We’ve all seen them, those super high budget, super emotional TV commercials that get mass press coverage, and in some cases, even have teasers to the ad itself. From John Lewis to Lidl, everyone is getting in on the act these days, which goes a long way to explaining why there is an estimated £6.8 billion spent on festival advertising every year.

Starting Out & Moving Up In Film, TV and Digital Production. Whether you make content for the big screen, the small screen or the now super-small screen, if you’ve chosen a career in film, TV or digital production the likelihood is you don’t want to spend your entire career on the bottom rung. Whether that be as a runner or entry-level researcher, the fact is, anyone who’s worked in this industry long enough will be able to tell you that these are often the most under-appreciated roles (yet given their importance it often begs the question, why?) and are therefore positions you will want to move up from at the earliest opportunity.

How lack of creative brief or client input shouldn’t mean a bad end product.

Clients want to be involved in the creative process. Most of the time.

But sometimes they give you a budget and say get on with it. This is both the best news and the worst news. Because you have free reign to do what you want but there are no guidelines and it might bite you in the arse.

Sometimes you’ll get a brief that is so broad and has no real direction, like ‘We want a video that shows how dynamic we are as a company.’

What the hell does that even mean?

You see, unless you only exclusively shoot landscapes, food or the dead, you will be tasked with working with all manner of on-screen talent regularly. And as either the director, producer or even as a DOP, you are tasked with making the most out of that talent to bring your piece to life.

We make films. You could say we’re filmmakers; but what does that mean? It means we produce, we direct, we edit, we shoot, we organise catering, we do castings… and a lot of the time we do it on a low budget, and that’s not out of choice.

So we thought we’d give back to the filmmaking community, by offering up some tips on how to work with a low budget, and how to manage the client’s expectations.

The new iPhone is here and as always it’s had a camera upgrade (or three). The iPhone camera has been impressive for a few generations now and has been used to make YouTube videos, viral videos, short films, and even a full length feature.

If you own an iPhone, be it the new iPhone 11 Pro or even the older iPhone 7, you’ve always got a small, easy-to-use camera in your pocket. It’s great for filming where other cameras aren’t available or logistically unsuitable. Video quality can be excellent, so they’re increasingly being used for news and documentary; people have even shot feature films with them.

The short answer is yes. And the long answer is well lots of gushing about car chases, camera techniques, VFX and beautiful cinematography... and explosions.

The wait for 007's return is almost over. Producers of the James Bond franchise have released the trailer for the forthcoming No Time To Die.

Over the last decade, I’ve had the pleasure of working on many sets in some amazing places with some wonderful people. Some were ultra-professional and left me with experiences and knowledge that I can use for the rest of my life. While others, unfortunately, perfectly demonstrated Murphy’s Law. In other words, anything that could go wrong, absolutely went wrong on that set. And trust me, one day you’ll butt heads with Murphy on a film set, too.