Feedback from Adam Graham of the Berwick Film Festival

After the Berwick Film Festival  Adam Graham, volunteers manager for the festival was kind enough to give me some feedback for how I did during the day:

"James seemed a little unsure of what was expected of him at the start of the day but immediately stepped up to the challenge and became one of the most valuable volunteers. Thinking ahead and informing the festival staff of any problems or potential issues was invaluable and he took to the role with confidence and enthusiasm."

Berwick Film Festival Volunteering

Me and Alan working outside "Mastering Bambi"

Whilst volunteering at the film festival I was left responsible for directing public to certain events and explaining what was on. During the morning I was working in one of the ice houses in Berwick which had on a film called “Mastering Bambi”. This was a short film based around the forest in the Disney classic “Bambi” the only difference being the lack of living creatures which of course is the main attributes of “Bambi”. 

Me and the guys after volunteering.

One of the things that I found so amazing was that you were not sure if the images were computer generated or filmed, the graphics were that good! Also the music in the film was so provocative that it was as though it became the character of the film, dictating how the audience felt throughout the film.

During the afternoon I was working in the town hall in particular the old jail, where a different short film was being shown in each cell. As well as this there was a talk with all of the artists who produced the films. Included in the films were the longest hand painted film in Britain and a film sponsored by the Berwick council showing the effects of the rising tides though dance.

The Film Festival was set over three days and even though I was only able to do one of the days I had a great time and have to say it was a great opportunity. 

Feedback from Mark Sample

After the two day training experience, Mark Sample of Ubisoft Reflections kindly gave some feedback on how it went. He said:

"James would often step up during the sessions to get the ball rolling in our creative workshops. His attitude to challenge concepts and deliver new ideas really helped with the team dynamics. I found him articulate and convincing. He could well be a future design or producer in the games industry."

Mark Sample, games developer for Ubisoft Reflections.

Ubisoft Reflections Training Days

A group of us did 2 days of training with Mark Sample, a game director/producer with Ubisoft Reflections at the Tyneside Cinema. He showed us the basics of how the concept for a game is created, how the characters will develop, how the story will unfold.

During the training days we did brainstorming for a number of different game ideas whilst under a number of restraints and game specification. In the end we had ideas for both app based games and online purchase games.

Our app based game or “crisp packet treasure hunt” as we called it was based on the Google app Goggles which allows you to search the internet using pictures you have taken. The basic idea was to go on a treasure hunt to find generic objects from a list, such as a packet of Ready Salted Crisps and take a picture of it.

The online purchase game we decided to design was based around stealth as we thought that this would fill a gap in the market. We designed multiple levels for it and multiple characters. However after only a couple of hours we realised how much work would be required to develop a fully fledged AAA game. After about an hour we were told that we had to pitch our game to Mark. This helped us see what it was like to have a sudden deadline.

These training days were probably the most interesting experience so far of the Gold Arts Award.