Northern Film & Media, Northwest Vision and Media and Screen Yorkshire have been working in partnership to create an online database showcasing crew, facilities, creative and digital talent from all the northern regions. The northern-exposure.info website holds details of over 3,000 resources, companies and freelancers working in the media production and creative industries available within the region. The aim of the site is to bring film makers and creative talent together, and to encourage the production of projects within the region. I found the site to be both elegantly design, and easy to use. Essentially they are sticking to doing three things, but doing them really well: getting crew listed on the database, finging resources in the database and giving information about the regions covered. As far as I could see, there is no charge for being listed or searching for resources. You do need to registed to search the database, but it only took a couple of seconds to do that. When you sign up, you’ll be asked for details of the project that your working on needing resources, and granted access to a limited time to allow you to find the recourses you need (I was given access until september when I signed up – so 3-4 months access). I was lucky enough to be invited to lunch recently with the BBC and several of the regions key players in the the creative industries to discuss how we could make the most of the BBC’s move to the North. The ‘North’ being Manchester, which caused a lot of debate in itself. At that meeting, we discussed the need for the agencies within the region to work together, so its great to see some signs of this already. While we recently, have had some critisism for not producing as much in the region as we once did, we do have a long tradition of producing some outstanding film, television and media. I for one, hope this project will create some great partnerships, and am look forward to seeing lots more going on up here.
Sources: Northern_exposure.info site | b.daily article
Useful links: add yourself to the crew list | find resources | northern film and media | northwest vision media | screen yorkshire
