A Creative Technologies graduate working at the BBC is offering De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) students exciting opportunities to explore innovative filmmaking.
After graduating from DMU with a Creative Technologies MA/MSc in 2012, Melanie Moeller started her own media production company working with charities and small businesses around Leicester.
With a growing interest in coding she joined the BBC’s two-year Digital Media Graduate scheme, where she had the chance to work on BBC iPlayer and with BBC News.
Currently a Business Analyst for BBC News Online, Melanie is also the founder of FilmKit, the UK’s first Film Innovation Festival which is building a community around innovative cinematography.
Melanie said: “To achieve our mission we’ve partnered up with pioneers in the emerging filmmaking space such as Cinephone International Film Festival, video editing and sharing app Videona, and the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT) at De Montfort University.”
The partnership with DMU has given student volunteers the chance to play a key role in promoting the festival through marketing, PR and communications roles, with more opportunities available.
Melanie said: “We greatly appreciate not only the students’ drive and dedication, but also the creativity and innovative thinking they bring to the team.
“We are still looking for volunteers to join our media production, web development, events management and content production sub-teams.
“Motivated and creative individuals with a passion for media and film can contact me at m.moeller@film-kit.com for more information.”
Taking place this September, FilmKit will showcase the latest cutting edge movies filmed with drones, presented as a virtual reality experience or with interactive and immersive stories.
Screenings of around 30 films will run alongside opportunities to gain hands-on experience of operating a drone, trying virtual reality gear and editing a 360 video.
There will also be Q&As with directors and producers, as well as talks by award winning film innovators, such as IPhone filmmaker Conrad Mess, and experts from DMU, including Professor Ernest Edmonds and Dr Sophy Smith.
With a passion for video innovation, Melanie has also recently launched a virtual reality start-up called Virtualoud, offering 360 and virtual reality filmmaking services.
She is hoping to collaborate with DMU’s IOCT once again, leading to even more work experience opportunities for DMU students in the near future, as well as the chance to be involved in the filming of a spherical theatre performance.
Coming from an art, design and humanities background, Melanie found her Creative Technologies MA both challenging and rewarding.
She said: “Getting my head around things like software development and the technical side of audio and video production was a steep learning curve, but it was a great opportunity to be experimental, to be playful, and to try out new things.
“I enjoyed the performance technologies module the most, for which I created an interactive projection mapping installation, while the video production module gave me my first hands-on experience.”
Melanie’s interactive video-based installation allowed her to manipulate video via movement.
She said: “It was a great experience to create a piece of art which I was proud to see exhibited at galleries in Leicester, London and Reading.”
Posted on Tuesday 12 April 2016