Finishing My Placement

The final days of my placement have largely been put to use tying up loose ends. I didn't want to leave without finishing my jobs properly.

The Good Iranian is Bridge + Tunnel's second feature film and is currently in development. I was given the small task of updating the film's IMDb page. There was some information (about which companies are funding the film, for example) which needed updating and I needed to upload a poster to the page. I managed to do this quite quickly once I had logged into the IMDb account (trickier than it looks - we forgot the password!) and got hold of the correct information.

I also composed a short follow-up email to be sent to all of the international television companies I emailed at the start of my placement. I only had one response before but just in the first hour after sending the follow-up email I got three replies! That just goes to show that pestering people (sometimes) works! I then updated the database I created when I began my work experience by adding a note of who had replied and their response.

I've had a great time working at Bridge + Tunnel Productions and I think I've gained some insight into what goes on behind the scenes at such a small, independent media company. The people there are fantastic, too, which made the whole experience so enjoyable. I am going to go back in next week even though I have completed my hours because I want to finish the work I started on the I Am Nasrine acquisitions spreadsheet.

Bye, bye Bridge + Tunnel! You were great.

Waving bye to the office building! (It's a lot prettier inside, I promise.)

Day 7: Working Girl

Day 7 already! Today was a day of admin things in the office. As I've finished my mini-project for the Angelou Centre, I didn't have anything large to work on. I was put to work researching contact details for start-up companies in Newcastle who would maybe be interested in renting out the studio space in the office. As I mentioned before, the Bridge + Tunnel offices are in a large warehouse building and there is lots of space relatively unused. I just needed to Google small companies in the area and compose an email to inform them of the space Bridge + Tunnel have available.

I made updated the existing spreadsheet with the new contacts, too. (I'm actually really proud of the spreadsheets I've made so far - I'm much more confident with Excel now!)

I overheard Tina (Bridge + Tunnel's Creative Director) mentioning that a friend of mine from University (who has recently graduated and started this social community project) might be interested in the space. As I knew her, I got in touch and suggested arranging a meeting so that she could see the space in person. Melanie Griffith eat your heart out.

Angelou Centre Mini-Project

My fifth day of work experience at Bridge + Tunnel had me starting another task from my to-do list. I was to write up a document for the Angelou Centre in Newcastle regarding openness, ownership and accessibility in community work.

There are two sides to Bridge + Tunnel Productions, the media production company and Bridge + Tunnel Voices, a charity which provides workshops and projects for the local community. Bridge + Tunnel Voices (BTV) want to start a project with the Angelou Centre and so I needed to write about how the BTV project would work to support the work that the Angelou Centre do already.

The Angelou Centre, based in Newcastle, provides support for women who are excluded in their communities because of disadvantages due to race and gender. Writing this document took up two days of my placement, and so I treated it like a mini-project. My document had to clearly explain that any work that BTV would do alongside the Angelou Centre would be tailored to preserve the integrity of both organisations. I asked questions like "why is community engagement for us?" and "how can we build effective relationships in our community?" to demonstrate the sincerity of the BTV charity and to prove that the women from the Angelou Centre were fairly represented in any media produced as a result of the project.

If you want to read more about the work the Angelou Centre and BTV do within Newcastle, head to their websites, linked below:

 http://angelou-centre.org.uk.s197746.gridserver.com/

 http://www.bridgeandtunnelproductions.com/category/voices-our-community-education-work/                                       

Day 4: Film Festival Research

On day 4, I again attended the weekly Monday office meeting and so I got a clearer insight into where I needed to be with work today. My main task: research international film festivals.

I needed to research as many festivals as possible and update their current database. I needed to find out submission deadlines, submission fees and contact information. The old spreadsheet wasn't organised in a way which made it easy to read. I think some of the organisation inspiration from my last day at work experience was still present inside me today, because I decided to re-arrange the spreadsheet into alphabetical order by country and I colour coordinated it too. I know. My inner Monica was in full force today.*

"Rules are fun! Rules control the fun!"

In all seriousness though, researching the film festivals was actually very interesting. I didn't know there were so many small, independent festivals. We all know and recognise Cannes Film Festival or the Sundance Film Festival, but there are literally hundreds internationally. I was specifically looking for festivals which focused on human rights issues, or short documentaries/films. Researching took up my whole day today, but I am feeling more comfortable in the office each day and so I enjoyed chatting to Nelly and Beatriz in the office today much more than before. They're really lovely people!

*In case you live under a rock, I'm referencing Friends here. If you still don't know what that is, Google it and know that I'm disappointed in you.

