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At Beacon Films, we want to:-

a) improve our filmmaking skills,

b) use our creative work to challenge people's attitudes about disabled people and

c) inspire our communities and workplaces to support our independent participation, as equals.

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Full Evaluation of our Light Years Ahead project

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Full Evaluation of our Light Years Ahead project

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Here is the film made by our six 2021-2022 Film Academy participants!

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We updated our outcomes with our Project Design Group in October 2022

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We updated our outcomes with our Project Design Group in October 2022

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Our outcomes:

This picture shows the things Beacon Films is trying to change for the better.

These outcomes are divided across three columns.

The people who we need to help achieve these outcomes are divided across three rows.

This recognises that we cannot achieve our outcomes alone.

Beacon Filmmakers have a responsibility to work towards our outcomes, but Beacon Films as an organisation, and our circles of support (parents, carers, teachers etc) do too.

And perhaps most importantly, the wider community has a responsibility to welcome and include us.

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In October 2020, we appointed two new directors to our board. Jules Fraser and Zosia Feher are Beacon Films members who have brought their invaluable lived-experience to our conversations and decision-making processes. It has incentivised the board to consider how we communicate in the most accessible way possible.

Our board meetings are currently being attended by a third Beacon Films member who is considering joining our board.

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Our Project Design Group of members – numbering seven people, including board members Jules and Zosia – has continued to meet regularly online. This group helps us to ensure that we do not fall into the trap of ‘chasing’ funding for funding’s sake, and instead work out whether there is a genuine match between emerging opportunities and the outcomes our members want to achieve.

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We decided that our members should be more involved in deciding our organisational aims and outcomes.

You can see the results of this work in column 1: "What are we trying to achieve?"

Extract from report to Spirit of 2012 Trust.

“We realised that whilst we had previously discussed project outcomes with our membership, we had never asked them to critically review them.

The extent of Beacon Films members involvement had been selecting from a menu of outcomes set by potential funders, or helping us design creative approaches we’d take to meet mandatory outcomes.

I think part of the reason for our lack of critical discussion about outcomes with members could be described as structural: what is the point in engaging members in a critical conversation about outcomes when they have already been decided by a funder or client?

However, at the same time, we realised that there was more work that Beacon Films could, and should, do to give our member’s more ownership of the outcomes that underpin our projects.

… Our aim was to fit all our outcomes onto one side of A4; to simplify them so that we had a chance of keeping them in our head as well as on paper, and perhaps most importantly, to think of our outcomes not as ‘project outcomes’ but ‘organisational outcomes.’

… This led to the creation of the ‘outcomes grid’: nine outcomes, three of which focus on members (me), three which focus on Beacon Films (we) and three that focus on the wider community (us).”

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We believe we can do more to increase the ethnic diversity of our organisation.

We started taking steps towards this by trialing a new way of appointing freelancers.

See the PDF for more information.

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Film Academy - Feedback from participants

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Film Academy - Feedback from participants

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Click the image to view

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31 out of 48 (65%) of our current members are BFI Film Academy alumni.

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31 out of 48 (65%) of our current members are BFI Film Academy alumni.

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This astonishing figure just demonstrates how critical our BFI Film Academy remains, as a gateway into our organisation and the beginning of longterm supportive relationship with disabled filmmakers.

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Find out more about our BFI Film Academy here!

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Find out more about our BFI Film Academy here!

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Beacon Films: Film Production Services in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England

Calling Young Filmmakers!

Do you love watching or making films?﻿

Will you be 16-19 years old in December 2021?

Would you like the chance to shoot and star in your own film, in an industry work environment?

Our next award-winning Film Academy starts in January 2022!

To apply for a place, you must attend one of our Taster and Application sessions.

Taster and Application sessions are fun hands-on practical workshops which support you through the application process.

They last 2hrs and will be on Sunday 5th and Sunday 12th December

Our BFI Film Academy is open to all, with particular focus on creating a supportive and inclusive environment for young people with disabilities, autism and additional needs. If you are offered a place on the Film Academy, bursaries are available to contribute towards access costs.

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BFI Film Academy - Now OPEN! - Beacon Films

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Beacon Films: Film Production Services in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England Do you love watching or making films?﻿ Will you be 16-19 years old in December 2021? Would you like the chance to shoot and star in your own film, in an industry work environment?

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Viewfinder is our talent development programme that members can progress onto once they have completed Film Academy. 

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Viewfinder is our talent development programme that members can progress onto once they have completed Film Academy. 

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It provides an opportunity to experiment with film and build collaborative relationships with likeminded people

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Extract from our final report to Spirit of 2012: a ‘Viewfinder’ funder between 2015 and 2021:

• In the last quarter of the project, when asked about the extent to which they felt they had improved their film skills, 12 out of 16 respondents scored 7/10 or above. Of these, 7 (58%) felt Beacon Films had helped.

A comment from MT: “I know how to operate cameras properly and am good at research on the films like the birds film and I’ve grown in confidence over the years on everything.”

JM: “I had basic animation skills but learnt about the range of equipment I could use with my disabilities” KM: “I’ve learned how to use a camera and sound and lots of research. I also learned about history. I love to learn!”

