YSP Media Joins Panel For Doc Media Festival 'Live Podcast'

YSP Media director Christopher was please to be involved in last night's Documentary Media Festival’s 'Podcast Live' event held at De Montfort University in Leicester! Our thanks to the organisers for inviting us and fellow panellists for some great chat about all things documentary.

Representing YSP Media, Christopher was on hand to discuss his work with participatory arts organisation Junction Arts on the RTS-nominated documentary ‘JA40: The Junction Arts Story’.

The podcast has now been published by Decentered Media on their website at the link here for those interested in listening back. Taking part in the discussion was Ulrike Kubatta, Catherine Taylor, Christopher Bevan and Daniel Clifford alongside hosts John Coster and Rob Watson.

Birmingham Film Festival Nominations Announced, 'Make Do Or Mend' Up For 3 Awards

We're so pleased to announce that our sci-fi short 'Make Do Or Mend' has been nominated for three awards at Birmingham Film Festival; Best Micro Short Film, Best Production Design (Milly White) and Best Costume (Chris Morris/Vengeance FX)!

Since completing the film for the Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge back in April, we’ve had an exciting journey sending the film to festivals, attending screenings and we’ve had a positive response online too. The Birmingham Film Festival screenings and awards take place at the end of November at Millennium Point and are a tremendous celebration of talent from around the UK. Our thanks to the selection panel for the nominations and we hope those in attendance enjoy the film!

The Other Crowdfunding Campaign Concludes, Filming To Resume in Early 2019

After a month of running our Indiegogo campaign to support the completion of Dreamfusion Productions and YSP Media’s short thriller The Other, the campaign has now ended and with £3916 raised, which marks 52% of our target. This incredible result is a cause for real celebration as it allows us to get the cast and crew back together to shoot the two final scenes as envisioned when we first developed the script for the film. We would like to extend their thanks to each and every one of our backers for their wonderful support over the past month of the crowdfunding campaign.

We're also now able to bring onboard an editor to start the work of cutting what we have already shot, with a view to having first cut of the film in Spring 2019. As with anything in the world of film, dates can shift as we have to deal with cast, crew and location availability but it is our intention to move forward as quickly as we can to start shooting. We will be looking to alternate sources of industry completion funding for the remaining elements of post-production not covered by the crowdfunder once the edit is completed, and we'll also be reaching out to creative networks to see how we can finish this side of things.

Over the coming weeks we'll be sorting through our perk fulfilment, some of these rewards such as the behind the scenes development folder and screenings will only be able to be sent out once the film is completed, but we will endeavour to keep you informed as we go.

Keep an eye on our social media channels for updates and we look forward to continuing this journey to complete The Other with you. Thank you once again to all of our backers on behalf of the whole team, we can't wait to get this film finished!

'Make Do Or Mend' Sci-Fi Short Selected for The Short Cinema International Film Festival 2018

We received the exciting news today that our sci-fi short film Make Do Or Mend has been selected for The Short Cinema International Film Festival 2018! We're delighted and can't wait to be able screen the film at the Phoenix Cinema in Leicester next month!

Created in just 48 hours for the annual Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge earlier this year in April, Make Do Or Mend went on to receive a special mention for production craft and screened as part of the SFL48HR festival screening event in London as one of twenty films out of over one hundred submissions. Since then we have begun sending the film out to festivals both national and international and after a successful screening at Short Stack in Nottingham last week, we're excited to be heading to our next festival.

The Short Cinema is an annual short film festival showcasing established and emerging talent from across the world with a strong focus on Midlands makers. Over the past several years we've been fortunate to have two of our previous film projects screen here (Love & Other Chairs, Keto 'Change') and it's always a wonderful event with a receptive and welcoming audience. The festival is held between 20th-25th August and you can find out more details at their website www.phoenix.org.uk/event/the-short-cinema/

A huge thank you once again to the cast and crew who worked on Make Do Or Mend; without your tireless efforts and talent on the shoot, we would not be where we are with this film today. Stay tuned for further updates via our social media channels on Facebook and Twitter!

48 Hour Sci-Fi Challenge 2018 Entry Receives Festival Screening and 'Special Mention'

After a few years off we once again braved the Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge over a weekend earlier this month. As a team we were given two days to write, shoot and edit a sci-fi themed short film with a title, line of dialogue and prop to include provided at the start of the challenge. A tiring and incredibly rewarding weekend of filmmaking ensued and the outcome was a gratefully received Special Mention and screening at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival 48 Hour Challenge Evening! Being just one of only twenty films screened out of nearly 130 entries is an achievement we are very proud of.

