Northern Bear Films – the Building Blocks of Video Production

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Hello, Creatives!  Our latest series of blogs comes from the lovely folk at Northern Bear Films, an award-winning creative film & media company, focused on creating and sharing entertaining stories.

Since launching in 2012, Aman, Jerome & the team have delivered projects for local to national brands, including names such as The National Trust, Creative England, and the British Film Institute.

Today, the basics – a very building-blocks approach to video production;
from the ground up, with or without a budget.

What is video production?

Northern Bear.jpgVideo is a great way to capture audience attention and convey the message in a short period of time, but have you ever wondered the different stages and the work that goes behind the scene before you see the polished product?

Here are the 3 main steps you need to consider if you are looking to create video content:

Continue reading “Northern Bear Films – the Building Blocks of Video Production”

How to not mess up your work experience placement

Today’s post comes from the genius audio producer that is Tim Johns, who is currently Reporter/Producer for The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2.

I did a talk on this subject at this year’s Student Radio Conference in Cardiff.

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Yes, some of it is blindingly obvious, but I thought it needed saying because I see people come in for radio placements/internships/shadowing at Radio 2 a lot.  And so often, people get the little things wrong.

tim johns.jpgDon’t be useless at making phone calls

If you’re asked to pick up the phone and book a guest, take a deep breath and go for it. You need to be charming and persuasive. It can be slightly daunting making this first phone call in an open-plan office but if you come across badly and the guest says “no” that’s not great.

Continue reading “How to not mess up your work experience placement”

Become a Reviewer in Residence at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

CuckooHello, Creatives!  This one is stolen from the lovely folk at Cuckoo Young Writers, an organisation that exists to develop emerging writing talent in the North of the UK.  If you’re interested in writing/journalism, aged 15 – 23, please read on!

The Write Life.jpg(If you’re outside North UK, or outside Cuckoo’s age bracket, there are dozens of opportunities our there, and The Write Life have compiled a handy list of top-notch places to start:  26 Amazing Writing Residencies You Should Apply for This Year.)

“Become a Reviewer in Residence at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA) in Sunderland!”

Continue reading “Become a Reviewer in Residence at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art”

Season 2, 1 – Maximising Your Voice

— Listen online or subscribe on iTunes— 

Hello, Creatives!  It’s been a long wait, but (drum roll…) here’s season 2.
Our awesome guests this week are;

Peff Soulsby

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Click here to listen to Peff Soulsby on 99% Perspiration

“My speciality is sexy robots.  I’m trying to carve out that niche.  GPS, on board computers…  Siri, I’m coming for you.”

Freelance voice-over & voice actor, & Graduate Marketing Assistant at Newcastle University.  And, following the release of EVE: Valkyrie, pioneering sexy robot voices everywhere.

“Find your outside passions.  Be broad, and follow them as well.  Contacts are important, don’t burn your bridges.”

Tom Campbell

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Click here to listen to Tom Campbell on 99% Perspiration

“If you ever have a coaching session, and you leave feeling brow-beaten, and disheveled, and destroyed, then you have had a bad coaching session.  You should never leave a coaching session anything less than inspired to get back on the radio.”

Drivetime presenter on Heart North East Radio, and all-round Super-Human.  Also recently known as “Dr. Cuddles”, prescribing free hugs in Middlesborough.  Awww.

Seriously, it’s cute…

Vik, aka VikkStar123

“YouTube for me was just a fun little hobby with friends from school.  It just turned out that there were people searching for gaming videos, and it’s grown from that initial spark – hey, people are watching my stuff, I should try to make it better.”

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Click here to listen to Vik of The Sidemen on 99% Perspiration

One of the seven-strong Sidemen, a group of collaborating YouTubers who post pretty funny content.  Your typical video-gaming dude.  (Big ups to Niall McGuire for sharing with us.)

With new music, courtesy of the awesome audio producer Jed Stoker.

nyf-gold-award-jay-sykes-circle-crop1Get in touch with 99% Perspiration:
Join our growing creative network on Facebook
Twitter & Instagram – @99Podcast
Blogs & extra content – 99Podcast.com
There’s much “merch” on our RedBubble
& you can support us via Patreon

And, as always,
Stay productive, stay awesome!

Jay Sykes
Executive Producer, 99% Perspiration

— Listen online or subscribe on iTunes —

WTKieran!? – It Gets Better

12899791_10206255264964173_1892789150_nHello, Creatives!  Every once in a while, I like to post content by other creative people, especially emerging talent.  (I should say, if you’re interested in sharing your creative posts on the 99% Perspiration blog, I’m but a message away, via Facebook or Twitter.)

Kieran Brannan is a guy I know from university; I’ve not taught him, but seen him around Spark FM, the community radio station we volunteer at together.  And now, he’s graduating straight into a BBC position; a runner with BBC Scotland.

Well, I’ve long admired people who can post content about their emotions in connection with their creative self so freely; take a look around the posts here and you’ll see only positivity from me.  It’s not a defence, exactly, it’s how I want to present myself online.

So Kieran took part in today’s #99PodcastHour (every Tuesday, 7pm – 8pm GMT) and shared this;

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Kieran’s called his post “It Gets Better”.

