Contact: Scott Ledbury & Steve Mackie Company: Slinky Productions Mob: 07732 819467 web www.slinkyproductions.co.uk

THE POWER OF THE MOVING IMAGE...
The moving image is proven to be the most powerful and influential communication and marketing tool in the world.

Slinky Productions produce videos, films and broadcast programmes for distribution on platforms including: terrestrial television, DVD, Blu-ray, the Internet, podcasts, PowerPoint presentations, CD-ROM, exhibition display, large screen event display - and pretty much any other video medium you can think of!

We work directly with, and in partnership with; marketing agencies, broadcasters, and businesses (small and large)to produce video content for brands such as Nokia, ITV, Haven, and Top Gear.

Music video production is just one of the areas in which we are aiming to move more towards. To date, we have filmed international acts such as Reverend and The Makers, Travis, Pete Doherty and The Kaiser Chiefs. We're also very proud to be working with some of the best independent and unsigned musical talent to come out of Birmingham and the Midlands region too.

Slinky Productions, based in Birmingham, is run by Steve Mackie and Scott Ledbury. We are keen to meet and collaborate with local talent such as motion graphic designers, editors and composers - so get in touch!

BSEEN (Birmingham Skills for Enterprise and Employability Network) web www.b-seen.org.uk

Ever been tempted by the thought of being your own boss? Brimming with entrepreneurial ideas? BSEEN is the scheme for you.

Insight Out offers free office space, bursaries and specialist training over a 6 month period.

The Graduate Enterprise Club meets once a month for workshops in marketing, PR, finance and many other areas, as well as providing opportunities for networking with industry professionals.

BSEEN is a new collaborative scheme between Birmingham City University, Aston and University of Birmingham.

For more information visit the website at www.b-seen.org.uk

Join the facebook group; Bseen NTI Birmingham

Don't forget to follow on Twitter @ b_seen

Are you looking for an innovative, practiced based approach to learning which will give you the edge in your future career?

Take your studies to the next level with a Birmingham City University postgraduate or professional qualification.

Visit us at our postgraduate open evening on Wednesday 26 May 2010

Full-time postgraduate courses are available in:
Media Technology Management, Sound Engineering and Web Technology

Interested? Visit www.bcu.ac.uk/pgevents for more information.

Flip Animation Festival 2010 calls for Submissions

FLIP Animation festival is back. From Thursday 4 to Saturday 6 November 2010, Light House will play host to the annual celebration of all things animation, now in its 7th year. The call for submissions has now been made. FLIP, and the festival organisers, would like to invite animators to submit animated films of up to 15 minutes in length. For more information on FLIP Animation Festival visit the website.

The Open Shorts section features the annual FLIP awards and categories this year include Best of Festival, Best British and International Film, Stop Motion and Best Newcomer. Films will be judged by a panel of professionals and experts, with the winners being announced at the festival. For full details on how to submit a film, please see the submissions page on the website.

This year, for the first time, FLIP is accepting submissions from young people. Animators aged 18 and under will be able to send in their short animated films. A young person's panel will judge the entries, and choose a selection to be shown at a special showcase at this year's festival.

FLIP would like to say a big thanks to Von Graff Studio for this year's festival branding. Founder Rob Hildreth, developed the concept and designed the artwork. Keep checking www.flipfestival.co.uk for variations on the theme in the run up to the festival.

To keep up with all the latest news on FLIP Animation Festival 2010 contact us on flip@light-house.co.uk or visit the website

LIGHT HOUSE ARE NOW BOOKING FOR TRAINING COURSES...
http://light-house.co.uk/discover/training/

Contact Light House Box Office on 01902 716055 to book a place or for more information visit www.light-house.co.uk

Light House The Chubb Buildings Fryer St Wolverhampton WV1 1HT t: 01902 716055 e: info@light-house.co.uk www.light-house.co.uk

Marc Silk
Getting Your Voice Heard
www.marcsilk.com

Marc's passion for technology helped him realise that broadcast quality material could be produced anywhere. Even though his character voices are heard worldwide, many are actually recorded from his studio in Solihull. He introduced his presentation by saying that he hoped to give us some tips on how to create innovative content, spot new opportunities and make the most of available technology.

