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To the
November Issue of the MediaVaultNEWS |
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Issue two of
the Newsletter for members of "The Media Vault"
- The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Project, managed
by the Technology
Innovation Centre (tic) and designed
to assist West Midlands-based Creative Companies.
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A selection
from the spectrum of current cases in the Media Vault Portfolio:
:: Funding Pending Live Arts - Website Creation
:: Cyberjenn - Website Development
:: Pip Piper - Website Creation
:: E-cv - Corporate Identity Elements Design
:: Substance Pictures - Provision of Technical Requirements
:: Big Pig Productions - Supply of Key Technical Resources
:: Black Eyed Peas Productions - Technical Equipment Support
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:: UK @ ITU
Telecom World 2003 - Geneva, Switzerland
OTHER MediaVault AUTUMN EVENTS
:: Custard Creative Industries Forum
:: Black Country Chamber of Commerce Business Link - Networking
& Start-up 2003
:: Shropshire Star - E-vent 2003
:: Royal Television Society Awards 2003 |
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3. Training Opportunities |
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Time
to get up-to-date in New Media Technologies
Cost of courses is subject to European Social Fund/Learning
Skills Council co-financing and are fully subsidised. |
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The Media Vault is a project substantially
funded by the ERDF, enabling screen-based industries in the
West Midlands to access digital media creation, storage and
distribution technologies. |
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We’d
like to hear from you!
Contact Paul Trigg, The Media Vault’s administrator
with your news and views:
:: phone 0121 331 5400
:: email paul.trigg@tic.ac.uk
:: or post to Technology Innovation Centre,
Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham, B4 7XG
Do you know
someone who'd benefit from our help?
The Media Vault
is ready, willing and able to support your screen-based media
activities. If you know of anyone who would benefit from these
support-funded services, please contact us via The Media Vault
Website at www.tic.ac.uk/mediavault
or contact Miss Ha Vu phone 0121 331 5400
email ha.vu@tic.ac.uk
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Check
out some of the work we've done so far and what our clients
have said about it.
 Funding
Pending Live Arts - www.livearts.co.uk
:: The Media Vault Support - Website Creation
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Website screen shot |
Set up by 2 Birmingham-based
artists, FPLA has been making 'Art where you live' for
almost ten years. The company ‘makes’ and
encourages ‘the making’ of Art and the widening
of boundaries where Art may be found.
FPLA had a previous web presence, but wanted to redesign
the site to create a more fun identity yet create ‘professional
space’ to market the company’s variety of
art projects.
MediaVault’s design brief was to create a vibrant
site with a definite ‘punk-style’ feel! |
The Clients Quote: “Thank
you for the work you did on our website re-design, the new
design looks great and it’s a lot easier to navigate
around. Thanks also for talking me through the html –
I feel confident that we’ll be able to update the site
ourselves without too much trouble. We felt the communication
between us worked great and we didn't have to keep coming
back to you to make adjustments which saved us all a lot of
time and you answered all communications very promptly, which
is most unusual (and welcome). So, once again thanks a lot
for a prompt and efficient service”
Lee Griffiths - Director, FPLA
Cyberjenn - www.cyberjenn.com
:: The Media Vault Support - Website Development
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Website screen shot |
Cyberjenn was conceived
by designer David Broadbent as an umbrella organisation
for traditional artists, graphic designers and multi-media
practitioners involved in developing new and ground-breaking,
cross-media concepts, forms and practices. These may
then evolve into new career paths and opportunities
in fields such as commercial design, advertising, film
and video.
Cyberjenn today is basically a conceptual design studio,
specialising in a range of fields such as publishing,
web design, digital media, illustration, CGI and 3D
modelling. It brings together creatives able to offer
a wide variety of graphical and multimedia solutions
for both business and arts communities.
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Cyberjenn’s original website
had stunning graphics, but was technically over-ambitious.
The Media Vault was briefed to make the site more user-friendly
and navigable, eliminating heavyweight downloads and excessive
volumes of data and interactive media. The Media Vault took
David’s designs and converted them into a working, functional
and fast website - a practical foundation on which to build.
