would crack jokes with the MAs and that’s partly why they liked them. One of the writers, who got one of the bursaries that I was talking about, did everything. He chatted to the directors, he some gave advice on one of the animations, and he also worked behind the bar every night to make some money.
Sound very versatile.
Peter: Exactly, yes. I think you have to be these days though. In that way, you know, it’s different.
Jared, I know a bit about Cinema Jam, but I really wished to kind of, get you on the record, to chat about your experiences about being a director and what in those experiences, if anything at all, led you to create Cinema Jam. Because I think it’s interesting to see the evolution what created this organisation.
Jared: Well it’s an interesting question because, it was my work as a freelancer which led me to start Cinema Jam, but it was my work as a director which shaped Cinema Jam into what it is today. So as a freelancer, something that I loved about the industry was this sense of community that you have when you work on a project, and the flip side of that is the loss of community when a project finishes. So I started getting people together, literally just inviting people to drinks, and that was before Cinema Jam existed. That was sort of the proto of Cinema Jam, just inviting people to drinks that I worked with, saying if you’ve just worked on a film bring your fellow crew.
So I created to solve that problem as I saw it and other people seemed to agree that it was something that they wanted and because I was directing my own projects and I wanted to share that with my community and so I asked some other people if they wanted to bring their films and we did a film screening at one of these early events; and it really changed the nature of what I was able to offer. From going to just from that sense of community, to bringing something perhaps something inspiring or at least a conversation starter, you get people talking and get people interested in what some new film talent is up to. It introduced to Cinema Jam the idea of, more broadly, of curating some kind of programme for the community, rather than just bringing people together for drinks and that, in turn, led to everything else that we do; monthly screenings and talks and indeed, the bitesize courses.
I’m going to ask you a little bit of a curveball question. It just came into my head as you were saying this. I have interviewed other filmmakers that have been involved with Cinema Jam and one of the things that kind of comes out is that they have either established a relationships or they’ve seen films that might have inspired ideas. All things that are really helpful for their career, but they were surprising. Is there anything that stands out for you, as far as the evolution of Cinema Jam that maybe wasn’t planned for at the beginning but has turned into something that has been useful, either for the community or has been a big part of how Cinema Jam is used by members?
Jared: Well I would say, in a sense everything has been surprising and unplanned. Not that we don’t plan anything but that was unplanned in the beginning. In as much as it was never intended to be anything more than simply a social event where I would just keep in touch with people where there was a sense of social continuity from month to month which you otherwise don’t have when you’re a freelancer. So that’s everything.
Otherwise surprising things that have kind of come up…I suppose ‘The Spread’, the online magazine we have, as a way to - I think to be honest I don’t remember why we initially started that off the top of my head. We foresaw, at least, just how helpful it could be to people in our community to promote the good work that they’re doing and that was really nice, kind of. It’s something that’s helpful in its own right good that we can cover events and screenings and interview figures in the industry but actually we can also bring it back and focus it on our own community in a way that’s really helpful to people.
I’m going to ask you the same fun fact question. Fun fact, something that might surprise people about Cinema Jam. Maybe about your day-to-day or the organisation as a whole.
Jared: Yes so, we don’t manufacture, distribute or produce jam. However, Petra does, on an amateur level, enjoy making jam. She’s a jam maker; and I eat jam, which is a little fact about me, so there you go.
I want to start to get back into this partnership, I’m going to ask you both a similar question but I’ll start with you Jared. What was the catalyst, from your perspective, about seeking out a partnership with NFTS Short Courses, and how you thought that would work for the bite size courses that are taking place right now?
Jared: So, a number of our members were NFTS grads, and it was a conversation with one of our members who is also someone I worked with when I was a freelancer in the art department at Ecclestone who just had nothing but gushing praise about her time at NFTS. We just got to talking about how - well I obviously knew about NFTS on the outside - but hearing it from the insider’s view about what it was like and she just kind of planted that idea and ultimately introduced me to someone at NFTS who no longer works there, but at the time I think was the former head of Short Courses there. It wasn’t Nina. Nina was the former head but it was a colleague of hers, I don’t recall who works there, maybe still does work there.
It just sort of seemed natural, that we wanted to be moving in a direction of providing concrete informative programming. Whether that be special guests at our Jam Sessions or weekend courses, and it seemed only natural as there was no one doing it at higher standard than NFTS and I happened to know that by speaking to Helen and people she introduced me to, that the spirit and the culture of NFTS kind of felt right to us. It’s not always the case - I won’t mention any particular names or institutions - but sometimes you meet with an institution and you like their output but it’s not necessarily a good fit, culturally between the two organisations. It just seemed right.
Were you also getting any requests from members who said ‘we’d love to see you do programmes, since you have us all together to chat and have some social network and show our films, we’d love to see you do more from the educational standpoint, can you do that yourself or can you seek another organisation out’. Was that something that you heard that helped you move towards this?