To demonstrate, Marc had prepared a 'Public Safety Message' for us, delivered in the style of Kermit the frog! A stunning Showreel followed, proving beyond a doubt that we were indeed in the presence of the man with a million voices.

Marc explained that he'd always been fascinated by voices and 'behind the scenes' activity. He wanted to know who provided these voices and how something like The Muppet Show was actually made. As a child, he even studied the credits for the TV Soap 'Crossroads', noting the existence of such important people as 'Key Grip' and 'Gaffer'.

In order to gain entry to this mysterious world, Marc began Work Experience at BRMB. He described how much he learnt, being able to sit in on the making of commercials and discovering the magic of improvisation. He was impressed by the ability of people working in radio to cope in whatever circumstances arose. Even when everything stopped working, the presenters and announcers somehow managed to carry on regardless.

Marc is acutely aware of the need to avoid getting involved in production of the kind of content that people mistakenly assume is bound to work and easy to generate. He played us a classic example, presented to him as a winning formula, of very ordinary voices speaking boring lines about electrical goods put to the well known theme music from a TV Sports programme. The client was convinced it would be wonderful but needless to say it was dire. Marc understands that, when it is executed well, an idea can be turned into something fantastic. For example, he finds inspiration in the animated characters in movies like 'A Bug's Life', 'The Incredibles' and 'Bolt'.

Sometimes it takes some time to discover the right voice for a character. On You Tube there are videos of Dave Prowse as Darth Vader before the, now so familiar, voice of James Earl Jones had been used for the character. In order to further his career, Marc made a list of the things he was good at and then a list of the people with whom he most wanted to work. He decided that voices for animation were what he did best and made a Showreel to demonstrate this.

Sending ten tapes out, Marc expected maybe one reply. What he got was thirteen responses, and soon found himself in Abbey Road Studios at the request of the Casting Director for Star Wars Episode 1. The session was top secret, laying down voices for scenes shot against green screen, well before newspaper stories about the making of the film started to appear. Marc accomplished what was asked of him and considers it to have been a big break, being able to refer to this work for such a prestigious film bestowed a level of trust of his abilities that had not existed previously. Work for clients such as SONY Playstation 3 followed and when voices were needed for different characters Marc got the job, nobody else was brought in. Wonder of wonders, for the voice of Aks Moe in Star Wars, he even started to get fan mail, from as far away as Japan.

Marc's improvisation work also ensures continued employment. The first person to do so, he has provided 'live' on TV the voice of Johnny Bravo twice a year for the last three years. Since this was for the Cartoon Network, he has been competing with American voice over artists.

Other work for Marc is based in Birmingham, even voicing the USA version of Bob the Builder. The same team produces Fifi and the Flowertots which is quite ambitious in production terms. Each model for the characters costs about £10K, so the stop frame animation is helped along with the models even having articulated fingers. Marc showed us some expertly choreographed sequences from 'Fifi' that included his singing contributions.

For things like voicing Wii games, such as Overlord 2, Marc will spend as much as three months providing dialogue via SKYPE which is often the way he's able to work nowadays. He still has fun providing different voices for characters, sometimes subversively. An amusing example being the 'new' voice Marc gave to Will Young's dialogue, just as spoken, on Question Time.

Marc clearly still feels privileged to enjoy his work, he describes working with people like Peter Kay on sessions for Roary the Racing Car with evident glee. When we heard the production values on the opening tune from the series it was hardly surprising that he relishes his work. He rounded off the memorable clips presented to us with mention of past masters who had special voice over skills. The idea that such artists have no identity beyond the words they utter is flawed with the mention of Don LaFontaine and Hal Douglas. To see and hear them perform their magic in the clips Marc played us was fascinating.

The best was left to last as Marc led us in the collective mastery of Scooby Doo's voice, explaining the requirements in meticulous detail. He did this so expertly that we all thought we sounded pretty good at it, for us to earn a living at voice over might prove more difficult.

After an informative Q & A session, we showed our appreciation for Marc's efforts with much applause. Before our event, as he describes himself, he was the most famous person we'd never heard of. Now when we try to imagine a business peopled with unseen characters, we think of Marc. For those of us lucky enough to be at this event, it was our pleasure to get a glimpse behind the scenes and to witness Marc at work.