A basis for Cyberjenn’s overall concept aspirations.
The Client’s Quote: “The first day
I walked into the tic, not only was I impressed by the investment
in new media industries and personnel in Birmingham, but also
by the professional yet friendly advisors and their approach
to new media projects.
When you have invested so much personal time into creating
and attempting to bring your vision to market it, is refreshing
to find individuals that embrace and recognise the ‘hows’
and ‘whys’ of your concept, then evaluate and
add to the mix.
Working with the tic has brought new life to the previous
‘incarnation’ of the Cyberjenn concept, with fresh
ideas and focus on areas, which you tend to overlook yourself.
Claire Blakeway brought order and structure to the overall
project and I would readily recommend any new business involved
in creative industries visit both their website and organisation!”
David Broadbent, Cyberjenn
Pip Piper - www.pippiper.com
:: The Media Vault Support - Website Creation
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Website screen shot |
Community, charity and
educational films have been the focus of Pip Piper’s
working life for several years - following his work
as a qualified community youth worker.
In 1994 he founded and developed the innovative media
charity, One Small Barking Dog (OSBD) with others and
still continues as OSBD’s director.
Pip has recently been focusing on feature film, mainly
as a producer, finding stories to tell and developing
world class collaborations. Other of his initiatives
include film festivals and mentoring young people into
the film industry.
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Pip approached The Media Vault to
design and develop a contemporary Internet presence to promote
his pioneering initiatives and showcase his portfolio of community
and feature film projects. The tic’s team have created
a visually appealing website which is also both highly functional
and can be easily updated.
The Client’s Quote: "The tic’s
Media Vault team have been fantastic at understanding and
incorporating my ideas and needs to enhance my profile as
a film producer, the work Claire Blakeway has done on initiating,
developing and building my website is superb."
Pip Piper, Film and Media Producer
E-cv
:: The Media Vault Support - Corporate Identity Elements Design
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Business Card Design |
E-cv
is a start-up 3D design and virtual travel/reality company
which approached The Media Vault to develop its corporate
identity. This included company logo and complete suite
of business stationery.
Founder Ayesha Broadbent knew the key elements she wanted
incorporated in the design - a wire frame female figure,
with lion’s head and incorporating a 3-dimensional
cube, sphere and pyramid. |
Having a complex logo, the design challenge
was to retain its impact on stationery. A section of the logo
was used to perpetuate the image on the letterheads through
the watermark whilst printing the whole logo thus uniting
overall branding. The result is both unique and striking.
The Client’s Quote: "An appointment
was set to meet the team at TIC to assess my business and
as soon as I stepped in the doors I felt the rock solid support
of a poised and professional team. An introduction was made
to Claire Blakeway who listened carefully to my outline needs
of a logo image and this creative work was carried out efficiently
and accurately where I was included at all stages within its
development. I would like to extend a huge thanks to the team
for supporting my company E-cv"
Ayesha Broadbent, E-cv
Substance Pictures
:: The Media Vault Support - Provision of Technical Requirements
Substance
Pictures is producing a Digital Short funded by the UK
Film Council and Screen West Midlands – MUTTON.
It's to be entered for festivals world-wide and sold to
broadcasters.
The project is intended to raise the profile of Paul Green’s
fledgling company which is committed to making quality
productions in the West Midlands. The success of MUTTON
will help to secure funding for more ambitious future
projects.
The Media Vault equipped Paul and his crew with location
filming kit including Sony DSR-570 cameras and the lightweight
PDX10. Primary editing is to be carried out at The Media
Vault using Final Cut Pro, to create a submaster tape.
This will then be graded and effects applied in the online
AVID Symphony system. |
Publicity Photo |
The Client’s Quote: "The
in-kind support and help The Media Vault has given Substance
Pictures has been an absolute lifeline to our current project.
