Warner Brothers Studios – Digi-Cluster Networking

JB Cole UK, and Clock, a leading Hertfordshire Digital Agency, arranged the second visit of Creatives to the Warner Brothers Studios at Leavesden under the Digi-Cluster banner.

Dan Dark, the SVP, and Managing Director of the Studios was introduced to the audience of Creatives from all corners of Hertfordshire and others close by who come to these networking events, who welcomed those present, explained a short history of the studios in this location, setting the scene for why this group had been invited by also showing a few clips from recent blockbuster films that had been shot on this plot. He also made a point of how the complex was able to handle films of such a wide range due to the extensive and varied facilities available and the very large pool of experienced and talented people employed or brought into the site, and he extended a warm and genuine offer from the evening’s attendees to consider working alongside the facilities available. He also told of a recent occurrence where a member of the audience had brought along a young, but hitherto unknown man, who though disabled to a degree was able to shine in the environment offered at Leavesden to everyone’s pleasant amazement; pointing up how unless tapped, many such talents remain unexplored.

Before Dan had to leave for other important business, Syd Nadim asked the audience whether there were any questions they would like answered, and as per most audience faced with this opportunity, there was a deathly hush for a moment, so I asked how the expansion plans envisaged by Warner Brothers and alluded to by Dan were faring in the current hiatus caused by Britain’s Brexit issues? There was an amused reaction from the audience, and Dan assured all those present he had every confidence in the quality of creative talent in the UK, which he praised as being the finest anywhere in the world, hence why they chose this location, and its closeness to the London milieu of Soho with all the talent for World Class post-production.

His answers were well-received and was shown by the audience’s applause that followed. There were two 90-second pitches followed by a relaxed interview by Syd Nadim of Katy Howell, who had an interesting story to tell with its up and downs; it came across well and certainly explained her undoubted success, I do feel it worth mentioning from comments I heard expressed, which was that the speakers could have benefitted from being ‘miked-up’, as I did hear from some who were seated further back, but who were too polite to voice their concerns, that much of the content from the two 90-second Pitchers, Helena Baker and Liz Kirman, and the Katy Howell tête-à-tête was too low a volume to be heard, but by the time I heard this snippet it was was too late, as I gleaned this from comments during the Pizza-eating and drinks session afterwards, so I mention it here, so it is learned for the future – had I not been able to hear, I would have said something, but on this occasion, I failed miserably, sorry; one can hope that the shy audience are bolder in the future, and that the organising team ask the question of those at the back, so all can benefit from the full import of the messages from the evenings.

Fortunately, there was still good interaction between those who attended, and I hope I have captured some of that in the pictures within the gallery; I always enjoy capturing the hands used in speech communication as this really adds to understanding!

Thank you once again for the hard work put in by the teams from JB Cole UK and Clock, both behind the scenes and at the venue, and I hope that those attending got as much out of the evening that keeps the interaction fresh and meaningful for the future.

Watford Digi-Cluster – Networking Event at University

Tuesday afternoon I set off south to meet up with Product Designer and friend, Peter Carr to head on down to the Digi-Cluster at the University of Hertfordshire. This is a networking evening for Creatives with some excellent speakers, Josh and Ollie Bolland of JB Cole, and Julian Morency, in this instance to cover the inspirational story of the Agency called Browser and its metamorphosis into a Product company Twine, though Browser actually survived the transformation; to continue, having facilitated the birth of Twine. Another speaker, Ollie Bollond, discussed the values of APIs in the creation of efficient software. The evening was organised jointly by JB Cole, Clock and the University of Hertfordshire to promote creative collaboration through Local Enterprise Partnerships or LEPs, Paul Witcombe explained their role in that context.

As is often the case at such meetings the number of questions asked at the end was bordering on minimal, but nevertheless meaningful and answered expansively, setting the scene for much informal discussion whilst partaking of the generously supplied refreshments and pizzas.

I met up with some familiar faces from past events, such as Nick Rayner of Image 2, and Richard Allibone of TheWayForward.Com, and shamefully someone whom I had met before, but had forgotten, Paul Meyler; he had to jog my failing memory! During my trying to record the event in photographs, I was able to engage in conversations with  some new characters, from whom I took business cards to assist in retaining their details beyond the evening!

