Focused on leading the field in video production

JayJay Media's Jonathan Fell and Joe Sargieson on location

JayJay Media is the brainchild of Jonathan Fell and Joe Sargieson. The pair, who have almost 30 years experience of filmmaking between them, first worked together at the turn of the millennium during the production of a worldwide DVD training project for Burger King. They quickly developed a solid working relationship and, in November 2008, it seemed logical that Jonathan and Joe should combine their expertise to establish a joint venture.

The two East Riding-born creatives opted to bring some sharp focus to their business model, concentrating solely on video production. After a successful first year of trading, Jonathan and Joe’s single-minded approach had proved popular with clients. “By specialising in what we are good at we’ve ensured that people really want to work with us,” said Joe. “We don’t do PR or marketing – video production is what we do and our clients know that.”

Joe Sargieson behind the camera

Video production, explained Joe, covers a broad range of work and the company is adept at everything from covering live events, producing work for television, creating web video and commercials to the production of DVDs.

JayJay’s client list contains some impressive household names, such as BAE Systems, Smith & Nephew and Croda. Recently, the company began producing cinema-style trailers for Hull Truck Theatre’s productions. JayJay is also serving the needs of the public sector market across the region.

Joe said: “We work for all of the big companies locally. Hull is a large city with a long industrial history and when you think about how many businesses are based here you soon realise that there is a lot of work for a company like ours.

“The public sector frequently turns to us – organisations such as Environment Agency, Humberside Police and local authorities for instance – because they want to change attitudes and communicate their messages and we can help them achieve that.”

Jonathan Fell takes control of post-production

Joe and Jonathan describe themselves as senior producers and can both shoot and edit. Jonathan’s expertise is in writing and directing, while Joe is the company’s senior camera operator and has a flair for visuals and motion graphics.

For both of them, their work continues to be very physical job. “There’s a lot of lifting, moving of equipment and we work in extreme weather conditions,” explained Joe.

“It’s a lot of fun but you have to really like that side of the job because there’s so much of it. We enjoy the challenges that the job poses, whether that’s a physical, technical or logistical challenge or we need to find a creative solution for a production. If you like doing that this job’s for you.”

The team at JayJay is determined by the size of each contract and the company draws on the growing pool of creative talent in the region. “We hire in other freelancers, camera operators and assistants, sound recordists, whatever we need. Some jobs, such as live events, require a big crew. We are also in demand ourselves by other companies and broadcasters as camera operators.”

After studying for degrees in economics and marketing respectively, Jonathan and Joe were drawn towards working in the creative industries. Joe’s dream of becoming a filmmaker had began when, as a young boy, he saw a documentary about the making of Star Wars.

“The web is not a mature technology right now but when it is there will be some very dramatic developments.”

JayJayMedia were involved in BBC 5Live's Octoberfest

Joe said: “If I was to offer any advice to someone that wants to work in this industry I’d tell them go and get lots of experience. You need to do a lot of different jobs in order to pick up the right skills. You should do something yourself, such as make a short film, or volunteer to work on a production. There are clearly defined roles and you can work your way up from a runner, camera assistant, assistant editor, boom operator and production assistant. You need to find out what you like but every day is different and every job offers variety.”

For those looking at entering the creative industries, building a portfolio of work to impress future employers and clients starts from day one. Joe added: “When people approach us with a view to working with us show reels become very important. If they have good credits that will give us the confidence to hire people on some jobs but we tend to build up a relationship with people over the long-term.

“We do offer work placements and like people to demonstrate an eagerness to get involved.”

The future for companies like JayJay Media is very exciting, added Joe, as the web becomes the universal way to communicate messages. He said: “It’s very difficult to predict the future but the decline of physical formats and analogue formats is changing everything. The web is not a mature technology right now but when it is there will be some very dramatic developments.”

www.jayjaymedia.tv

The beating heart of Art & Soul

Art & Soul's Duncan McMillan

Duncan McMillan is a realist when he describes an average day at his design and new media company. “We pedal as fast as we can,” he laughs as another busy week comes to an end. Duncan’s ability to not just pedal but also steer the company has ensured that Art & Soul, which is based in Brough in East Yorkshire, has continued to deliver a contrasting array of projects to a growing list of commercial clients since 1999.

The work of the small team at Art & Soul includes corporate identity design and brand development, web site design and build, and the development of bespoke web applications. Duncan and his small team can also provide technical and e-marketing consultancy and training, illustration, photography and printed materials.

“We have grown organically as a company,” explains Duncan. “We’ve developed our own niche in this corner of the industry and I like to think that we are different to other companies that deliver similar services to us in that we are overwhelmingly design-led. We also keep all of the technical aspects in-house, we write our own code. But there’s been no master plan from day one – although we’ve proven that we’re very commercially driven.”

In 1991, after several years in the Army where he had continued to dream of becoming an illustrator, Duncan entered the design world. He found himself working in a Mac environment for Computer Newspaper Services – subsequently acquired by the Press Association – at a time when Mac skills were at a premium. Duncan used this 18 months wisely, before taking his in-demand expertise and print design knowledge to other design agencies. His transition to web design was helped by this print background and, while recognising that the two are different disciplines, Duncan is firm in his belief that “what works, works”.

