UAL Extended Diploma in Film & TV Production students Owen Snell & Jacob Trotter worked alongside production company Artistic Solutions to install our outstanding light installation at Newport Road. The installation celebrates our third consecutive outstanding Ofsted achievement and the staff and students that made it possible. The project involved work from staff across multiple departments who partnered with Artistic Solutions to display film footage depicting the schools prestigious history.

Owen and Jacob worked alongside the production company and director Dan Brobbel on the display, speaking of the experience Jacob said “working on the installation with Artistic Solutions (a local production company I work for outside of college) was an incredible opportunity and something totally new for myself, the company and the North East as a whole. The whole project was a cumulation of week’s of planning & design which I got to be a part of and came together just in time for the grand unveiling.”

Reflecting on the impact of the display he commented “being on site to operate and manage all of the content that was playing on the screen, I had the opportunity to talk to some local business owners and residents who said that the installation reminded them of Times Square and that is was exactly what Middlesbrough needed, and that it was great to see the college putting Middlesbrough on the map in the creativity and innovation scene.”

Fellow film student Owen said “working on the video wall was a great experience and one which I will remember for the rest of my life. I learned loads about all the equipment and it was an amazing step into the industry which I am going to continue exploring and developing in.”

Speaking of his course Jacob said “I’ve really enjoyed the last year and a half on the course, and our current project Northern Sound is kind of our ‘go-out-with-a-bang’ production to finish off the course in style and set a new benchmark for the biggest student production in Northern School Of Art history, the biggest production so far (not student led) being the Outstanding LED Installation a few weeks ago.”

Jacob continued “Northern Sound was really born out of a challenge for an earlier project to pull of a large scale live event in 4 weeks, we decided that wasn’t possible and decided instead to give ourselves 5 months to work on it as an FMP. The whole premise of the event is slightly inspired by Eurovision and myself and Owen Snell are producing a single phase Music Competition for local artists in the College-level TV Studio which will be streamed to an online audience as well as live in the building to an audience with hosts & interaction.”

Owen commented, “With Northern Sound it has been a wonderful project so far trying together to build a live broadcast from the ground up using all of our skills and trying to get everyone involved from the rest of the film course and more people all over college. Over all both projects have been and are phenomenal and I am so happy to be working on them with Jacob who is an incredible and kind person.”

Jacob and Owen are looking to work with local artists Jacob said “we put out open casting calls to any local artists that would like to be involved and have reached out to some directly and are slowly building a lineup for the event, but are still looking to add more names to the show, anyone interested can email northernsound@trademarkmedia.co.uk!”

Speaking of future ambitions Jacob said “after I finish my studies here this year, I have a couple of events lined up on Freelance terms but I am looking to take on a full time role doing AVL (Audio, Video, Lighting) Production with a local company and take on more work than I am currently across the UK.”

If you are interested in studying Film at college-level make sure you check out our UAL Extended Diploma in Film & TV Production course page. Find out more about the skills and opportunities offered to students on this dynamic and industry focused pathway.