Working on tight budgets invariably means that compromises
have to be made somewhere along the line. The tic’s
timely assistance means that the finished film will have high
production values to go alongside a great story and fantastic
cast. Clients - whether they come from the public or corporate
sector are always looking for high production values and value
for money. The Media Vault’s support helps solve this
difficult conundrum"
Paul Green - Director, Substance Pictures
Big Pig Productions
:: The Media Vault Support - Supply of Key Technical Resources
New startup, Big Pig Productions is filming a documentary
for sale to a major broadcaster. Producer Gavin Bott came
to The Media Vault for a range of essential camera, lighting
and sound equipment – in particular a lightweight Sony
DSR-PDX10 camcorder for filming in close situations. The programme
will be cut offline and then The Media Vault’s online
facilities will be used to create the master for broadcast.
The Client’s Quote: "The support
provided by The Media Vault has been invaluable. We have been
able to produce our programme independently at a professional
standard without having to go through years of commissioned
production to finance the process - the results speak for
themselves, the sale of this programme will position Big Pig
as a reliable production company that commissioners and others
can take seriously in the years to come. The Media Vault has
allowed our start up to get a good foothold in the industry."
Gavin Bott - Producer, Big Pig Productions
Black Eyed Peas Productions
:: The Media Vault Support - Technical Equipment
Support
Black Eyed Peas Productions is a start-up company producing
programmes for the Afro-Caribbean TV market. This is served
by African Caribbean Television (ACTV), a cable broadcasting
network. The Media Vault assisted production with cameras
for location filming and provision of online editing facilities.
The Client’s Quote: “The
Media Vault has given Black Eyed Peas enormous support since
the company requested help in June. Their support came at
a time when the company was in its initial development stage
and needed all the support for starting up.
The Media Vault has helped the company in filming, hire of
equipment and post production. Two programmes have been completed
for broadcast by ACTV Channel 271, BSkyB.
Black Eyed Peas is very grateful for the kind of support additional
information and instruction which will be invaluable to the
further development of the company.”
Milton Godfrey - Chief Executive, Black Eyed Peas
Productions
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GENEVA - OCTOBER 2003 
This event sees the global info-communications
community come together in a combined exhibition
and forum in which governments
and the telecomms industry exchange ideas,
knowledge and technological progress for the benefit of all
– particularly in the developing world.
The 2003 event underlined why ITU Telecom World is the most
important meeting place for the policy makers, industry leaders
and innovators. The global communications Industry is only
just showing signs of recovery from the ‘burst bubble’
of 1990/91, nevertheless 911 exhibitors from 51 countries
attended and over 375 of the Industry's CEOs were present.
In addition148 government ministers and regulators attended
and over 1,500 journalists (300 from broadcast media) and
120 industry analysts were also accredited.
Organising body – the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) – is the specialized agency
of the United Nations responsible for telecommunications.
Its membership comprises both government and private organisations.
The ITU Telecom is the only telecoms event organiser with
a truly global mandate.
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The Exhibition - featured
a comprehensive range of telecommunications related products
and services, the latest technologies, products and services,
These included: -broadband- fixed wireless networks –
internet - mobile solutions – PSTM- Satellite- Value-Added
Services – broadcast– consumer telecom networks
– industry telecom networks - computer hardware
and software, components and accessories. |
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The Forum- enabled
CEO’s from key Industry players, visionaries and
other top-level representatives from regulators, development
agencies and governments around the globe to discuss and
debate Industry trends |
The Media Vault at ITU Telecom
World 2003
Sven presenting |
The
brand UK@ITU Telecom World brings together
national UK and regional development agencies, universities
and research centres, trade associations and companies
to showcase their telecommunications excellence to the
world.
The large UK stand comprised a central presentation platform
surrounded by smaller stands from the UK regions. Advantage
West Midlands funded the West Midlands Stand which featured.
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Sven Rudolph from UCE’s tic-Media Vault
project, in particular demonstrating the Digital
Asset Management (DAM) System (seen left) |
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Mark Cooper from Aston University demonstrated
e-learning and streaming broadband. |
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All UK regional
groupings gave a half an hour presentation daily on the
presentation platform at the centre of the stand. This
gave Sven the opportunity to present The Media Vault (inclusive
of its content creation, DAM and broadband components).
