Seasons Greetings From The Spill Media Team

It's been a massive year for us at Spill Media and with the festive season nearly upon us, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and to wish you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

An Interview With Matthew Rhys

We were filming at Waterstones Book Store this month, to film Bay Radio's Jay Curtis' interview with Welsh actor and Hollywood star, Matthew Rhys.

Matthew was at the Waterstone's store signing copies of his book, 'Patagonia' before speaking to Jay.

Check out the video above.

'Good Times' with Swansea Telly

Annmarie and Chris delivered their second Swansea Telly group workshops last month, here is Annmarie's next installment of how the workshop went:

"The second round of the Swansea Telly project was taken to an older persons group this month, as Chris and I worked with the residents of Llys Dewi Sant; a Gwalia sheltered accommodation complex in Swansea centre.

Although most of the participants were very nervous of the camera equipment, all except for two gentlemen who are very keen photographers, the group were very eager to voice their opinions on both the complex they love living in, and how much Swansea town has changed since they were young.

With the subjects of this month’s films decided, the group got to work on their two films.
‘We Love Llys Dewi Sant’ is a short insight into the centre and the activities that are run there. ‘Good Times’ is an informal conversation between the group members about the differences, good and bad, in town when they were young, and now, with old photographs backing up the comments.

All the participants enjoyed themselves, especially when they were honored with a visit on our last day of filming by an ITV news crew, a community photographer, and a member from the Swansea Heritage Trust, making a book about the area. It was all very exciting.

As always, the workshops were rounded off with a screening of the films, which were received very well. It was a very enjoyable experience for all involved and it was lovely to leave the workshops with the residents opening the invitation to return to the complex in the future."

Images by Spill Media & Bob Grainger: www.bobgraingerphotography.com

Spill Back At The Liberty Tonight

The Spill trainees will be back at the Liberty Stadium for tonight's game against Bristol City.

It feels like an age since the last home game against Leicester, where the trainees kept up their impressive 'lucky charm' status with another victory for the Swans, meeting ex-England manager, Sven Goran Eriksson in the process.

With the fantastic result against fierce rivals Cardiff City, in Cardiff, on Sunday, the trainees are looking forward to getting back to the Liberty Stadium tonight, to hopefully capture another Swans victory.

The Swans have been in impressive form of late, unbeaten in 7 league games, which has seen them soar to 3rd in the league. Let's hope tonight they continue their rich vein of form, which could see them go level on points with 2nd placed Cardiff.

It's been a great season so far, so keep up the good work Brendan and the boys!

Remember, you can keep up to date with the great work the Spill trainees are doing and all things Swansea City, by checking out Swans Player on the official Swansea City website.

Swansea Telly

Spill Media recently linked up with like minded groups from Swansea on a collaborative project called Swansea Telly.
Last month the project began, with the Spill trainers for the project, Annmarie and Chris, going along to Swansea Community Farm for their first set of workshops.

Swansea Telly, will see Annmarie and Chris going along to different groups every month, to train them in the basics of short film making. At the end of each month, the films produced, along with the films produced by the other groups collaborating on the project, will be available to view on the new Swansea Telly website.

Every month, Annmarie will be sharing the experiences from the workshops here on the blog.

“The first set of workshops for the Swansea Telly project turned out very well indeed. Myself, Chris and Spill volunteer Ben, delivered training to a small group of volunteers of differing ages and abilities, at Swansea Community Farm, in Fforestfach.

At the first workshop most people were a little nervous with the equipment to begin with, but very quickly became enthused and eager to try out the different shots and angles we had spoken about. It was great to see these people so enthusiastic about what they were learning.
The afternoon brought out some very strong ideas about the films they wanted to make. The mature element of the group wanted to make a mini-documentary style film about how much they enjoy volunteering at the farm. The younger members were aiming for something more for fun, and were set on making a horror trailer style short film.

Workshop 2 involved putting the trainees’ ideas into script form and it was great that for the documentary, everybody knew exactly what they wanted to show and say.
The horror trailer changed many times throughout the day, but by the end of that day, we were all scripted and had been out around the farm getting the general shots we were going to need for the films. A very productive day indeed!

The last workshop was great fun. As the weather was good that morning, we started by going out and getting all the shots of the different areas of the farm that would be spoken about in the documentary, and any outdoors tasks the volunteers would normally do. Then we went into the café for the interviews and to film any indoor volunteer work.

With the weather changing the dark brooding clouds added to the scary feel the group tried to portray for the horror trailer. It was a challenge, but great fun, managing to get the pretty farm environment to seem dark and scary, trying to get the happy volunteers to act scared and uneasy, and most of all getting the quietest person of all to act as the maniac in the woods. We had a lot of fun with this film though.

