Career-boosting placements at Eastenders and Warner Bros for aspiring production students
20 September 2023
Two Falmouth University students brushed shoulders with some of the TV industry’s biggest hitters during their summer break. Second-year Post Production & Visual Effects BA(Hons) students August Goff and Tia Mullins secured work experience at both the BBC and Warner Bros, thanks to the University’s School of Film & Television lecturer Kelly Norris-Hughes.
A regular post-production specialist within the industry, lecturer Kelly Norris-Hughes secured the placements while returning to the BBC as an editor over the summer to work on the BBC’s flagship soap Eastenders. She explains: “The placements came through the support of my colleagues John Loughman (BBC Studioworks Post Production & Record Technical manager), Ayesha Granville (Post Production Supervisor at EastEnders), Simon Nash (Head of Post Production Operations at Warner Bros Television Production) and Lisa Kingdon-McKinlay (MCR Supervisor Warner Bros Television Production).”
Student August Goff has future ambitions of obtaining a junior position in post-production or as part of a motion graphics house. He said: “I applied for the opportunity on EastEnders as I thought it would be really valuable to see how such a large-scale production gets made on a day-to-day basis, especially for the BBC.
“I feel very lucky to have been able to spend the week there. Even in that short space of time I was able to pick up some really valuable skills that will benefit me a lot once I've graduated and am starting to get into the industry. It's easy to neglect media management and communication when working on individual university projects, so getting real world experience of them has been really important and hopefully will make me much more employable in the future.”
Tia Mullins is hoping to be a runner/edit assistant after graduating. She said: “I knew it was a fantastic opportunity I couldn’t miss out on as I’m hoping once I graduate to become an edit assistant, and the work experience at Eastenders was a great insight into what that role entails. It was also great to see one of our own lecturers, Kelly Norris-Hughes, doing her thing in the industry and seeing just how talented and experienced she is.
“I got to have a go at editing a scene and received feedback from one of Eastenders top long-standing editors. They use AVID Media Composer software at the BBC and because I have been taught this software on my course, I felt comfortable using it and understood the editing workflow. This has definitely opened up my eyes to all the possibilities of a career in post-production, and I can’t wait to take what I’ve learnt and incorporate it into my studies this year.”
Kelly said it was an absolute pleasure to have Tia and August on set and, with everyone saying how knowledgable the students were, she was also very proud. She continued: “The students were able to experience all aspects of a post-production environment. Seeing editors, colourists and dubbing mixers in action backs up the knowledge they have gleaned from the Media Composer and Pro Tools courses they undertake at Falmouth through our place as an AVID Training Provider, and this kind of experience allows for an even better understanding of practice and procedures in a professional environment.
Head of the School of Film & Television, Dr Kingsley Marshall, added: “Kelly’s existing links into the BBC and Warner Bros brought these placements to the School of Film & Television, and we were able to get these placements out as an opportunity for students at the end of the academic year with support from the Employability team. We were able to provide a small bursary to cover travel and accommodation for the successful applicants.
"To have Kelly showing current students the application of all that she teaches within the school within a professional environment was a great opportunity, and our intention is to further build on these kinds of hands-on placement opportunities in post-production.”
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