Northern Alliance - BFI

Appendix XVII Summary of evaluation of short film training schemes
The principal training schemes 96 (with Skillset‟s contribution in brackets) are:
The Digital Shorts scheme training provided by the Script Factory, which
has a core programme covering the essentials of digital production and
distribution, as well as specialist training modules in directing, producing,
animation and documentary filmmaking. Designed to empower filmmakers
to get the best and most appropriate training (approximately £120,000 a
year);
Cinema Extreme training across the scheme‟s development and production
process and, to achieve the scheme‟s overall goal, in how to bridge the
gap between shorts and features (approximately £50,000 a year);
The Blank Slate scheme focusing on the progression route from shorts to
features (approximately £50,000 a year).
Below is a summary of the evaluation of the training provided to date in
conjunction with the UK Film Council‟s programmes and supported by Skillset.
Please note, all evaluations were performed by third parties, and varying
methodologies and formats were adopted.
Cinema Extreme training scheme 2006/07
Training is run in conjunction with the production scheme, and was noted as
successful, as indicated by the commissioning of five films instead of the intended
four, due to the high standard of developed projects. Training of staff was noted
to be highly successful, as measured by career progression and credits. A project
manager was trained successfully to become an executive producer, and the
project coordinator was offered a post at the NCF.
Feedback from participants and partners was noted as consistently positive.
Participant targets were met. Some filmmakers whose films were not
commissioned as part of the scheme have been brought into other schemes at
the UK Film Council or Film4.
96 Also relevant to the makers of short film is Skillset's funding of the Bridging the Gap
scheme run by the Scottish Documentary Institute (based at the Edinburgh College of Art, part of
Screen Academy Scotland), which aims to make seven short documentary films a year, each ten
minutes long.
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