Above: Aled Wyn Phillips, Tony Lakin, Chris Marshall, Jo Iwan and James Watkins

Commercials director James Watkins (Wordley Production Partners) attributes his visual creativity to his lack of aptitude for maths.  ‘Great with ideas, useless at billing clients properly,’ he said.  James set the tone for the RTS Wales Centre's ‘Getting into shorts, trails and commercials’ event, held in partnership with Skillset Media Academy Wales, at the ATRiuM on the 28th of February.

70 students and trainees listened intently, hoping to pick up tips and advice on getting that elusive first job in television.  Chris Marshall, whose company, Mint Motion, produces CGI and visual effects, explained that there is no single entry route - his flexibility and willingness to do any job were key to ‘getting in’.  Jo Iwan (Wordley Production Partners), a commercials producer for over 10 years, started in the machine room, before eventually working her way up as a gallery director on the Oscars and as a multi-cam director for Sky.  Tony Lakin (JM Creative) explained how his company had grown out of a series of award winning promotions for the Six Nations Rugby on BBC Wales.  He said they would always produce two versions of each promo, depending on whether Wales won or lost.  Aled Wyn Phillips (S4C) said the Welsh language broadcaster had developed its on-screen promos with a faster paced style, and he explained how a laser light sculptor helped to generate remarkable images for S4C's Christmas trails.

The panel session, chaired by Wales Centre Chairman, Tim Hartley, was followed by 'speed dating' sessions with the students spending ten minutes with each speaker.
(The hooter on the left was used to signal the speakers to move to the next group.)
The evening ended with a social event with games developers who had been attending a parallel conference, arranged by Skillset Media Academy Wales and BAFTA Cymru.