During the production we were thrilled to able to work with such a talented and dedicated cast and crew who went above and beyond to help us realise this film. In advance of the challenge we had brought on-board our behind the camera team and sourced locations, keeping our options open due to not being able to lock a script until the weekend of the competition. Writer Dan McGrath and director Christopher Bevan collaborated once again on the project following Transcended, our entry from 2016’s challenge, with Director of Photography Karl Poyzer returning to bring his considerable skills to the table. Freelance producer James Hutton joined the YSP Media team earlier in development and production designer Milly White was also an integral element of our conceptual process, helping to shape the world we were hoping to create without having a specific script to hand which made the process that much more challenging.

Our given title for the challenge was ‘Make Do Or Mend’ and after an intense scriptwriting session with director, writer and lead actor Miranda Heath, we were able to share the final script with the team and shortly thereafter began shooting through the night with a short break before resuming in the morning to complete the final scene. The specifics of the incredible experience during this time would take too long to write in full detail but suffice to say everyone single one of the team gave it their all and our sincere thanks go out to the cast and crew for their hard work and passion.

One of the most memorable parts of this project was working with Father Phantom Studio, a Birmingham based SFX Make Up and Prosthetics team who designed and built the creature mask, scars, claws and other additions that were so detailed and further helped build the grimy sci-fi world of our story. It was a true pleasure to have them onboard and we hope to have the chance to work with them again. We were also joined by Chris Morris of Vengeance FX on the project who worked as costume designer, providing and creating key costumes, character props and additionally much of the set elements as envisioned by our production designer Milly.

Make Do Or Mend is now available to view online below. You can also view even more of our behind the scenes photographs taken by Gemma O'Brien on our Facebook page here.

Mainframe Awards Ceremony Evening At Derby QUAD

Last month we were honoured to be invited to the inaugural Mainframe Derby Awards held at QUAD where our short documentary JA40: The Junction Arts Story was nominated in the ‘Project Most Proud Of’ Category.

A wonderful drinks reception to open the event was followed by an inspiring celebration of local creative businesses and talent, a testament to the growth and strength of these industries in Derbyshire. Hosted by the delightful and energetic CEO of QUAD Adam Buss, the ceremony was a wonderful success and we are very much looking forward to entering again next year. Whilst we didn’t pick up the award our category, the nomination in itself was a win for us and our thanks go to Mainframe Derby for recognising our work and to our client Junction Arts for the support and original commission to make JA40.

As the evening came to a conclusion we were also able to speak to our category judge John Newbigin MBE, Chair of Creative England. To be able to discuss the film, our work and the importance of community arts organisations such as Junction Arts capped off the evening. Our congratulations and best wishes go to our fellow nominee Purpose Media and the category winner V21 Artspace!

JA40: The Junction Arts Story is available to view online here and was also nominated for Factual Programme of The Year at the RTS Midlands Awards 2017. In August 2018 the film will screen again at the Derbyshire Record Office in Matlock preceded by a Q&A with some of those involved in the project including director Christopher Bevan, project coordinator Jane Wells and archivist Mark Smith.

Mainframe Awards Photography by Charlotte Jopling.

The JA40 project was commissioned by Junction Arts and supported by The Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, Bolsover District Council and Derbyshire County Council.

First Look At Upcoming Short Film 'The Other'

As revealed last week on our IMDB page, here are the first behind the scenes photos from the set of The Other! The main block of filming was completed in November last year in Birmingham and across several locations in Derbyshire. The Other is an upcoming short film from producer Belinda Basson, director Christopher Bevan and writer Ben Errington. The film is produced by Dreamfusion Productions and YSP Media with the second block of filming schedule to take place in late 2018.

From L to R: Ben Errington (Writer), Christopher Bevan (Director), Belinda Basson (Producer) and Adam Horvath (Actor, Marcus)

Working on this project with such a dedicated cast and crew has been a real privilege and we are excited to begin sharing more on the project very soon. The Other stars Adam Horvath as Marcus, a serious and meticulous young chef who begins to experience increasingly strange and unexplained events that challenge his sanity. With his mindset spiralling into paranoia his desperation is intensified by sightings of a familiar figure.

Keep an eye on our website and social media feeds for new announcements about the continuing development of the film. This has been a really ambitious project for the whole team and our continued thanks go to our production partners Dreamfusion Productions and Belinda Basson for her tireless work in bringing The Other to life! Below you can see all of the first images released from behind the scenes of the film taken by Chris Harris and Benjamin Gregory-Ring. We look forward to sharing more updates in the not too distant future.

