Rock Up Ready takes centre stage in the Screen School

A group of students spent the day shooting scenes in the University of Wolverhampton’s £5M Screen School as part of a postgraduate training course. 

Rock Up Ready is a funded project by the British Film Institute for postgraduate students looking to take their first steps into a career in the Creative Industries. The course is part of Creative Central’s Skills Accelerator which aims to increase employment opportunities for people in the West Midlands looking to find work in a creative role.  

While the course is jointly delivered alongside Birmingham City University and Coventry University, part of the program saw students spend two days in the University of Wolverhampton’s Screen School learning the key details of the industry and working together in various roles to recreate a scene from a film. 

Caroline Officer is the Lead Tutor of Rock Up Ready and also designed the course. She’s enjoyed bringing Rock Up Ready to the University of Wolverhampton’s Screen School and hopes this can be the start of a strong relationship. “It’s been a joy to work with Wolverhampton, Coventry and BCU. If it’s a start of a great collaboration then bring it on as far as I’m concerned.”  

Caroline also spoke passionately about what the students would be able to take from spending time in the Screen School. “What we’re looking to achieve with our immersive two days here at Wolverhampton is communication, collaboration and having that sense that we’re all coming together to create that final project, and that final project is going to be great.” 

Assigned in roles such as Director of Photography and Prop Master, students were tasked with recreating a day of production on set using industry standard equipment to bring to life from scratch a scene from The Joker (2019) starring Joaquin Phoenix. From putting on make up to ensuring that cameras and lighting were set up correctly, everyone had a role to play on set. 

There is plenty of undiscovered talent in the West Midlands that the creative industries aren’t reaping the rewards of yet, and courses like Rock Up Ready help students with getting on the right path to finding a career in the screen industries. For some, they may have left the Screen School inspired after taking on a role they may not have seen themselves working in as roles are assigned on the day for what part in the production each student is going to play.  

John Gray, a graduate from the University’s Film and TV Production course, visited the Screen School as part of Rock Up Ready. While he was impressed with the facilities, he would have liked to make the most of even more of what the Screen School has on offer. “I’ve enjoyed my time at the Screen School and the facilities are a lot nicer now from when I was studying here. I’ve used the cameras and some of the lighting, but I wouldn’t mind using the studios.”  

While it was a good experience using industry standard equipment, John also spoke about other areas of the course that he felt would go on to help him in the future. “I’ve been told there are a million ways to build a CV but it’s been nothing like this, it’s been enlightening how CVs within the creative industry are made rather than everywhere else.” 

Dr Pritpal Sembi, Deputy Head of the School of Creative Industries, spoke about how working with other universities helped deliver the program so students could get the most out of the course. “We worked really closely with BCU and various other universities, Create Central, and we were really keen to work together. We realised that the kind of things that BCU were doing and we were doing, it was a sharing of resources and saying “we’re out to do the same thing so lets do it together” on something like this. So when the call came out we were really, really keen to get involved. 

“There is plenty of undiscovered talent in the West Midlands that the creative industries aren’t reaping the rewards of yet, and courses like Rock Up Ready helps students with getting on the right path to get their best chance of making a career in the screen industries. For some, they may have left the Screen School inspired after taking on a role they may not have foreseen themselves working in as roles are assigned on the day for what part in the production each student is going to play.”  

For more information about the University of Wolverhampton and the Screen School, check out the University’s official websites. 

This article was written by Media and Journalism student, Callum Burgess. Picture credit to Callum.

ENDS