Good grief that went quickly…….on the 24th February, a group of eager students listened attentively…Ollie Leggett founder of IE Design, Birmingham, Rachel Hargrave, Phoenix Partners Leicester and freelance producer- Alan James.

Ollie Leggett of IE Design, was totally inspiring from how he obtained his first client, to his approach in running his business. His personal values have shaped his business ethos. When Ollie started his company he created his core values which he still works by today however he did say that it’s a daily struggle to keep to them when he has to let someone go etc. His ‘Key Values’ are non negotiable and suggested that to ‘Be true to yourself and live it’

Ollie stated that he lead not managed his company and went on to say that only 3% of us are ‘Natural Leaders’ however the good news is that you can learn to be one!!!!! He referred to a book ‘Developing the Leader within You’ by John C Maxwell.

Most of what Ollie spoke about reflected current management thinking……I really think he should write it down!

Second up was Rachel Hargrave with a totally different approach to her business. Rachel, is a partner of Phoenix Partners based in Leicestershire which she set-up 7 years ago. Organic strategy comes to mind in how Rachel approaches her business, responding to clients needs with ‘Yes we can do that to’ then finding a way! Moving from live events and film and video into different areas such as PR and graphic design has been a business strategy that has benefitted the company in the downturn as the projects and budgets have been slashed in Live Events. Rachel recognised that she has to be more structured since the early days where she was very much hands on, she now finds herself managing and moving the company forward. Something she admits seems at times rather alien to her. How she wins work is being really good a what you do – helping people to communicate their story in a variety of multi platform and cross discipline work, that is memorable and full of impact.
Alan James, a freelance producer shared with us his experience of producing a unscripted improvised live band with an orchestra and live writing composers. The Band –“The Bays” based in London.
10 years ago, a group of session musicians from well know acts came together and decided not to make records but only play live totally improvised with no rehearsals and no vocals. The four piece, The Bays, are drums, bass, keyboards and ‘science department’ – effects with a special guest each night. Alan explained the difficulties in working with an improvised band with an orchestra and how it was overcome by the use of technology.
All these speakers had qualities of passion, commitment and creativity in what they produced and how they ran their business or project. I would like to thank all of them in taking the time to come and talk. Thank you for reading…

It is a super great experience to listen to Alison Grade to talk about her working experience in TV industry. I am very excited during her speech because I have some related working experiences before.

To sale your idea is the most important point in TV industry, but who is the target? Before this session, the viewer is my only answer. However, the advertisers are the key point. To sale an idea is not only about to sale it, it is more about what kind of idea we sold? Or how to satisfied demand of audience. When we know who is our audience or customer, we still have to know what is the motivation they like our idea or program.

A successful idea includes some aspect:

1. Research- a lot of information about your target audience and market.

2. Make the best use of media.

3. Proposal- a good proposal is the base of promote ideas, it could convey the

information that you what to tell to your customer.

4. Produce- the quality is important, even if the best idea, if the produce quality is bad,

it is still a bad product.

Overall, I think to sale an idea is an attitude. It is about what we think, what we create, how we make strategy, and it needs to practice. Thanks Alison gave us lots of concept about TV industry and it’s really refresh my mind.

YUCHI  CHANG

Chou’s compositions are loosely categorized as pop music. While many of his works fall into contemporary R&B, rap, and rock genres, the term “Chou Style” has been popularized to describe his trademark cross-cultural music and his insistence on singing with relaxed enunciation. Taipei Times once described the meaning of “Chou Style”:”In what has become the archetypal Chou style, Taiwan’s favorite song blends pop, rap, blues and a smorgasbord of esthetic elements of world music to create his dream-like never-never land …”. He regularly fuses traditional Chinese instruments and styles with R&B or rock to form a new genre called “Zhongguo feng” (Chinese Style), some of which are written in the Pentatonic Scale as opposed to the normal seven-note scale(Diatonic Scale) to accentuate an oriental style. Sound effects from everyday life are frequently woven into his music, such as bouncing ping pong balls, touch tone phone dialing, helicopter blades, dripping rain, and radio static noise (concrete music).

Chou’s albums have been noted for the lack of change compared to his earlier works, yet he firmly stated that he will not alter his style: “They say I’ve been standing still …but this is the music I want, and I don’t see what I want by moving ahead.” To demonstrate his point, he named his 2006 album Still Fantasy after his 2001 album Fantasy. His use of relaxed enunciation has been criticized as “mumbling” which he also insisted will not change. However, recently he has adopted clearer pronunciation for certain songs, particularly more traditional “Zhongguo feng” (Chinese Style) songs, such as “Faraway” and “Chrysanthemum Terrace”

here comes three “Zhongguo feng” songs!!

