A promotional video produced by the North East Media Development Council (NEMDC) about the need for and the setting up of a media training centre at Pelaw in Gateshead. The film includes interviews with key stakeholders including Murray Martin from Amber Films who talk about the need for such establishments in an area of high unemployment such as Pelaw with an emphasis in providing media training for minority groups, the disabled, women and those from working-class backgrounds. A graphic...

A promotional video produced by the North East Media Development Council (NEMDC) about the need for and the setting up of a media training centre at Pelaw in Gateshead. The film includes interviews with key stakeholders including Murray Martin from Amber Films who talk about the need for such establishments in an area of high unemployment such as Pelaw with an emphasis in providing media training for minority groups, the disabled, women and those from working-class backgrounds. A graphic showing the United Kingdom with compass points pointing north, south, east and west. As the compass needle moves clockwise it moves in closer to the map ending on the Northeast of England and River Tyne area. Title: North East From an elevated position the skyline of Gateshead featuring high-rise apartment blocks, streets of council housing and a large factory in the distance. Standing on a hillside at Pelaw overlooking derelict quaysides and shipyard cranes along the River Tyne at Jarrow below is Pat Murray from Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council. She describes the changes that have taken place in the past twenty years that have seen the decline in shipbuilding, heavy industry and coal mining and the diminution in the skills of this area. A Ferranti satellite dish on the roof of Rediffusion House along Forth Banks in Newcastle, in the near distance the Queen Elizabeth II Metro Bridge. Title: North East Media In a recording studio the narrator of this film sits in a booth reading the films script, his words are being captured by an engineer in the studio. He explains that ‘this wave of technological improvements offers opportunities to intervene and be a part of an industry which is a truly regional perceptive and contributes to the culture of the Northeast.’ Along the Newcastle Quayside with the Tuxedo Princess floating nightclub in background, interview with Murray Martin of Amber Films. He gives a definition of ‘regional’ by saying that the more you make works that have a local and of intrinsic interest, the more national and international recognition it will gain. He believes a regional voice is developing within the industry and has argued for the formation of the North East Media Development Council (NEMDC) with a large training base at its core. Interview with Peter Moth from Tyne Tees Television who welcomes such training scheme as it helps keep good broadcasters in the region. He is pleased to see more opportunities develop and would support a training centre at Pelaw as it is Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACCT) accredited and matching standards within the industry. A montage of clips from productions by made members of the NEMDC including Swingbridge Video, Trade Films and Amber Films. In voiceover the narrator provides details about the organisation structure of the NEMDC who see a clear need and demand for training in all aspects of the media that will be centred on the establishment of a media training scheme based at the Gateshead’s councils Stonehills site at Pelaw. Title: North East Media Training Centre Standing in the entranceway of the studio at Stonehills is Anne Cousins ex-Tyne and Wear County Council. She expresses the council’s initial concerns of wanting to preserve as much of the existing industrial base as possible and the proposal made to them by NEMDC that would link up ideas of providing skills and training, especially for young people, in the creative industry and would practically lead to jobs. Anne Cousins walks around the new training centre and walks into the studio where the films narrator is still having his commentary recorded. Jenny Woodley, ACCT Regional Organiser explains that in a recent survey of members training was a concern. She explains that this was based on two factors. The first has been an increased demand from sections of society who have found it traditionally difficult to get into the industry and thus gain union membership such as women, ethnic minority groups and the disabled along with those from working-class backgrounds. She sites as the second factor the fast-changing developments in technology especially within cable and satellite. Overlooking the River Tyne a man in a wheelchair uses a video camera to film the scene, beside him a South Asian man holds a sound boom. In voice-over the narrator explains that the centre will recruit the disabled for its courses and when needed provide specific training in operational and technical skills for the disabled. Disabled filmmaker Martin Leates talks about the spectrum of disability and the abilities that are needed to work both a tripod and an Electronic News Gathering (ENG) camera, something he found easier to do than expected. Sitting in a set of steps, teenager Jodi Moore explains that no one talked to her about working in the media and she didn’t know who to talk to about getting training in camera work or directing. The exterior of Benfield Comprehensive school with the narrator explaining that work is still needed to improve the educational and vocational training in schools. Returning to Jodi, she explains that while the school course she is on does focus on camera work and being aware of the media, she would like to focus on directing and script work which isn’t offered. Filmmakers Elaine Drainville and Lynda Robinson sit at a Steenbeck cutting together their latest film production. In voiceover the narrator talks about a 12-week course in video and film productions for the under-25s that will assess them for suitability for further training. At least half of the trainees on the two-year course will be women, with the course offering fully professional training in a range of technical and organisational skills that with eventual lead to trade union accreditation starting in June 1987. Elaine Drainville explains that since the end of the war not only has the number of women in the industry deceased, but that the numbers being taken on have also fallen with women often been offered secretarial rather than technical grade positions which are also lower paid. Lynda Robinson believes women are just as capable as men, but are not allowed access to equipment through training. As the South Asian man seen previously works a portable video recorder and someone else in the studio works a Vectorscope, the narrator provides details on shot full-time courses provided by the training centre to give opportunities of re-training for experienced professionals withing the freelance and independent sector. Title: North East Media Training Centre Back on the Newcastle Quayside, Murray Martin believes that as new technology industries are bound up with economic development, large amounts of finance will come from Europe, local investment as well as from industrial developments. With the strong involvement of ACTT as a union with a commitment for flexible ways of working he hopes to see within 10 years more workshop movements like Amber and Trade Films setting up within the region to provide the employment and to produce content for both the region as well as for an international distribution system. The graphic of the United Kingdom featured at the start of the film is shown again this time with added dots representing the strategy within the NEMDC to develop a growing and vibrant media industry in the Northeast. The film ends on the exterior Stonehills Studios at Pelaw, the home of the North East Media Training Centre. Credit: Voice-over Brian Hogg Music Vince Pescod Animation David Brooks Camera Roy Cornwall Sound Graham Denman Video Engineer Brian McEvoy Editor Elaine Drainville On-line Edit Nick Howells Trainee Technician Atiq-ur-Rehman Script Fizzy Oppe’, Ieuan Morris Producer Fizzy Oppe’ Director Ieuan Morris Title: Special thanks to Ben Moore Newcastle Polytechnic, Stonehills, Mutilated Kitchen Studios and all who appeared in the programme Thanks to Annie Clarke, Brian Downs, Hilary Fenwicks, Marie Mallon, Northern Film and TV Archive, Benfield Comprehensive End title: © NEMTC 1986