Nominated At Mainframe Derby Creative Business Awards 2018

Exciting news to wake up to this morning! We're thrilled to have been nominated at this year's Mainframe Derby Awards for 'Project Most Proud Of' for our work on documentary film JA40: The Junction Arts Story! This project had such an impact on us and we're grateful for the recognition and looking forward to the awards ceremony in April. Congratulations to all of the other nominees from Derby's wonderful creative community too!

To check out the full list of nominees, visit the official Mainframe Derby website here.  You can also view our nominated film JA40 on our website on the documentary film page. As ever our sincere thanks go to Junction Arts for the initial commission for this project and the organisations who have supported the film including Arts Council England, The Heritage Lottery Fund, Derbyshire County Council and Bolsover District Council. The film will be screening again in Matlock this Autumn at a public event with Q&A session, more details will be shared on our website nearer the time.

Update 23/04/18: Our tickets for the Mainframe Awards Ceremony arrived in the post last week and we couldn't resist sharing a photo of them along with the lovely Mainframe nominee 'M' we received!

YSP Media Attends RTS Awards 2017

We were delighted to attend the awards ceremony for the Royal Television Society Awards 2017 for the Midlands last week where our documentary 'JA40: The Junction Arts Story' was nominated for Factual Programme of the Year. It was wonderful to be nominated in such a competitive category and we proud to have our short film standing alongside programmes developed for each of the main terrestrial broadcasters. Tough competition to be sure! The award was won by the Richard Ayoade fronted 'Travel Man: 48 hours in...' by North One Television for the third year in a row and we send our congratulations to their team. The Baird Medal, awarded to an individual from the Midlands with contributions of significance both nationally and internationally, were given this year to Bodies and Line of Duty creator, Jed Mercurio and actor and comedian, Neil Morrissey. 

On a personal note we would also like to congratulate our friends at Vermillion Films for their well deserved win in the Best Promotional Programme category for their stylish and impactful film 'Holy Ground' for Javelin Block.

A recap of the evening's winners can be found here courtesy of Film Birmingham and a list of nominees for this year's awards can be found on the RTS Midlands website here. Our thanks go to the RTS for recognising our work on the film this year and thanks also go out to our partners on the film, without whom none of this would have been possible; Junction Arts, Arts Council England, The Heritage Lottery Fund, Bolsover District Council and Derbyshire County Council. The film will next receive a screening at the Derbyshire Record Office in Matlock on Thursday 29th March 2018.

New Short Film 'The Other' In Development

We are delighted to announce that our next short film The Other is now in development! The latest co-production between Dreamfusion Productions and YSP Media, the film will be produced by Belinda Basson, directed by Christopher Bevan and written by Ben Errington.

More official news will be coming soon as we head towards the start of principal photography at the end of November. You can follow the official Facebook page for the film below with the latest information on development from the production team including cast announcements and behind the scenes photos.

Nominated for RTS Awards 2017 for 'JA40' Junction Arts Documentary!

We're absolutely delighted to announce that we've been nominated for Factual Programme of the Year at the Royal Television Society Midlands Awards 2017 for our work on JA40: The Junction Arts Story! The full list of nominees is available here. 

JA40 is a short documentary commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Junction Arts, a fantastic and hard working community arts organisation with a long history of engaging and exciting community projects within the region. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all involved with the making of this documentary. It has been a fantastic journey and special thanks to Junction Arts for commissioning us to bring their 40 year story to the screen. This film was funded and supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, Bolsover District Council & Derbyshire County Council.

The film will also be screening at the inaugural Derbyshire Creative Heritage Conference being held by Junction Arts in Cromford on Friday October 13th. Further information is available on their website.

RTS awards are highly prized in the media industry. They are a ‘kitemark’ of excellence and are valued by those who are nominated for awards and those who win. The winners will be announced at the RTS Midlands Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony which will be held on the evening of Thursday 30th November at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.

YSP Media Director Working With Junction Arts & New Bolsover Community Filmmakers

‘Community Film Makers’ is a three year film project for residents of New Bolsover Model Village to document the progress of the Heritage Lottery Funded conservation and regeneration project. The film makers have been monitoring the changes, both physical and emotional responses, at regular intervals and will continue to do so until the regeneration is complete.