Screening day went down very well with all the other farm staff and volunteers who turned up to see what we had been up to. Popcorn was passed around, tears welled up at the documentary and chants of ‘more, more, more’ went up after the trailer.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience for my first time delivering training. I am immensely impressed with how much these people took note of what they were being taught, and the good quality of work achieved in the very short time we had. I can only hope that every different group I work with on this project will bring me as much pride, joy and fun as this one did. I learned as much about taking on new ideas and putting yourself into a job from them, as they did about how to make a film from me.”

Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

The sun was shining on Bournemouth Beach last Friday as the Spill team completed filming at the Court Royal Hotel. As part of the commission to create a marketing film of the old convalescent home and highlighting the rich history of the hotel, Spill Media spent the day in Bournemouth, capturing the best Bournemouth has to offer for it’s guests.

The sun certainly had his hat on, with the beaches and beautiful scenic gardens full of activity, which set the scene for some great footage.

The day was wrapped up back at the hotel with guests enjoying their evening meal before getting down to some serious Bingo before the real entertainment kicked in. Singer Andy Hague soon had all the guests on their feet dancing and singing along to some classic hits before the night rounded off with a spectacular fireworks display on Bournemouth Pier!

With the prime location of Court Royal Hotel, the guests sat back and enjoyed the spectacle from the comfort of the hotel balcony, allowing the Spill team to capture what was a visual explosion of colour.

With filming now wrapped up in Bournemouth, we will be completing filming over the coming weeks, interviewing some important people involved with Court Royal over the years.

We’d like to thank all the staff and guests at the hotel who were great throughout.

Swanning Around With Tomos

As Spill Media followers know, we recently linked up with the Swans in a Community Partnership. The Partnership is allowing Spill Media Trainees the opportunity to gain media related work experience at the Liberty Stadium on match days.

Tuesday night was the first home game of the season, with the Swans taking on Barnet in the first round of the Carling Cup and Spill trainee Tomos Bayliss was there for his first night.

Tomos will be sharing his experiences of his training placement right here on the blog. Here is his first installment:

"I really enjoyed down the Liberty Stadium on Tuesday with Spill Media for the first night of my placement, as the Swans played Barnet in the Carling Cup.

My evening began by meeting the Swans Media team, who showed me around the Press Room, tunnel area and Gantry. My work soon began as I was off to mingle with the fans, filming vox pops with the crowd about their thoughts on new Swans signing Scott Sinclair. I had a lot of fun doing this and it really increased my confidence.

During the game, I improved my filming and photography skills as I took some action stills of the Swansea players as they attacked the Barnet goal.
Throughout the game, I filmed the action from pitch side, to give the Media Team alternative footage, for the clubs use.

Luckily I had a lot of great footage to film, as the Swans ran out 3-0 winners, with goals from van der Gun, a great solo goal from Pratley and Kuqi wrapped things up at the end.

My work didn't finish there though. I was soon off to the tunnel for the post match interviews, where we spoke with Andrea Orlandi about the game.

It was a great experience and I can't wait for Saturday for the first league game against Preston!"

You can check out Tomos's work, see player interviews, highlights and all other things Swans at the official Swansea City website: http://www.swanseacity.net/

Hello, my name is AnnMarie. I am Spill Media’s newest full time recruit, and I am going to be sharing my diary of some of the projects, I’m getting to work on with Spill.

My first couple of weeks in the job and I've been involved in lots of fun projects. The first- "Soap Bocs", is part of my role of Production Assistant, and involves leading a group of volunteers in a quest to produce 3 short films from initial ideas to finished edited films- in 7 days! I know, seems impossible doesn’t it! Last week we spent 3 days brainstorming, story writing, scripting and scheduling, as well as practicing with the camera and editing equipment, and giving basic training in camera and editing techniques to those volunteers not already familiar. We had a great time, and threw around many whacky ideas for plot lines before settling on the main story theme we have running through all 3 films, which delves in to the mind of a disturbed woman. I’m not going to reveal anymore about that sorry, you’ll just have to watch the films once we’ve finished!

This week we start shooting, which will take 3 days in all. Then we have a day of editing the films together, and it will be very interesting to see how many different ideas for editing this story will emerge that day.

The other project I am working on in a freelance capacity is exciting too. It is, at present, called Swansea Telly. It is a collaboration of 5 Media Inclusion companies in the Swansea area, funded through the Wales Cooperative’s Communities 2.0 scheme.