I was using my recently acquired wide aperture prime wideangle lens on the full-frame Canon 5D MkIII camera body. The room is entirely black-walled offering minimal lighting, which is challenging photographically, and I term this as 'unavailable light photography' but I find this to be intrinsically less intrusive and a more honest representation of the reality and atmosphere of such an event, and I hope this will be seen in the subsequent gallery of images that I post on the blog. It was very warming to be thanked by Syd Nadim of Clock for taking photos of the evening; I hope he is as pleased, when he sees the results! I was certainly most satisfied by the opportunity that the evening offered in listening to the speakers and chatting afterwards. I don't think I was alone in feeling this was a successful networking event from the animated conversations I spotted through my lens.

Cluster Gathering at Colosseum

I had hoped to use this meeting to attempt link CamRanger to the big screen after we had listened to the guest speaker, but it all went wrong from the start as Peter and I managed to arrive late, so missed the start of Syd Nadim’s  interesting discussion of various of their incentive ideas.

However we did not miss a minute of the fascinating story from Tom Evans about the family of products that he is steadily bringing to market, and the various interesting hurdles he had to leap to reach his goal after leaving his agency and gathered several experts together to make his dream into reality, and the skills he himself had to acquire as he successfully used KickStarter to reach, and exceed, his funding target.

The result is the group of products that can be seen at: http://www.bleepbleeps.com

After the talk we gathered around in groups to discuss what we had listened to and partook of pizzas and drinks and Claire Wilson tried to help me set up her laptop to attempt to bring the pictures that I was planning to take now we were in the networking stage, but it was not to be. However, it did demonstrate Claire’s patience and tenacity for which I was very grateful, but it curtailed the number of images that I managed to capture, so it was at least fortuitous that the summer evening offered another opportunity to capture some of the surroundings, and the cloud formations.

Watford Creative Technologies Cluster

These events put on by Clock and West Hertfordshire College have been extremely enjoyable and interesting evenings, and this Tuesday’s event was no exception, in fact for me it was particularly so because a photographer came up to me and said he remembered me from more than ten years ago, during his time as an assistant at Mill Yard Studios in Luton. I apologised to him, Paul Meyler, for not showing signs of recognising him and he then explained that he remembered the times when I used to visit the two photographers to show them examples of retouching. During these visits he was apparently in the background which explains why I would have been less likely to remember him.

At the last event I had been surprised to see a photographer I had done work for even further back, and she was coming for the first time; we have been in touch ever since she, Patricia Rayner had been assistant Senior Photographer at Mobil in Victoria. Her husband, Nick was present this evening, whilst Patricia was working on the photography of the previous day.

I had taken Product Designer, Peter Carr, but both of us had been late in leaving, so upon our arrival, there was already a filling hall of other Creatives and members of Clock’s staff, and up to the right of the stage was the Star item of the evening – SwipeStation. Peter and I mingled, but I quickly dug out my camera and began attaching Camranger to it and switching on my iPad and selecting its ad hoc network; this seemed like the ideal opportunity to put the iPad into Client mode in the eponymous app and make each shot I took appear on its screen as I went around shooting. This made it far easier for me to engage in conversation as those intrigued by what I was doing would ask about how it was done. It also gave me confirmation as to whether the ISO speed was up to the rigours of shooting in such low light surrounded as we were by black painted walls! The best compromise for quality was to set 3,200 ISO and use an aperture of f/5.6 and hope that I could hold the camera steady at the resultant shutterspeed!

It was not long before we were called to order and Syd  Nadim, CEO of Clock introduced himself and explained how SwipeStation came about and then handed over to Sam Fresco to give us a fuller story of what it was all about. It was a bold venture that required considerable exploration of numerous disciplines and technologies – a steep learning curve with no guarantees of ultimate success, but they won through. Sam told the story from early almost Blue Peter style mockups to the final product and how it had gained them several blue chip clients along the way – Yates, Pepsi and Red Bull.

Next on the floor was Ben Barrell who gave us an insight into Future Fest and a very intriguing look at Cyborg and how a man, who was only able to see in black and white was given the means to ‘hear’ the colours of his surroundings. The evening was rounded off by more networking, delicious pizzas and more drinks. Unfortunately on this occasion Peter and I were unable to continue along to the Bodega.

