Cinergi Review Their Networking Event - Aberscreen!

Fri 21 Feb 2014 / Film Chat

The morning was cold and damp, with the air in Aberdeen University’s Butchart building dry but no less cold! The first event from Cinergi, the Filmmaking Society of the University of Aberdeen, was getting underway If one were to venture inside during goNORTH’s workshop on How to Run a Production, you might catch a glimpse of students having a brief exercise just to stay warm! Nevertheless the atmosphere in the room remained alive, as the workshop that kicked off the event went well with attendees gaining valuable insights on the workings of TV and Film production from goNORTH Festival Director, Amanda Millen We were introduced to aspects of production that we had perhaps previously been unaware of.

“Aberscreen was a great opportunity to meet people from inside the industry and have an insight into the workings behind and in front of the camera. The speakers were friendly and informative and the camera workshop from Visual Impact was extremely helpful.”

A quick lunch, before Visual Impact began their camera workshop. They talked us through what kind of kit would be used for certain types of production and as a rental house how the process works from their end. Our delegates were ecstatic with the hands on camera session where a variety of equipment was set up with open access. Everything from a RED Epic to Blackmagic’s much hyped pocket camera. The day was rounded off with Andy Twaddle from the BBC who shared with us his experience in documentary making, and was heavily questioned in an open Q&A session.

“I really liked the idea of having people who are involved in the industry at the event to give some advice and information.”

“I’m not much for the technical side of things, but hearing about it from people in the industry intrigued me and listening to what they had to say was great”

This was the first time that Cinergi had organised an event of this type. The feedback people gave indicated that they definitely found it useful, attendees found it invaluable to be able to interact with people from the industry. This is one of the reasons why we’re delighted that all in attendance were invited to goNORTH festival in June (a Cinergi trip to Inverness is definitely going to be on the cards!) and Visual Impact said they’d be happy to talk to us about any equipment issues. It’s really fantastic that this could open up connections for people!

Cinergi plans to put what we have learned from Aberscreen into practice, with our Cinergi Games. We've put our members into groups and challenged them to create a short film by the end of April, screening all the content we’ve created during the academic year.  Aberscreen was such a success that we definitely plan on running it again in 2015 focussing on getting more networking time with people from the industry. The Filmmaking Society is something that we’re really passionate about and want  to continue and evolve. We've been blown away by the support shown from those who led workshops for us. Thank you.