We will provide training workshops, teaching film making to groups of people in Swansea, including unemployed people, older people and people in Social Housing.

Short films will produced by each group, every month, which will be uploaded to a new Internet channel called Swansea Telly.

This week I met my new colleague Chris Reason, an experienced and hugely talented Digital Media Artist, who will bring a lot of valued experience and creativity to the project. We have been very busy contacting organisations, attending meetings, setting up groups to train, designing a training program, and scheduling, in preparation for our first group next month- a group of unemployed young people at Swansea Community Farm!

I am looking forward to finding out what each group will come up with! All in all, I’m having a great first few weeks with Spill Media.

I very much look forward to the great variety of media projects I will be taking part in here with the rest of the Spill Media family.

I’ll keep you posted as to what we get up to….

Spill Media are currently running "SoapBocs" a project where our voluntary trainees can let their imaginations run wild!

We have challenged our trainees to script, film and edit a short film in 5 days...so far, so good!

The trainees have written a dark thriller called "Nobody's Child" but we won't give the story away! They start shooting next week....!

Going Dutch

As you know, Spill Media recently linked up with the Swans as part of a Community Partnership, giving Spill Media trainees the chance to work with the Swans on match days.
Last week, saw the Spill-Swans link strengthened further when a member of the Spill team joined the Swans on their pre-season tour of Holland.

There was lots of video content created for the club website’s ‘Swans Player’, to keep the fans back in Swansea up to date with what was going on. There were match highlights of the 3 games, with every team having their own club anthem, which were so catchy, I was waking up with the tunes of ‘Viva Haaglandia’ (to the tune of Viva Espania) and ‘Oh-Oh Den Haag’ engraved in my head.

As well as the usual interviews with players and new boss, Brendan Rodgers, fans got to see their favourite players during training sessions and there was an interesting visit to one of Holland’s famed attractions ...a visit to club Director, John van Zweden’s ‘Swans Museum’.
This was a very interested place indeed and had to be seen to be believed, with everything from old Swans’ programmes, to jerseys, to ticket stubs...and even included a giant Swan model.

The tour was a great chance for new boss Brendan Rodgers to get to know his players a little better in readiness for the big kick off against Hull this Saturday, as well as giving players and staff a chance to see the sights of Holland...in between training of course!

To see the video content from the tour, check out Swans player on the official Swansea City website...and there’ll also be a video from Spill’s experience of the week on our website, www.spillmedia.co.uk very soon.

The Spill Media team would like to welcome Annmarie Lloyd in her new role as Production Assistant. Annmarie has been on a work placement with us since March 2010, through Shaw Trust. Annmarie an independent filmmaker and Graduate from Coleg Sir Gar has been employed with us through The Workways Scheme. Annmarie has put in so much hard work here at Spill, that we are extremely pleased to continue supporting her and offering more varied experiences. Annmarie will be producing her own blogs on this site, so keep checking back for her view on media related topics and her experiences here at Spill Media!

Spilling Into The Classroom

Spill Media were recently commissioned by Menter Brycheiniog to work with local Primary School, Ysgol Ynyscedwyn, to create a lasting heritage project for the school.

The project saw Spill Media work with Year 6 pupils in after school sessions to create a lasting memory for the Primary School.
The Welsh language project, entitled, 'Ynysgedwyn ar hyd y blynyddoedd' ('Ynyscedwyn Through The Ages'), saw the pupils come up with a Doctor Who style theme, to go back through the ages and look at how the school has changed over the years.

Pupils were shown skills in all apsects of the production process by the Spill Media team, with all roles on and off screen taken by the Year 6 pupils.
The children spoke with former pupils at the school in different decades, to get their memories about how the school used to be and how it has changed today.

The resulting film was screened for pupils, staff, parents and Menter Brycheiniog staff at the school, and was well received by those in attendance.

Spill Rev Up With BMW Rider Training

We recently began filming with BMW Rider Training, who requested the services of Spill Media, to create a promotional film for the services they offer.

BMW Rider Training, who recently sponsored Spill Media's launch event, offer a range of courses, such as:

Direct Access Courses, Intensive residential courses for national customers, Intensive or split module testing for local customers, CBT Plus (unique 2 day approach to the basics, Road Skills Courses (Refresher, Intermediate, Advanced, Advanced with RoSPA Test, Individual Premium Training (IPT), at any level for post-licence motorcyclists and Motorcycle Emergency First Aid.

The film has seen us work closely with the team at BMW Rider Training, who have been a pleasure to work with, to promote further awareness of the work done at their Ystradgynlais base.