West Herts Technology Cluster

This is the second meeting I have attended as a member of the Design Network Association – DNA. I collected fellow member Peter Carr at his home and then gave iPhone Maps a chance to direct me to Watford to the College. We arrived later than intended due to my failing to realise I was in a queue for the wrong Car Park, but once the lady ahead took up the wasted space beyond her car we managed to get ourselves parked up and make our way to the hall. It turned out there was plentiful time to mill around and chat, and then walking towards me was a very familiar face, Image 2 photographer, Patricia Rayner, resplendent in red. A very pleasant surprise as I did not expect to recognise faces beyond those of Clock, our hosts and other DNA members.

I soon learned that Patricia knew the Allibones of The Way Forward, so this is indeed a small world. The guest speaker for the evening was David Birss, who was introduced by Syd Nadim, the Founder and CEO of Clock. Prior to the presentation, we mingled, giving me the chance to chat to other DNA members such as Richard Cockerill and sample a Spritzer and crisps.

David with Pebble watch on arm and iPhone in hand launched into his wide-ranging talk discussing the way technology was moving and exhorting us to take a different view; he suggested he was entirely at ease coping witch hecklers, but this audience were far too polite to heckle, but were happy to engage in dialogue, and I have tried to capture those who were unafraid to voice their opinions and add to the discussion. In the level of lighting once David started to talk I wanted to take shots that involved animation, but had to try very hard to choose moments when movement stopped momentarily as  even at 6400 ISO I was still often shooting at full aperture at f/4 and 1/8th to 1/10th of  a second, which I knew would involve less than 100% success! The audience on my side escaped capture by me in the main!

I am always pleasantly surprised by the quality that can be achieved at these low levels of light, as I endeavour to retain the ambience that comes from not flooding the scene with electronic flash and this venue has walls of unremitting black! David explained at one stage how he was connected from his watch to his iPhone to his MacBook, so I lent over and asked Syd whether he had his number, suggesting he gave him a ring, which he duly did and we awaited David’s reaction. You can’t take me anywhere!

After the formal talk was over we were treated to a wide range of excellent pizzas and more alcoholic and other beverages from a well-stocked portable freezer and we all gathered to network further. I wanted to grab a few shots from above, and Francesca Bonn, the College’s Commercial Manager very kindly took me upstairs, so I obtained an overview. before many of us took a stroll to a local Bodega, Peter asked directions of Claire Weston, and this was so animated I simply had to have a shot!  Syd Nadim very kindly bought us a round of drinks, and to round off the evening David autographed Peter Carr’s purchase of his book, and I learned that it was not Magic Roundabout’s Dougal lying across the mantelshelf beneath an array of candles…

Watford Technology Cluster

Receiving an Invitation to visit the West Herts College to attend a networking event and be shown the facilities at the College was a great chance to meet others within the local creative community and the staff and some of the students. The aims seemed to be very similar to those of the Design Network Association of which I am a member, so it was very easy to accept, and I invited another member, Product Designer, Peter Carr, to be my passenger and navigator and join me for the evening. It was no surprise to meet Andy Coomar and John Breckley, two other DNA members, as they were local.

We were made very welcome by college staff and members of Clock a local Design Group who were one of the sponsors of the evening. We soon found ourselves in conversation with some of the students, one doing 3D design, one doing photography and another illustration. Duncan Murray announced that we should all find someone we had not yet met and discuss what we did and were hoping to achieve, in a two minute conversation – it seemed very much like Speed Dating!

Then we were invited to form small groups and we would be taken on a whistle-stop tour of all the facilities before returning to the Performance area we had been congregating, this gave us the opportunity not only to see the facilities, but also get involved in discussions with staff involved in those specialist areas. I for one, found this very interesting and the equipment was impressive as was the overall layout; it was very well laid out. We returned once again to the first area where there were now pizzas and an array of savoury nibbles, and a wide range of drinks, and then onto the presentations from Jamie Mathews, CEO of Initials Marketing, who gave a resumé of their six years to the present day to help inspire the students present, and a talk from Syd Nadim, CEO of Clock, one of the evening’s co-sponsors.

Then it was back to more networking, I took every opportunity I could to take a few photographs of the proceedings, the facilities we had been shown and when leaving a few quick architectural shots – too good to miss!