What's on the menu?

It's a going to be an exciting week! Here are only some of the things in store...

Daniel Hopkins will be kicking of the symposium with "Different Ways Of Working For A Filmmaker". Dan is a filmmaker, musician, artist and lecturer. He is currently working on a series of 18 films about the landscape he grew up in, based on the fields on his parents' farm in Somerset. Dan is going to show some examples of his work and discuss ways in which we can be creative in the era of technological convergence.

John Bradburn and James Fair will be discussing the technical and artistic circumstances that surrounded their debut feature projects "Kyle" and "Peppermint". Shot within one year of each other, the two films share many similarities, despite John or James not knowing each other at the time.

Fiona Graham will present "Shipman: The Story Of A Serial Killer", part of a series of documentaries that are being broadcast upon Sky. Fiona developed and pitched the series to Sky last year, which involved scripting and all major character finding and interviews. The factual one-hour films are interview and drama reconstruction using the Sony DSR570 using 35mm lenses. Two more more films are in production; “The Great Train Robbery” - probably the last ever interview with the brains behind the robbery - Bruce Reynolds, and “Shannon Matthews Abduction”.

Benjamin Johns, director and producer of "Nuestro Abuelo", presents his film about a tribe in the remote mountains of central Mexico. Filmed with no prior permission, it gives a unique insight into a tribe who's Shamanic way of life has been unchanged for 1000's of years.

John Bradburn and Andy Paton successfully pitched experimental horror "The Gloaming" to Screen West Midlands and secured funding under the Digishorts programme. John and Andy will discuss the process from conception through to completion.

The lecturers that had a screening slot at the Galway Film Festival without even having a film to show will discuss how they shot, edited and screened the feature "Watching & Waiting" in 72 hours. This is an opportunity to see the film and find out more about the challenges they faced.

Associate Producer Peter Rudge will discuss the background, financing and university partnership of the feature movie Souled Out. The film is set in the seventies Northern Soul scene and tells the story of a young boy who learns about life and love through the music of the era. It was produced in conjunction with Staffordshire University, and students were involved with its production over the summer.

There'll be plenty more exciting screenings, exercises and discussions taking place, so be sure to keep an eye on the blog as the symposium progresses!