Above are a few images from the first days filming.

Latest Film Screened at Senedd

Spill Media’s latest film, “There is an alternative – be co-operative”, was screened recently at the Senedd, home of the National Assembly of Wales.

In our latest commission, from the Wales Co-operative Centre, Spill Media worked closely with three co-operatives, Merthyr Tydfil Credit Union, Llanmadoc Community Shop and Rygbi Gogledd Cymru, to create a film to connect with like minded organisations. The film was created to change perspectives on co-operatively run businesses, highlighting the benefits in working this way and to show that ‘there is an alternative’.

Screened as part of the launch for the Co-operative Enterprise Hub in Wales, which offers training and consultancy to co-operatives, the film was well received by those in attendance.

The Spill Media team were invited to the Senedd for the launch, which included guest speakers, Assembly Members, Lorraine Barrett and Carl Sargeant. Also speaking at the event were Simon Harris from the Wales Co-operative Centre and Angela Davies from the Co-operative Group, Enterprise Hub.

Carl Sargeant, Minister for Social Justice and Local Government, spoke of the benefits of working Co-operatively, “As the film shows, there is a lot of good work being done by co-operatives across Wales, showing that there really is an alternative.”

Above, are a few photos from the event.

Swans Spill Into The Community

Spill Media and Swansea City Football Club have linked up as part of a Community Partnership that will see Spill Media trainees and work placements work in conjunction with the Swans.

The partnership sees Spill Media strengthen the opportunities that they offer in training and work placements, one of the main social aims of the company. As part of the community partnership, the Spill Media trainees will work closely with the Swans Media Department in providing match day coverage for their online channel, Swans Player.

Tomos Bayliss, who will be the first Spill Media trainee to take advantage of the partnership said, “I’m really looking forward to starting my placement with Spill Media this summer. I was looking to get involved with something media related in the holidays and this placement is perfect. The fact I’ll be getting to work with the Swans as well is fantastic and will be great to put on my CV.”
The link highlights the Swans continued commitment to supporting local companies and organisations such as Spill Media and will allow the work placements to gain an insight into the match day production produced by the club.

Jonathan Wilsher, media manager at Swansea City, said: “We started working with Spill Media last season and we are delighted to strengthen this relationship for the new campaign. The Swans play an important role in the community and we share similar social aims as Spill Media. The company has been doing some fantastic work in and around the community of Ystradgynlais. As a football club we are pleased to help them to continue making a difference to the young people of the area.’’

Spill Media Production Co-ordinator Daniel Davies added, “The link between ourselves and the Swans will be a great outlet for work placements with Spill Media. The range of digital media training we offer has further been strengthened with this opportunity for trainees.”

To check out Swans Player and to keep up to date with all the latest news from the Swans, go to http://www.swanseacity.net/

Spill Media Launch

A few images from the launch event of Spill Media at the Welfare Hall, Ystradgynlais.

The event was sponsored by Celtic Energy with main sponsors for the event, BMW Rider Training.

Spill Media Launch Event

Spill Media - Story So Far (A short digital story shown at the launch event about Spill Media's story so far)

Spill Media celebrated their success at becoming the first company in Wales to be awarded Social Enterprise Funding from Coalfields Regeneration Trust, at their Launch event last week.

The event held at The Welfare, Ystradgynlais in South Wales and hosted by Bay Radio’s Jay Curtis was attended by a host of people from the business, voluntary and third sector. Spill Media launched our new digital media services and spoke about our business development plans and social aims.

Spill Media are using this funding in order to create opportunities and training through digital media in ex coalfield areas. Spill has produced marketing and promotional films for The Wales Cooperative Centre, NHS Direct, TOURATECH UK and Swansea City and Council among others. The profit the company creates is “Social Profit” and will be ploughed back into the company to address its Social Aims. BAFTA Cymru award-winning actress, Helen Griffin and AM Kirsty Williams both attended the event to lend their support to Spill Media. AM Kirsty Williams said,

"I was really pleased to be able to see firsthand the great work being done by the Spill Media team. With the grant money from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust they are able to offer great opportunities for people to get digital media training and get involved in a great creative social enterprise."

The events main sponsor was BMW Rider Training and the event was also sponsored by Celtic Energy.

Spill Media Launch Blog

The Spill Media Blog is now live.

Until now, people have been able to check the latest news and updates on what Spill Media are getting up to on the official Spill Media Website - www.spillmedia.co.uk as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

Now you can keep up to date via the Spill Media Blog as well.

Please feel free to subscribe to our blog and if you have any comments to make on our posts, we'd love to hear your views too.