Jared: I don’t know if someone concretely said you guys should put on weekend courses, but certainly we did market research within our community and asked people what they want and people wanted more of what we were providing already, which is to say they wanted more access to big people doing exciting things, to learn from them. Once we realised there was a real demand for that, we went for it.
What about from your perspective? How did you see this partnership as it was starting off and the benefits.
Peter: Well I never articulated it, but I’m always happy to look outward for expansion instead. My coordinator, Nathan Paul, I think it was the first couple of weeks I was there, said that there was this scheme, would you like to meet Jared? I thought yeah, this could be good. What I’m talking about is what Jared says about this sense of community, which used to happen around the broadcasters, it used to be there even though they’re often rivals, but it doesn’t now. So in a way, if it doesn’t, you need to create it for events for any generation, I think. So it mirrors some of my, kind of my thoughts about what’s happening and what we’re looking for and it’s a chance to meet real professionals, who aren’t going to lie to you. On the other hand, you’re not going to go out cutting your throats and saying there’s no hope. You need that balance.
What would you say, from your views, is the main goals of this partnership?
Peter: Well it’s growing isn’t it? One of the things that has happened is we now, at the NFTS have a Marketing and Press department, that is there isn’t it? And what we needed to do is quite busy, but they have got Jared and us involved together in that and we’re all speaking together. I think that’s a step forward. I would like to talk more about courses and share what we can do together and all that.
Jared: I mean, I agree with Peter in the fact that I guess the basis that it works and why we can continue to grow it is helpful for both organisations is that we, first of all have that has been previously discussed in this conversation, Peter and I have similar approaches in bringing people together, so there’s a similar ethos there. We are, certainly in the Short Courses and some extent in the MA, but certainly in the short courses, we have a massive overlap of people in our communities and in our audiences that we can reach. But we are not offering exactly the same thing, so in a way it’s sort of the ideal partnership because it’s the same sort of people, but if they want one thing they go to NFTS, if they’re not so sure about that they come to us and in turn we can pass them to NFTS. But it’s not like if they do something NFTS they don’t want to do anything with Cinema Jam and vice versa. So it’s very, I guess, symbiotic.
So that leads me to my next question which is, how do you see the NFTS Short Courses and the bite size NFTS CinemaJam courses complimenting each other? Because you said, you could go to one for one thing and go to the other for another thing. So how do they compliment each other as far as content goes? And what are the main differences between the content that is being offered in each experience?
Peter: Well your bite courses are bite courses aren’t they? There in an evening or just…
Jared: Well yeah it’s one weekend each month. When people come to our courses, they’re a very practical kind of bite size chunk to give them a little boost in their career in that field. Whereas, I don’t want to speak for NFTS, but I think you’re getting, although they’re called Short Courses, you’re getting a more substantial.
Peter: Yeah, I mean we do have two day courses, but those two day courses are very sort of, not always, but usually very craft specific. You learn about particular pieces of software, you might have two days with a documentary maker explaining “so this is a camera, if you want to do everything, this is what you do”, so it’s very practical.
Beyond that, we have courses that run for a week or two weeks. Then it’s more substantial, you have guest speakers come in, the course is led usually with some practical result you get in the end. You might have made a little five minutes of a documentary or whatever. So that tends to be what that is; and then we have our diploma courses, which are much longer, which go on for a year or a year and a half but one day a week, and they are based in London. They have access to NFTS facilities and stuff. It’s quite a broad church.
So between the two courses, you’re almost covering everything.
Peter: Yes, well we will eventually. I think everything, what do you think?
Jared: Well yeah we’d always love to offer more, and in regards to the specific content and topics we cover, in relation to Short Courses, that is something we’d love to do if possible, is more and more have a direct connection. We talked about this recently, so we’d have a two day cinematography course and say to people “if you like that, you can sign up now directly for this Short Course run by NFTS”. It’s just a matter of coordinating our schedules. But that would be the idea.
Within this partnership for the bite size courses, what do you feel like is the most attractive element of signing up for them? So like about them specifically, the content being offered or…
Jared: So I think that everybody has heard of NFTS and know that it is the top, right? It’s like a film school but people know that it is beyond a film school. Calling NFTS a film school is a bit like calling The Beatles a rock band, like yes they’re a rock band, but actually they’re beyond that. When I went to UCLA and I had friends going to UFC and NYU, these are all top film schools, but they’re still not quite at the level that NFTS is in the way that NFTS has one foot in the industry and one foot in the academic world.
That’s said, a lot of people still don’t realise that NFTS has this other side which is the Short Courses, not enough people realise that. So I think, the benefit of taking a bite size course is it can introduce you to that world, where there is a whole world of professional development available that I can do a couple of weeks of Short Courses at NFTS and really boost my skills and they can learn that by doing just a weekend with us so there’s something out there that they really weren’t clear about.