Hair like snow (髮如雪 FA RU XUE)

Fa Ru Xue is the third track on Jay Chou’s album, November’s Chopin. Fa Ru Xue translates as, Hair Like Snow. The title may seem odd to non-Chinese speakers, the song also makes numerous references to Chinese philosophy, including past lives, reincarnation, and mythology, which leaves many non-Chinese fans confused when they read the translation of the lyrics. This confusion does little to impact the overall popularity of the song. The song was acclaimed by many of Jay’s fans and critics, it is known to be one of Jay’s best works. The lyrics for the song was written by Vincent Fang, Jay’s lyricist and good friend. The lyrics, which were written before the actual composition, earned Fang his eighth straight nomination for Best Lyricist at Taiwan’s 17th Golden Melody Awards.

Huo Yuanjia (霍元甲)

Huo Yuanjia (Chinese: 霍元甲; pinyin: Huò Yuánjiǎ) (c.1868-1910) was a Chinese martial artist and co-founder of the Chin Woo Athletic Association, a martial arts school in Shanghai. A practitioner of the martial art Mízōngyì, he is considered a hero in China for challenging foreign fighters in highly publicized matches at a time when Chinese sovereignty was being eroded by foreign concessions and spheres of influence. Due to his heroic status, legends and myths about events in his life are difficult to discern from the facts.

nunchakus (雙截棍 shuang jie gu)

Last Tuesday we got three lectures at Screen Media Lab, each guest speaker talked about their work experiences and real problems on the job. Just like Dom said: It’s really Inspirational, especially the first and the last speaker¬-Oliver Leggett and Alan James.

First of all, Oliver mentioned that the different between manager and leader, this is the issue that I never think about. “A successful manager can be trained, but there are only 3% people can be a good leader” Oliver said. It’s extremely shock me. Then I started thinking what I am? I’m a manager or a leader? And what did I want? A good leader is about how he influence people, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership” he said. I think I could see the reality of Oliver’s business culture and how he really to be a good leader.

The last speaker, Alan James, is working in music industry, and manages a super cool band called “The Bay”. Through the film about The Bay, I can see a lot of creative musicians in this band, they got classical, country, pop and rock’n roll, this is the all new style in this music market. They also used technology in their performance, the digital music score, notations can show up immediately when they are playing instruments.

I think through these lectures, we learn a lot that the school modules didn’t have. It’s more practically and more close to the realize.

As much as possible, I think it’s a good idea to get a feel for how things work in the real world. Especially for me, being someone who turns to books on any pretext it is easy to think you may know something because you read it.

I thought I knew that the values that you have as a business owner definitely impact the way you run your business and the culture that ensues. It doesn’t have to be deliberate but it has an effect. What I didn’t know, which you only can from experience, is that just because you may have strong values/a strong culture it does not mean that your clients will be the same. Infact, your most lucrative relationships maybe with the complete opposite of you!

This is one of the best things I learnt from our first guest speaker Oliver Legitt of I.E Design Consultancy. I like that he has cultivated an environment where the relationships around him are important. I imagine that working for him is a lovely and rewarding, warm and fuzzy kinda experience BUT, he is was quick to explain that he runs a business and people get fired and hired. Tough decisions have to be made. He also pointed out that NOT hiring your clone is a great way to progress, you need someone to challenge you afterall. I had never thought of things in this light before, as naturally you would think someone who thinks like you would always understand what needs to get done but in a business environment, especially a creative one a different perspective is invaluable. I won’t be forgetting this piece of information in a hurry!

While I.E’s culture was a more deliberate effort, the one at The Phoenix Partners (marketing) was not. Rachel Hargrave, its Director, commented on how she only realised that there was a culture (and that it was not for everyone) after someone had to leave because they could not keep up with the pace. Her approach to business is different to Oliver’s in that they are very focused on meeting the bottom line, as that is the point of a business. She pointed out that she was very good at what she does and that in the end is what singles you out.

Interestingly enough, just because the approaches of the two businesses may be different there were a few similarities. For example, Rachel also had to think about whether or not they should take on certain clients for example if the fees was too low, especially now during the recession because once the recession lifts then re-negotiations have to take place, meaning your recession as a business can last longer.

Both put emphasis on following your own instincts and doing what was best for the client. Very tasty food for thought…