Continue reading “WTKieran!? – It Gets Better”

Balancing Content Strategy and Implementation

Twitter Tonight - CMAAt 8pm GMT this evening, content marketing expert Chris Marr will be talking live about Effective Content Marketing.

You might remember Chris from episode 8 of 99% Perspiration; and if you haven’t heard it, it’s worth checking out.  Content Marketing, also known as inbound marketing, is quite a new word in the world of marketing – the basic idea is bringing customers to your business through getting content out there, even if your business has nothing to do with content generation – and you couldn’t pick a better guide than Chris Marr.

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How to Impress on a TV Set – Gayle Woodruff

Today’s Top Ten Tips is filtered from an outstanding talk by Gayle Woodruff, from Northern Film and Media.  The talk was literally months ago, but it’s been sitting there in my notes, and in the back of my mind all this time.  And after so many of you got in contact following our post about Edinburgh TV Festival’s intense TV course “The Network”, I thought now would be a perfect time to share Gayle’s words of wisdom with you.

1) No Job is Too Demoralising

Gayle Woodruff“Some people might turn their nose up at a job that’s just making tea and coffee – but that’s the best way to get yourself in front of a whole TV crew.” – Gayle Woodruff, Northern Film & Media

What if you find yourself in the fortunate position of being invited to work on a TV set?  How can you make the most of your time on that TV set?  How can you stand out from the hundreds of other runners in your area, and really impress your TV employers?  With a huge thanks to Gayle, here are Top Ten Tips for kick-starting your – or how to impress a TV/film crew.
Continue reading “How to Impress on a TV Set – Gayle Woodruff”

99% Perspiration vs. Juice Festival – part 2

Ryan Kennedy and Jay Sykes

Ryan’s the one looking goofy on the left, I’m the one with less than cool fashion sense on the right. Who even wears knitted ties?

Juice Festival blog’s Ryan Watson caught up with me over lunch to chat all things creative, and why I make 99% Perspiration.  (You can read part 1 of the interview here, where we talked about questions, interview skills and preparation.)

We chatted about networking skills, building up confidence, creative opportunities, and about the inspiration behind making 99% Perspiration.

Could you tell me about some of the challenges in building up the audience for 99% Perspiration?

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Click here to listen to Sean Rameswaram, producer of Sideshow on WNYC & Studio 360, on 99% Perspiration

Podcasts do take a lot of work, a lot of time to build up – you’ve just got to keep going at it really.  I haven’t increased numbers as much as I’d originally hoped for, but I’ve increased numbers a fair bit since I began.  We’re into the thousands now, it’s taken a long time.

It’s interesting that you say numbers have not gone up as much as you’d hoped by now…

Yeah, I was hoping to have conquered the world by now.  (Jay laughs.)

Continue reading “99% Perspiration vs. Juice Festival – part 2”

The Network – Intense TV Training

Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 17.15.39.png“TV is all about relationships.  We’re helping you kick-start those relationships.”

That’s Campbell Glennie of the annual Edinburgh TV Festival – every August, the @EdinburghTVFest is one of the highlights of the TV industry, bringing together around 2,000 people who work in TV across the UK and beyond, to network & celebrate.

Creative Futures, lovely folks as they are, kindly invited me to attend Campbell’s talk earlier today on their intense talent development scheme which runs alongside the festival, “The Network“.  If you live in the UK, and want to work in TV, this could be the gateway for you.

Continue reading “The Network – Intense TV Training”

Lungs – A Call to North East Artists

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Lungs is an upcoming contemporary art publication based in Sunderland.  It exists to catalogue the work of emerging North East artists, and to provide a platform to exhibit to a wider audience.

With a limited print run, the catalogue will be distributed to local galleries, museums and art organisations, to serve as a reference of the innovative creative work happening on our own doorstep.

Photographer Angela Wingate is one of a team of three bringing “Lungs” together.  We asked her why this project is so important to her:

Angela Wingate Photography

“I think more than anything, we wanted to show what’s going on around here. Our curating class spent the week in London last month and the culture of the city is so arts focused.  Everywhere!  You don’t get that here.”
Angela Wingate, Photographer & Co-Founder of Lungs

“Everyone assumes you have to travel to London for arts and culture but there is some awesome work being created in the North East.  We want the galleries and art organisations to know that before they call out to artists down south, see what’s going on right here.

62f2b5_4ce67c1b2f284b67835150f097358bfa(1)“We want the Lungs catalogue to kind of serve as a reminder… like, ‘Hey, we’re here!’  Hopefully, it will be received well and we will be able make Lungs an annual publication.  And we’re really excited.”

A call for artists based in North East UK is now open until 15 April 2016. Submission guidelines can be found at lungsproject.org.

An exhibition of a selected works will coincide with the launch of the first Lungs issue in September 2016.  To find out more about the project, you can email the team – lungs.project@gmail.com

Want to help support us, & buy some snazzy stuff in the process?  Head over to our RedBubble – clothing, mugs, books, bags galore!  We’ll have some new designs on the site soon.

nyf-gold-award-jay-sykes-circle-crop1And, as always,
Stay productive, stay awesome!

Jay Sykes
Executive Producer, 99% Perspiration