Peter: And also it is also the NFTS, so a lot of people are not sufficiently aware that we are in Beaconsfield. There was actually a thought years ago, before I had anything to do with it, to move it to London, but I’m rather glad that didn’t happen. But it does mean that if you’re going to Beaconsfield, you’re making a sort of commitment as quite a lot of people are based in London, you’re making a commitment to make a journey everyday. You have to buy a rail ticket, sometimes some of the courses are subsided, some of it isn’t, I don’t quite understand that.
The brand is there, but we can actually make it stronger and I think that’s one of the things that the school got to do really, because that’s a slight mystery. The reason that it is in Beaconsfield, of course, is because that was the location of the first film studio ever in the country and we still have the whole building with the old sound stage.
Jared: There’s a fun fact about the NFTS.
Peter: It really is terrific.
Jared: Is it still in use?
Peter: Yes, you go there and see the old buildings that actually were used for the black and white films that are not really shown on TV anymore but they were made in Beaconsfield. So that’s the connection, and to some extent I think, that still works. But the more we can make people aware of it and the brand and what it represents, the better, and that’s why I think this is a good collaboration.
And I also see the symbiosis further there, because the ‘test’ courses could be a gateway to understanding the true courses and go back and forth.
Jared: It’s the fact that we’re very centrally located and it’s just two days, it’s a very easy commitment to make, relative, to wet people’s appetite, I suppose, for further professional development. Just for an example, we’ve just had someone come from Germany, to do this weekend course, and one of her concerns before she booked was ‘is it going to be easy to get there’ as you don’t have a lot of time to spend travelling; and the fact that she could just come straight into central London and here we are. Now we’ve planted this in her mind, she’s now got connections with the British Film Industry and has this idea that it has been really very helpful to develop my skills a bit more and if I wanted to do that further, it’s pretty obvious that NFTS would be the next step and this is sort of this term, digital marketing term, ‘removing friction’, is something that I think we are able to do, to make it easier for someone to move towards, in this case to move to the Short Courses, by removing barriers and pushing them to that direction if it’s helpful to them.
Peter: I mentioned those two new buildings, the school is expanding - there is room to expand. Previously it was quite difficult to get new rooms for courses but that isn’t an issue anymore, so this expanding, we’re looking for that. The brand does need public acknowledgement.
What about the vision for this partnership? Whether it is within the courses or potentially even beyond that. What is the joint vision as far as where this might be going in the coming months and years.
Peter: Well I think one of the things is trying to, as Jared said, trying to maybe from Cinema Jam’s point of view that there is this place in Beaconsfield that they can follow up, perhaps in more depth or in a different way. That’s one of the things.
So just helping to raise awareness? Is that a big part of it?
Peter: I think the other thing is to always encourage talent, because that’s what the business needs. You can’t really define it, you know when it’s there. To know that there’s places where people feel that they are talented, or are talented can a way of meeting contemporaries and also doing some really good work.
Jared: Something else we didn’t mention before which has been going on and will continue to go on, I’m sure, is the fact that, in a sort of informal way, we are cultivating a community among NFTS alumni, as we often screen their work because they produce great work, and that’s a great excuse to bring them together. That happened just last Monday night, we had a screening and there was an NFTS grad there who, in fact, she has worked on two other films, that we screened there. They know each other and they’re working with each other again.
Peter: That’s terrific, because it’s a collaborative business in the end. You can’t really do it on your own, even if you’re a writer, you can’t just sit in your room all day and create masterpieces. There are exceptions though.
Last question then, what should people be excited about? Just coming up, with Bite-Size Courses, or what you guys are thinking about with particular courses you have coming up that people will be running to sign up for?
Jared: Well our cinematography course with Richard Greatrex has sold out every time we’ve run it and we’ve just announced another one of those coming in the autumn, so anyone who wants to get tickets for that better jump on it and then we’re running a second cinematography course, well it’s happening first before that, with Phil Meheux and it’s called ‘How to Shoot James Bond’ and it’s another two day cinematography Bite-Size Course. So that should be really good and then we’re doing another editing course with Nicolas Chaudeurge and we’re bringing in Colin Goudie, who edited Rouge One, Star Wars Rogue One.
Peter: Oddly enough, talking about cinematography, we’ve just begun a diploma course in directing commercials where the directors actually do get to make three commercials each over a year. I just saw the first commercials that they made, 30 seconds each, and they were sensationally good, and they were shot on the C300 cameras, they had budgets of £500. But there were people from agencies there and there was a panel discussion and that was really fantastic. That’s what you want really, a real result.
Results are good. It’s also the community, people might be focused on TV or film but those same people are working in PR and lots of other areas.
Peter: Absolutely and I think that’s really good.
Jared: You can’t really argue with those kind of results.
Peter: No you can’t, I was quite taken aback actually.
Jared: This is almost too good.
Peter: Nik was there as well, he was also impressed.
Make sure to check out all the impressive results for yourself, firsthand, by taking a look at ShortCourses@NFTS here and Cinema Jam’s Bite-Size Courses here.