Organisation is Essential! Work Experience: Day 3

Hello everyone! Today was the third day of my work experience placement. On the previous two days of my placement, I have been preparing everything for promoting the sale of the international television rights for I Am Nasrine. I have been feeling really concerned about doing this properly and so I've constantly been emailing James and Beatriz asking them to check that I'm doing everything properly. I think eventually they are going to be sick of all these emails!



My work area - a place where you can find one super organised gal!

When I got to the office today, I found that James had gone ahead and sent all of the emails for me. This meant that I could start some of the other tasks I'd been assigned in the previous weekly meeting. At this point, I feel like I have a long to-do list and if I carry on working at the pace I started at then I'll be here for years! So today I aimed to work more efficiently, trusting in my own initiative and working at a much faster speed!

Nelly and Beatriz were very busy today and so I was given a couple of extra, small admin tasks to do for them while they got on with their own work. They use an online system called Wunderlist which organises your office's to-do lists properly, assigning individual employees with their personal tasks. One of the jobs I needed to do today was to update the office to-do lists on this app.

I actually made myself a Wunderlist account and I think I'm going to start using it in my everyday life to keep myself organised. I'm a compulsive list-maker as it is, which is great as long as I don't lose the piece of paper I wrote my to-do list down on. So this app looks like it's going to actually really benefit me!

Lesson learnt: organisation is key to success. I am keeping the same notebook for this placement, too, in the hope that this will keep me on track with the jobs I need to do! It felt like a long day today, but looking forward to starting some of the other tasks they've asked me to do.

Day 2: Work Experience

Day Two at Bridge + Tunnel felt like it ran quite smoothly. As it's Monday, all of the staff have their weekly group meeting in the morning to discuss the tasks for the week. I sat in on the meeting today and contributed some input as I talked about my progress with the distribution of I Am Nasrine and explained what I had started working on. I felt very organised in the meeting (I had my notebook and pen ready for note-making) and I liked feeling like I was included as a valuable part of the office's team.

Today I got to grips with what information I was actually supposed to be researching. (Note to self: ask questions!) So I went back over the spreadsheet I made before and updated everything. Finding the correct email addresses and names of the people you're trying to reach, especially as most of the websites weren't written in English, was much trickier than I had expected! Luckily, I managed to finish the spreadsheet before lunch - I felt bad for taking so long to do something so simple!

When I got back from lunch (Pret's crayfish and rocket sandwich, if you're interested), I began to think about writing a draft email which I would be sending to all of the contacts I'd researched. I needed to know more about I Am Nasrine so I watched the trailer and some interviews on YouTube about the feature so I knew what I was writing about. The film is about a young Iranian girl who moves to the UK and deals with growing up and all of the other problems that come with moving from your mother country to somewhere entirely different from home. You can watch the trailer below:

Starting My Placement: Thursday 9th April

Hello readers! A different kind of post from me today (and one of many to come). As you know, I am in my third and final year of study at Newcastle University and this term I am enrolled in my school's Cultural Industries module. For this module, I will be taking on a 60-hour work experience placement. I'm going to blog each day of my experience and track my journey.

Today I started my first day of work experience at Bridge + Tunnel Productions. Bridge + Tunnel are a independent media production company based in Newcastle and so this placement is going to provide me some insight into an industry I'm truly interested in. I am the station manager of my university's television channel and so I feel like I already have some insight into the industry. I think I would like to go into film in the future which is why I'm so keen to learn more during my placement!

Bridge + Tunnel's offices are actually located above World Headquarters in Newcastle City Centre. WHQ is a nightclub which I have frequented quite a few times over my three years at university here, so it was strange for me to be there in the daytime, and sober. There's something a little unnerving about that. I was obviously nervous and keen to make a good first impression, so I made sure I was early and looked smart. I didn't know the office dress code, so I attempted to strike a balance between smart/casual in the hope that I'd fit in.

My nerves were completely dispelled when I arrived and met the people in the office. The office is small, with only two members of permanent staff, so I quickly felt comfortable with the new setting. Nelly and Beatriz are super friendly; as soon as I arrived they showed me around the offices and got me to sign confidentiality agreements and health and safety paperwork. The offices are large and trendy - it's a warehouse building and there's even a ping pong table in there. I'm hoping I'll get to have a go before I leave!

I had been emailing James Baillie, B+T's Executive Producer, so I already had some idea of the tasks I would be set. I met up with James and discussed the work I would be expected to complete during my placement. I have been assigned the role of Marketing Assistant; I am to work on the distribution of Tina Gharavi's debut feature, I Am Nasrine.

I began researching contact details for international television companies and put them into an Excel spreadsheet. (My ECDL qualification has finally come in handy for something!) This took so long and so when I left today I had only gone through about half of the original list!