FOCAL's Regional Event

We are excited to announce after 10 years we are returning to Manchester to hold FOCAL’s Regional Event at BBC Studios in Salford. This event will bring together professionals in the archive industry for an afternoon of engaging panel sessions and networking opportunities. We have an exciting line-up of speakers who will be sharing their insights and expertise on the latest developments and trends in the field.

We are thrilled to be hosting this event up north where we are able to provide a platform for the archive, production and footage archive community to come together and learn from one another. The event will be held at BBC Salford providing a fitting backdrop for this important gathering of archive professionals.

Attendees will have the chance to participate in three interactive panel sessions.

Over the last decade we have been used to hearing the political mantra of “levelling up” to try and bridge the economic divide between London and the regions. The broadcast industry has made some substantive changes to move away from its London centric past with the development of Media City in Salford and Channel 4 opening up in Leeds being the poster children, but the question remains…..has levelling up affected the industry as planned? What are the changes we have seen? Are new investors to UK film TV such as Netflix pushing their dollars into areas outside of the capital? Does the UK really need to level up? As a small country with good transport links isn’t talent the key driver rather than geography in our post-covid world?

Please click on the titles below to give you further information on the speakers:

• Panel 1 - The Northern Powerhouse: What's the Attraction?
  Does it matter where you are based in the UK, are there challenges or opportunities of working in the north? In this panel we hear from footage libraries and archive producers who share their experience of working in the industry today. With the growing talent and expenditure in the regions, have they faced any changing relationships or witnessed any trends in business with the move of production companies and broadcasters relocating outside London.
  
  
• Panel 2 - The Northern Powerhouse: All Levelled Up!
  This panel will talk to leading production companies who have migrated with their skills ‘up north’ as well as those who have worked outside the capital for their whole career. We will discuss the state of the industry outside the capital in relation to archival productions. What are the challenges? What does the landscape look like, and is levelling up a buzz word or reality? Looking at the industry worldwide we will discuss the successes of shows like Guy Garvey: From the Vaults, to look at how this success was achieved with a relatively new production set up outside of the capital.

• Panel 3 - Digitisation Technologies & AI
  With a demand for more and more content how can the latest technology advancements in digitisation be applied to the archive industry. In this panel we will discuss how production facilities are dealing with the streamers requirements for higher resolution content, the process of upscaling content from SD footage to HD/2K, 4K and what can AI improve in the future within post workflows. This is an opportunity to hear from the professionals who work in this field each day alongside seeing examples of before and after shots and processes they go through.

In addition to the talks and workshops, the event will showcase a Footage Archive Gallery, providing attendees with the chance to view and experience some of the best archive footage. The gallery will be open for viewing during the afternoon tea/coffee break and networking drinks reception, which will give attendees the opportunity to connect with their peers and build relationships in the archive community.

The networking drinks reception is kindly sponsored by ITV Content Services.

See what you missed and catch up with all the photos at the Event Photo Page

Date: 20 April 2023

Time: 12:30 - 19:30hrs

Location: BBC Salford, Quay House, The Quays, Salford M50 2LH

Schedule:

12:30 Arrive/ Registration

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 15:00 Panel: The Northern Powerhouse: What's the Attraction?

15:00 – 15:15 15 mins break

15:15 – 16:15 Panel: The Northern Powerhouse: All Levelled Up!

16:15 – 16:45 Tea/Coffee Break (Footage Archive Gallery)

16:45 – 17:45 Panel: Digitisation Technologies & AI

18:00 – 19:30 Networking Drinks Reception - sponsored by ITV Content Services (Footage Archive Gallery)

Staying overnight?

We previously secured a discount price at the Malmaison Manchester, for those wishing to stay overnight in Manchester for the FOCAL Event. Unfortunately this discount rate has now expired. If you are interested in staying at the hotel at the standard hotel rate please note the following:

Arrival Date: Thursday 20th April 2023 Departure Date: Friday 21st April 2023

Making a Reservation:

To make a reservation you will need to call our central reservations team via 0330 016 0380.

Central reservations opening times:
Monday to Friday – 9am to 7pm
Saturday - 9am to 5.30pm
Sunday - 10am to 4pm

Standard Cancellation policy:
Any bedrooms booked can be cancelled 72 hours prior to check in. Rooms cancelled after this will be charged 100%

If you have any questions, please contact the FOCAL office on [email protected]