Introducing In The Frame, Hartlepool’s newest film collective brought to you from alumni, students and friends, “dedicated to bringing like-minded creatives together in one place to share skills, knowledge and enthusiasm to create! The collective wants to encourage anyone with any experience to get involved and believe that this community will be vital to anyone who wants to feel as if they’re part of a creative network in the area, anyone who wants to start making those important connections and want’s to start getting their name out there.”

In The Frame encourages all local film lovers and makers to join it’s collection “We don’t discriminate against work as any level of film-making is welcome and will be encouraged and appreciated no matter how weird, new or old. In The Frame is about bringing together everyone and giving them access to workshops, film screenings and Q&A’s that will provide them with unique experiences and possibly even find them their future cast and crew.”

Launch Night

The first debut screening on 1st of September “was an amazing success and for our very first event it went off without any problems! We were overwhelmed by the number of people who came and the positive energy that was in the room, You couldn’t look left to right without seeing connections being made, we had actors meeting directors, and fashion/costume experts meeting animators! It was a breath of fresh air for the town!  

We had an amazing line-up of directors too with some really great films on show that explored a lot of different genres and really showed off our willingness to push for creativity and community.  

It’s always great to see fellow Alumni some newer and some older and to find out what everyone’s up to and for the most part everyone in the same boat, Hartlepool was in desperate need of a community like this to bring people together from all courses and experiences and to start sharing our knowledge and passion with one another. It was great to see people who didn’t just graduate from film at our first meeting, we were joined by graduates and students from other courses such as Costume Design, Photography, Acting and even Fine Art.

 Everyone had different influences and a different relationship with film which was really interesting when talking to them as it felt like there was so much variety in the room you could just get lost in conversation for hours. It was also amazing to see their work screened as there really was this feeling that everyone was equal and no one was above the others, There was this feeling that every film was given respect and the attention of the audience and hearing each director talk about their work was inspiring and in the end it didn’t matter if you had a degree or not we were just a group of people all enthusiastic about the same thing and all ready to unite Hartlepool with our creativity.”  

 Advice for young filmmakers?

“I think In The Frame will be a great place for young film-makers to begin their journey or continue their journey as going forward we have some really exciting plans to bring more screenings and more workshops to Hartlepool and there’s no better place to meet other creatives you may end up working with than one of our events! This group was made with the intention to give film-makers a place to improve and harness their craft so never be afraid to ask questions, get feedback and get your name out there.  

Outside of In The Frame, there’s the Tees Valley New Creatives who offer amazing support to newly graduated students looking for paid work here and there and The Newcastle Film Club for people who want more film and monthly challenges to take part in. The Artrium in Hartlepool also offers creatives a place to display physical work and is a great place to start meeting other local artists and creatives as you never know what sort of creative support you’ll need in the future. There’s also Tees Valley International Film Festival who are offering a scholarship and up to £ 3000 to fund a film if picked.”   

Advice for Film Students & Graduates

“My advice as a film graduate of the Northern School Of Art is to sign up for groups like In The Frame and don’t wait until you’ve left before you begin your networking, The harsh reality is a lot of people struggle to find creative work once they leave university so the best thing you can do for yourself is to start creating social media’s to promote your work and start polishing your specific style of film to make yourself stand out. Show that you’re prepared to wake up at 5 a.m. for that one sunrise shot and show that you’re dedicated to getting work edited fast with lots of communication and room for feedback. Don’t be scared to explore new genres and weird concepts and don’t be scared to push the limits as there are always opportunities to find a budget and lots of support out there if you’re willing to ask  

Next In The Frame Event

The next In The Frame event will take place on Wednesday the 4th October and will be a practical look at prioritising story over gear, and exploring how to find the emotional impact of a scene using low-cost gear and creative thinking. Led by an award-winning filmmaker, passionate about this ethos and closing the event will be more screenings from some incredible local filmmakers. 

The  event will be held in The Northern School Of Art Theatre 18:30 – 22:30, 

 Church Square, TS4 7EX 

Join In the frame on Instagram (@intheframe) Download the In The Frame App or find out more on Facebook!