Kingussie Food On Film Festival

Hit The Ground Running Training Course

ScreenHI have been friends with Kingussie Food on Film for a few years so it seemed natural that we should partner with them in such a mutually beneficial way Hit The Ground Running is a fantastic training course, which we first ran at our creative industries festival, goNORTH in 2012 It allows new entrants to find out about the production process through learning about the role of the Runner You can read a little more about what the course involved including feedback from the weekend from festival director, Helen Graham and pictures documenting all the hard work.

The 11 trainees then went on to volunteer as runners at Kingussie Food on Film during the second day of the festival. There was a wide range of jobs that they all got a chance to do as they rotated throughout the day, from filming, manning the information/merchandise desk and flyering in the street to helping set up and de-rig the festival venues We were impressed with their enthusiasm, friendliness and willingness to get on with it Here is what some of them had to say in the post course analysis!

Andy Kerr, who attended the Glasgow Gaelic School and is now completing an HND course in Television Production at Cardonald College said:

The "Hit The Ground Running" course was absolutely fantastic, I gained so much information and help about various aspects concerning the TV/Film industry. I am now much more aware of what the industry looks for in people trying to break into it We got the chance to do some running at the Kingussie Food on Film festival itself, this was a great experience and I enjoyed it throughly.

Allan MacLeod is studying a Diploma in Gaelic Media at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaidhlig college in Skye:

The highlight of the weekend for me was the opportunity to film the cookery demonstrations - shooting a live event like that is exactly the area I want to get into and it was a great experience The Q & A session with industry professionals on Friday afternoon was a really good opportunity Director or Photography, Alan McSheehy and Production Co-ordinator, Amy Shaw were very good at giving individual examples to illustrate their points and these were easy to relate to and understand The breadth of experiences on the Saturday was great. From handing out leaflets on the main street in Kingussie and filming vox-pops with Food on Film attendees to assisting exhibitors. Every part of the day was busy, but importantly it was great fun and I learned a lot.

Roisin Seaton from Forres, has volunteered at goNORTH, enjoys photography and has worked on the 2012 Edinburgh Comedy podcasts with our partners Dabster shares her thoughts:

I found the Hit the Ground Running course really interesting, we learnt so much new information in one day, all of which I will take on board!  It was invaluable to hear stories from people who had experienced being a runner first-hand, it was both enlightening and helpful (and also humorous). Some parts of it were also challenging, such as the task of placing all the roles on a film set in a kind of family tree The fact that it was such a great group made it more relaxed, it felt more like a discussion and a workshop rather than a lecture Being able to ask questions and have input made it even better. I would encourage anyone who wants to be a runner to do the course, as now I feel I have an idea of what would be expected of me if I were to get a job as a runner.

Aina Sabate, who was an Erasmus International Student at The University of the West of Scotland said:

Hit The Ground Running gave me the chance to get to know the film and TV industry much better and meet with professionals to hear about their first-hand experiences. Also, by working for the Food on Film Festival it helped the group of runners get together and help each other during the day even though we didn't really know each other.