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Lighting Technician Personal Statement

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Throughout my degree I have always been sure that I wanted to pursue a career as a lighting technician (or spark) in the film industry. I have always held an interest in this area of the industry as my Brother Charlie Jenkins (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5340410/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) is a successful lighting technician and through him I was given some early insight into a career which for me amalgamates creativity and a trade skill. I plan to go straight into the industry working as a freelance lighting technician or lighting trainee using the contacts that I have made over the last couple of years. Although generally Freelancers can expect to earn around £11,000 less than those in a permanent position in the creative industries in the UK (Creative …show more content…

Interestingly freelancers do dominate the camera and lighting departments in the UK, which is illustrated by statistics compiled by Creative Skillset (2014) who found that Freelancers made up 77% of the camera departments in the creative industries of the UK. Although working Freelance could be considered riskier as work will often be dictated by trends in the industry. The UK has the 2nd largest film industry in the world (BFI, 2015), therefore I feel it is reasonable to expect to make a living as a freelancer in the …show more content…

The First contact I made were as a result of my brother, who put me in contact with gaffer Aaron Walters (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1094618/ ) who offered me paid work on the short film The Hope Rooms (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4962566/?ref_=nm_flmg_cam_1 ). Aaron has since put me in contact with Gaffer Paul Burns (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0122832/), who I have worked with several times now since November 2015. Although I was lucky enough to get an introduction through my brother, this type of informal approach is common in the film industry with 56% (Creative Skillset, 2014) of employees working in the creative industry finding out about their most recent job through informal recruitment methods. One aspect that makes becoming a Lighting Technician attractive is that you can be expected to be paid for your work almost immediately. Lighting is heavily unionized through BECTU and in my experience, most Gaffers will insist on their lighting team being paid the recommended BECTU rates (2016) of £315 (Shooting Crew Feature), £276 (Rigging Crew Feature) and £250 (Commercial which also covers music promos). The BECTU Recommended rates are there to prevent Lighting Techs being underpaid for what is both one of the most dangerous and physically demanding jobs in the film industry. It also prevents Lighting Technicians Undercutting each others prices, which eventually

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