Art & Soul's web design for client HalibOrange

Like many an employee, Duncan always thought that he would establish his own business. That moment happened later than he envisaged. “It was 1999 and I was still working for someone else. I was looking at working freelance. Eventually you have to make that jump, which is a leap of faith, really.”

Art & Soul was originally located in Hessle before making the shift to Brough, although geographical location, as Duncan points out, is no longer a barrier to success in a world where we are all increasingly working remotely. That’s been proven by Art & Soul’s growing client list which goes beyond local and regional names.

“It’s important to get in front of clients after they’ve made an initial approach to us because I can talk them through a project and show them that we really understand what we’re doing.”

Art & Soul's high impact visual flair at work for The Cakeroom

It is always a priority, stresses Duncan, to fully understand a client’s needs. “The decisions we make through the design process and the solutions that we provide are driven by our clients, not by us,” he says.

“We do a broad mix of projects and our bread and butter work is for local clients,” explains Duncan, adding that Art & Soul has an increasing number of “significant” projects that are development-focused. These include developing the complex back-end technology that drives the membership subscription and video training services provided by a martial arts company and a highly complex ‘live’ update results and information service for a grass roots, non-league football magazine. “That is where the big, long hours are worked,” Duncan says enthusiastically. He is a man that clearly relishes a challenge.

Duncan is excited about changes in the design landscape and embraces new developments, such as social networking and the opportunities that currently exist to develop ideas, projects and apps that could create entirely new revenue streams for Art & Soul. Indeed, he points out that several ideas are “bubbling away on the back burner”.

“You should never be afraid to tell people how good you are … Low-level profile-raising keeps Art & Soul on the radar.”

Duncan keeps pace with change by attending as many digital forums as he can – such as the regular HumberMUD meetings and Hull Digital Live event and, as a commercially-minded entrepreneur, is constantly pursuing, “low-level profile-raising that keeps Art & Soul on the radar.”

A portfolio of work, explains Duncan, evolves over time and, if he could offer advice to those contemplating entering the industry, it would be to show the boundless levels of enthusiasm that he clearly exhibits.

“There’s a fine line but you should never be afraid to tell people how good you are. People who do well in this industry are those that are good at self-promotion. You need to make a big noise about yourself.”

www.artandsoul.co.uk

Nothing jammy about Strawberry Digital’s success

Strawberry has a long-standing reputation in the design world. Established 16 years ago by Jonathan Leafe, the Hull-based company’s web design, development and internet marketing brand – Strawberry Digital – is a more recent success story.

Director James Greenwood, with the company since 2005, was charged with changing the preconception that Strawberry only handled print projects. James, an e-commerce expert, has overseen a massive period of growth as the world of design has shifted its focus and moved online. Clients now include big national and local names – the BBC and the Premier League’s Hull City AFC amongst them.

A permanent staff of nine (the parent company has 22 employees in total) is supplemented by an ever-expanding army of freelance consultants. The team boast expertise in everything from network technologies, .NET framework development to providing complex e-commerce solutions.

James has also fostered a highly creative environment. “We’ve created the type of place that I’ve always wanted to work in,” he explained. “We let people be themselves and that allows them to be creative. We also encourage our people to immerse themselves in the latest trends and to share the new cool stuff they find.

“It’s difficult to get good people and then to keep them because the best are always in demand. So we encourage our team to be decision makers on projects and give them a lot of responsibility. We don’t have account handlers, for instance, so our designers and developers deal with clients directly. What we do have is a support network and our people have a lot of enthusiasm for the way we work.”

Strawberry Digital director James Greenwood

James added that staff also benefit from individual training budgets, which they can spend as they wish, whether that be downloading a course of screencasts or time away from the office on a training course.

Strawberry Digital’s increasing workload ranges from creating a simple online presence for small companies developing their brands to creating leading e-commerce sites, such as TigerLeisure.com. To that end, Strawberry Digital has developed its own e-commerce product, which launched in January 2009 and is attracting the interest of a growing number of clients.

Now firmly established, Strawberry Digital’s development plans will see continued growth beyond the region as it works with big household names, as well as continuing to service the needs and requirements of its very satisfied clients closer to home. “Our Hull location is no barrier in this digital world,” added James.

A good website, explained James, is not one that uses the latest tricks and an annoying amount of bells and whistles, but one that “communicates to its target audience effectively. That’s precisely where the focus always needs to be and you need to be aware of how your audience consume information. That is what dictates the use of video, graphics and fonts.”

“You must have a web presence, you must have already started building your own personal brand and have taken the time and effort to demonstrate that you’re passionate about the web.”

A lot of design students approach Strawberry Digital with CVs as their graduation looms. Surprisingly, many of these students lack something that James rightly considers is essential. “It’s amazing how many don’t have an online presence at all,” he said. “If you want to work for us you must have a web presence, you must have already started building your own personal brand, be showcasing your work online and have taken the time and effort to demonstrate that you’re passionate about the web. That’s what gets you into the boardroom for interview.

“In this day and age employers like ourselves are looking for everything from students – they should have a good degree and also experience in the workplace. So we are serious about providing those work experience opportunities for students. I want the good graduates to come and work for us and, as a company, we want to be “Manchester United” – the company everybody wants to work for. We look at local talent first and foremost and enthusiasm goes a long way.

“There is no luck. Being successful in this industry is about working hard and that hard work will bring you opportunities.”

www.strawberrydigital.co.uk

www.strawberry.co.uk