In 2017 YSP Media director Christopher Bevan began working on the project with Junction Arts and the volunteer community film making team in New Bolsover. His first event was held at The Big Lunch at Vale Park, where he ran a short film competition during the day. The prize of a free starter lantern making kit was given to three brothers who really took to the challenge of capturing the event with Chris. The following event, an iMovie editing workshop, was held on the 1st August at the Community House (133 New Bolsover). Those who took part storyboarded, filmed and edited two short films and contributed to the documenting of the regeneration work that will be included in a short film for the Heritage Open Day in September 2017. More details about the screening in September to follow.

The documentary film will be a valuable record and educational tool showing the improvement work and will be something that can be used in the future by researchers, advocates and local historians alike. The film will also record the changes in people’s attitudes and day-to-day lives as the work progresses. The film will be a wonderful resource to promote the work of HLF and the impact of HLF funding towards supporting the positive impact of community participation in such projects to the wider community and further afield.

For further information please visit http://junctionarts.org/projects/community-film-makers/. The above post on our site was created from the article originally published by Junction Arts. As ever we are incredibly grateful to be working closely with them and look forward to sharing news of the community filmmakers and their progress over the next 12 months.

Green Eco Technologies 'WasteMaster' Promotional Video

Working in co-production with Dreamfusion Productions, we recently completed video work for Green Eco Technologies (GET) for their range of WasteMaster food conversion systems. Our focus whilst developing the project was to convey an effective message on how GET develop, supply and manage their innovative, efficient, and environmentally beneficial, on-site solutions for the conversion and re-purposing of food waste into reusable resources.

The process of development on the film allowed us to work alongside the GET team to deliver a film that explains the challenges of food waste for businesses, and how the WasteMaster presents a green-friendly solution. A combination of live action footage and animation was used to explore the operation and management of the system, as well as the many benefits it canprovide.

The final film, a 5-minute showcase of the WasteMaster has been released online ahead of the unveiling of the system at the RWM Exhibition in Birmingham for the energy, water, waste and recycling markets. GET’s WasteMaster food conversion system uses unique proprietary technology to accelerate the decomposition of food waste, without any additives and without odour, reducing it to a more manageable residual material, which can be re-used in positive ways such as the production of green energy through anaerobic digestion.

With offices in the UK, Australia and Japan, GET is focused on helping customers to reduce the impact of their food waste disposal both on their businesses and the Environment.

It was a pleasure to work with our co-production partners Dreamfusion Productions on this film along with our client GET. The completed film is now available to view above and will be distributed across social media platforms beginning this Autumn. For more information on the WasteMaster system please visit www.greenecotec.com. If you are interested in finding out more about the film and are looking for something similar for your own business, please get in touch with us here.

Music Video for Lost At Home 'Don't Change On Me' Released

We were recently pleased to work with the up-and-coming band Lost At Home on the official music video for their new track ‘Don’t Change On Me’. An upbeat, energetic track, the brief was for a performance led video shot in a studio space with a quick pace and colourful onscreen elements. Director Christopher Bevan worked closely with the video’s director of photography Louis Vella to achieve the right look, with a key challenge being the necessity for the camera to remain in the same position throughout the video to allow the frequent performance snap cuts in the edit to work

We filmed at the Studio Factory in Nottingham on their large infinity curve studio set, giving us the room we needed for the band to perform. We’re grateful to our hard working crew who helped us bring the end result together, including assistant director Alec Jordan, costume designer Sammy-May Buxton, art director Emma Wylie, make-up artist Madz Abbasi and our production assistants Alex Pickavant and Jake Majthenyi. We’re delighted to say that Lost At Home were over the moon with the end result and we’re hoping to begin discussions soon about the next video, one with a narrative styling potentially. Again a big thanks to all involved in bring this one to life!

JA40: The Junction Arts Story Documentary Completed

From the Junction Arts archive, a lantern making workshop in Bolsover in 1995

Back in July 2016, we were thrilled to learn that our director Christopher Bevan had been commissioned to direct an exciting new documentary project for Junction Arts, a Derbyshire based participatory arts organisation. Established in 1976 and celebrating their incredible 40th Anniversary this year, the JA40 project was created by the organisation to look back at their history through archiving their past work and developing a short film that would tell the story of how they Junction Arts came to be. The film was created and supported with funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

“Working over the last five months on this project has been a fascinating and rewarding experience. I’ve had the chance to delve into the history of an organisation rooted deeply in rural communities where arts exposure is not as prominent, and to get a glimpse of what this has meant to those local people over the past 40 years is both inspiring and moving.

