An innovative Weston College-led partnership has secured the go-ahead for a plan to help unemployed people in the West of England find employment.

The project, entitled ‘West of England Works’, is part of the Building Better Opportunities programme and involves a range of voluntary and community organisations based in Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset.

£6 million of funding has been awarded to the partnership by the Big Lottery Fund and the European Social Fund, and it is hoped that West of England Works will support at least 1537 young people and adults into gaining employment through a community-based support programme.

Dr Paul Phillips OBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College, said: “This partnership will bring unique and innovative opportunities to people in the region, and will support those furthest from the labour market to move towards, or secure, sustainable employment or training.

“Partnership and working with local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations has been key to the development of West of England Works and the success of this bid.

“This could not have been achieved without the West of England Civil Society Partnership, which works with local organisations that support people in communities across the area, breaking down barriers and working across boundaries.”

The partnership was launched on the 8th of December 2016 at a meeting of key stakeholders in Weston College’s Conference Centre.

Are you interested in filmmaking but don’t know where to start? To save you searching online through pages and pages of guidance we’ve boiled it all down into five key pieces of advice for filmmaking novices…

Get out and shoot something

This is a fundamental part of our film courses, and crucial for anyone who wants to learn the art of filmmaking. Shooting as much as you can means you’ll learn about your equipment, but it doesn’t matter what you record with - you’ll still be learning what works and does not work when capturing a scene. We encourage our students to go out and film as much as possible, they make an average of 12 films over two years.

Learn to edit... it’s more accessible than ever before

Most computers and laptops these days come with basic video editing software as standard, and even on phones there are apps which can be utilised to edit recordings. At Weston College, our students have access to Adobe Premiere CC, Final Cut Pro and a huge range of supporting software. We have expert in-house tutor support on hand to guide our students through the editing process.

Upload your footage and test audience reaction

This means you’ll get valuable feedback on your work which you could use to improve your filmmaking. Our students regularly present their films to peers and tutors for feedback. You could upload your films to YouTube, Facebook or your own website, and when you’re confident enough submit them to film or art festivals. Our students’ films have screened at local cinemas including the Odeon, Watershed, Arnolfini and the Cube in recent years.

Watch everything you can

We encourage our students to watch a lot of films. The more you watch, the more you will be inspired to create. You can also pick up on other filmmakers’ techniques by watching their films, and recreate them to enhance your creations. At Weston College most of the tutors are working filmmakers themselves, and are able to give our students further insight into the filmmaking process.

Don’t give up. Keep creating, learning and refining

Every filmmaker has things that go wrong or wishes they could reshoot certain films, and even the best directors have flops. The more attempts you make, the more you will learn about filmmaking and the greater your chance at success.

We offer our students every opportunity to hone their skills; working on their own, with their peers and on industry based projects throughout their time with us. This intensive exposure to filmmaking is the best way of preparing you for your footsteps in the industry, in whichever direction they may go.

Want to find out more? Our film and media courses cover the basics of filmmaking and more!

What is the first thing you do if you want to find out about someone you don't know?

Chances are, you answered that question with ‘Google them’ or even ‘Facebook them’. Practically everyone has an account on one of the many social media networks out there, and search engines like Google can pull up vast amounts of information that people have shared online.

Everything you share on the internet should be treated as a permanent record of who you are as a person. Even if you delete pictures and posts they might have been screenshotted and shared by your friends, and could still be accessible using an internet archive search such as Wayback Machine. Many celebrities have paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to try to remove images from the internet to no avail.

A lot of employers will use the internet to find out about the kind of person they’re employing, and when you start working for a company many people will check out your Facebook profile to learn more about their new colleague.

Big companies use social media monitoring software to protect their reputation and can easily find posts which mention them; so if you’re going to talk about your employer online make sure that your privacy setting reflect the amount of information you want them to see!

Don’t let your social media profiles have a negative impact on your reputation and employability – follow our useful guidelines:

• Don’t share anything online that you would not be comfortable with everybody knowing
• Ensure your public photos are employer-friendly – they are often the first impression
• If you are unsure about a post, be cautious and don’t post it – or post it privately
• Be thoughtful and polite when commenting on a public page
• Don’t post confidential information about yourself or others
• Report anything you see that might result in someone causing harm to themselves or others
• Create a LinkedIn profile so that you can easily control your professional image.

Our ASPECT team is on hand for further guidance on social media and employability...