UK Government Minister for e-Commerce and Telecommunications,
Stephen Timms MP visited ITU Telecom World and met the
companies exhibiting on the UK stand (seen right). He
also spoke at the British Day Reception at the Hotel des
Bergues: |
Sven talking to Mr Timms |
An extract from his speech:
“Britain is a great place for innovators. We produce
world-class science - with 1% of the world's population, we
fund 4.5% of the world's science, produce 8% of the world's
scientific papers, and 72 Britons have received Nobel prizes
for science.
Increasingly, we are turning that excellence into business
opportunity. We have increased funding for knowledge transfer.
We are seeing a dramatic growth in the number of companies
that universities are spinning off to develop their research
- at the rate of about 200 a year.”
Through Media Vault, the tic is playing a key
role in the field of screen-based media.
OTHER Media Vault AUTUMN EVENTS
Custard
Factory Creative Industries Forum Event 2003
The Custard Factory held an open evening on Wednesday
September 17th, organised by South Birmingham College
for over 100 attendees from the creative industries. Participating
with 10 other business support organisations, the tic
Media Vault promoted its Content Creation resources. These
include the DAM system providing a comprehensive solution
for digital media management, professional expertise and
video production facilities housed at Millennium Point
in Birmingham City Centre. |
The GreenHouse & Gibb Square
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Jay Patel |
Black
Country Chamber and Business Link
Networking & Start-Up 2003
As leading regional UK provider of training, education
and support services in interactive media production,
for visual and screen-based businesses, the tic joined
over 30 other exhibitors at the Bescot Stadium, Walsall,
on Thursday September 25th 2003.
This provided Black Country people with the opportunity
to investigate options for self-employment and business
development in the creative e-Media field. Through Media
Vault, the tic offers Content Creation,
Management and Distribution resources with up to £2,500
or 5 days’ worth of assistance being made available
through equipment hire or specialist technical advice
and services. |
| Shropshire e-Vent 2003
On Thursday October 9th 2003 more than 200 people converged
on Shropshire’s Birthplace of Industry, Ironbridge,
to learn more about the 21st Century’s industrial
revolution. That of electronic communications.
The second e-Vent, organised by the Shropshire Star
was held at the new Enginuity Centre, Coalbrookdale.
It gave visitors a free taste of the latest news in
both the e-Commerce and new technology sector - an ideal
opportunity for tic’s Media Vault
team to promote its unique, cutting-edge, digital media
creation and management tools and resources. |
Dave Taylor |
Jack Dee |
Royal
Television Society (RSA)– Midlands Centre
Awards Dinner 2003
The tic sponsored the RSA’s 2003
Award for Best Regional Programme, demonstrating its
enthusiastic support for screen-based industries. The
Award was won by Central News (South) and presented
by celebrity-comedian Jack Dee at a ceremonial dinner
held at Birmingham's ICC on Saturday October 11th.
The event was attended by an impressive array of Midlands
media personalities. The tic Media Vault team were joined
by clients who had already received support from the
project. The event was an important celebration of talent
and achievement by all those involved in Midlands creative
industries. |
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3. Training Opportunities |
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Time to get up-to-date in New Media Technologies
At the Technoloogy Innovation Cntre (tic)
you can get right up to date in virtually any aspect of new
media technologies through short study courses. Build on your
previous education, qualifications and experience and advance
your expertise in new media technologies.
Cost of courses is subject to European Social Fund/Learning
Skills Council co-financing and are fully subsidised.
The courses range from management to craft-based topics -
tic can help you grow your business and gain
hands-on skills.
For a full list of courses and take advantage
of this outstanding opportunity contact Faye Nicholls
tel: +44 (0)121 331 5400 email:
faye.nicholls@tic.ac.uk
or visit the i4 website at www.tic.ac.uk/i4
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