I’ve also been able to interview key individuals from throughout the history of Junction Arts including former team members, artists, participants and representatives of the organisation’s funding bodies including Arts Council England, Bolsover District Council and Derbyshire County Council. The 20-minute film was produced from hours of interviews filmed over the duration of the project and I hope that the end result will be a lasting tribute to Junction Arts’ work to bring art to the communities that need it most” – Christopher Bevan, Director ‘JA40: The Junction Arts Story’

Filming at the Bolsover Lantern Parade in November 2016

The film screened for the first time in early December at a private event for the Junction Arts team, funders and associates of the organisation. In early 2017 the film will tour the areas in which Junction Arts has been based over the past 40 years. The film has been released online too and is available to view below.

About Junction Arts (via www.junctionarts.org)

Junction Arts is a participatory arts organisation and charity based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. We have built a reputation, during the last 40 years, for delivering outstanding, transformational work in the arts through partnerships and collaborations within the rural areas of the East Midlands.  We believe that the arts changes people’s lives, builds confidence and skills, increases communication and supports community and personal empowerment.  Our primary aim is to increase and extend access to high quality arts through inspirational, innovative participatory arts projects and through partnership working and collaboration.

Attending the RTS Midlands Awards Ceremony

Last night we were thrilled to attend the annual Royal Television Society Awards for the Midlands. It was a tremendous evening and great to be surrounded by such talent and the competition in our category was no exception. We were nominated in the ‘Best Promotional Programme’ category for our commercial for Mackney Photography’s POP superhero themed portraits, released last year to coincide with the opening of their new studio and shop in the Intu Derby.

Whilst on the night we didn’t pick up the award, it was a genuine pleasure to be nominated and this recognition in an incredibly competitive field means a great deal. Our thanks go to RTS Midlands for their wonderful hospitality and a fantastic awards ceremony. We look forward to submitting again next year!

Royal Television Society Award Nomination For YSP Media

Excellent news this week from the Royal Television Society! We’re delighted to announce that our commercial for Mackney Photography’s POP superhero portraits has been nominated for Best Promotional Programme at the RTS Midlands Awards. This is a tremendous honour for us and we’re delighted to be attending the gala awards ceremony in Birmingham in November alongside some incredible talent. A huge thank you to the cast and crew for all their hard work on the commercial, and a special thanks to our client Mackney Photography for entrusting us to deliver the project. We had a blast working on it and are now looking forward to joining our fellow nominees in just a few weeks time. You can check out our award nominated commercial here!

Sci-Fi 'Transcended' Festival Selection For The Short Cinema

Our sci-fi short Transcended was recently selected to screen at The Short Cinema in Leicester, an international film festival with a focus on shining a light on East Midlands talent. We had a terrific time at the event, joining a sold out crowd for a superb and diverse line up of films. If you’ve not seen it yet, you can view the film online here. Below is a photo of just some of the Transcended cast and crew on the festival red carpet at the wonderful Phoenix Cinema in Leicester. Our thanks to the organisers for another brilliant year and we hope to be able to submit again in 2017!

(From L to R) Gemma O'Brien, Michael Muyunda, Julia Quayle, Dan McGrath, AJ Stevenson & Christopher Bevan. Photo by Pamel Raith Photography

Mojo The Movie Star Poodle!

Poodle? Check. Skateboard? Check. Miniature car? Check. In one of our most unusual short projects to date, we teamed with animal trainer and poodle lover Lynne Land to develop a comedic, snappy short following the exploits of her superstar poodle Mojo. Filmed at the Arianne Photography Studios near Burton, a small team of crew got together for a day of madness and mayhem as dogs galore descended on the set. A huge part of the fun was building the idea that Mojo is indeed a ‘superstar’ dog, creating a faux-Hollywood feel to the film and scenarios. The film has been released simultaneously on Facebook as well as traditional video platforms, resulting a tremendous surge in views and shares from dog lovers all around the world. Mojo’s career has seen her appear on the sofa of ITV’s This Morning show and take a starring role in the Colin Firth starring Kingsman: Secret Service. Now Mojo is taking her next step into the world of showbiz and we had a great time being a small part of that.

New Music Video For Guy Jones 'Little Guys' Released

In the lead up to the online release of Guy Jones’ latest single ‘Little Guys’ we’re delighted to unveil the official music video we produced for the track! A big thank you goes out to all of the cast and crew involved in this one. Check out some of the behind the scenes images below taken by Gemma O'Brien.