SR: “I wanted to be an actor and I was.”

From our external evaluator’s report

“

Reflecting on the summer programme, Beacon Film workers recorded that:

• [His] work ethic, output is considerable – building models, creating back grounds, creating effects on his computer.

• Her facilitation of others work has increased her independence. She’s been supportive, patient, clear, enthusiastic.

• They’ve been asked to produce things themselves, having worked in groups where people all contribute a little bit. People had to do stuff. It was freeing.

• It was quite revealing: people worked so well. People who had been through Viewfinder in the past helped others.

• In a weird way covid made everyone stronger film makers, and made families and carers understand more of what we do.”

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Evidence of Beacon Films challenging attitudes about Disabled people

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Evidence of Beacon Films challenging attitudes about Disabled people

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Extract from our final report to Spirit of 2012: a funder between 2015 and 2021:

A comment from our most recent quarterly survey reads “[Beacon Films] helped me to prove to [a partner organisation who we made a film with] that I can do more things than they thought I could.”

Comments from organisations we made films for during the pandemic:

“There's a lot of challenges with our members because people would learning disabilities has been digitally excluded for such a long time, we had a lot of catching up to do. We called Beacon Films who jumped in and helped us all on our zooms at home. Since then we have made 32 films, live events, live stream broadcast.”

“I think filmmaking for voluntary organisations is an easy, accessible way for people to see what we do. <name> been an absolute delight to work with, I think she's produced something which is a really good quality.”

“Whilst we were going through the stresses of thinking about how to cope with COVID and still keep engagement and conversation with our audience, <name>’s ability and skills gave us the opportunity to continue making content and actually as part of our COVID recovery, being able to work with a filmmaker is super beneficial, not only for us, but also in terms of audience benefits.”

“I've really enjoyed the process and I think it was clear to me all the way through that <name> was meaningfully involved in the whole thing, set in her own targets and goals within the project.”

“<name> had worked with youth theatre, and was a youth theatre member for many years and we knew that <name> had the skillset that he's picked up with Beacon Films to do the film for us.”

“<organisation members> love being on film, all the members love being part of it and especially I thought with the lockdown, we love being involved.”

From our external evaluator’s report

“

It was recorded [during conversations with the commissioners] that the effective delivery,

diversity of voices, broad picture and quality of the work led to clips of the film being used to promote the commissions with one member talking at the launch event.

”

“

It was recorded that Beacon Films “worked quickly as a team and with members.”

There was a meeting between the November Club and filmmakers where the brief was presented with an outline of context, themes, and story of the production.

Following the meeting, members developed proposals on which November Club were invited to comment. The clear schedule for the film making was valuable as the theatre piece was in rehearsal, so the film was feeding into a wider production schedule. At one point there was a minor delay due to Beacon Films capacity. It was stated that, because of its broader impact “it would have been good to know this”, although it was described as “a small thing”.

The final films were described as “a great addition to the production, echoing the linking between the historical and contemporary, with the juxtaposition of art forms...The final films worked as it was planned because Beacon Films were the right partner.

”

“

Subsequently, he “worked very independently… (He) comes, he films, asks questions,

gets us to do stuff and goes away. He doesn’t faff around. He’s brilliant, been very efficient… It was a very professional relationship.”

There was a particular added value with the individual being “a great role model... The parents were thrilled to have met him and thinking about what their own children could do in the future.

”

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Feedback from our Screenskills mentoring programme

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Feedback from our Screenskills mentoring programme

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Extracts from our final report to Spirit of 2012: a funder between 2015 and 2021:

• Across the lifetime of Viewfinder Plus, we supported 8 people into short-term volunteering, and 17 people (30% of all participants) into long term volunteering or short/medium term paid work. Combined, this amounted to 1,530 hours of highly skilled and high-value volunteering or paid work through the project.

…

• In the final quarterly survey, when asked the extent to which they felt they had improved their employability skills, 10 out of 16 respondents scored 7/10 or higher. 7 out of the 16 (44%) thought Beacon Films had helped.

Over the lifetime of the project, 17 out of 55 Viewfinder participants (30%) entered medium-to-long-term volunteering or a paid opportunity that used their filmmaking skills.

• This exceeds what we consider the equivalent target in our original M&E Framework (which was that 25% of participants would do a second volunteering placement after an initial short-term placement) in both numbers and scope; the latter because at least 5 of those participants have been supported into 9 paid employment roles, including 1 person who has set up his own filmmaking business.

A comment from PL who has just attained paid work outside Beacon Films: “At work I have been interacting with other people and this is thanks to my experience and knowledge at Beacon Films. I have been told positive feedback there too which I am grateful for. However, I am still cautious out there as not everyone is good but I am still prepared for that just in case.”

A comment from MT, who thinks Beacon Films has helped him develop employability skills and who has recently attained paid work beyond Beacon Films: “It helped me be more confident in looking for jobs and being more social when talking to members of staff...At work I use these skills to get through everything like helping each other find things on shelves, doing it quickly and making them tidy. I am also more organised… I am more punctual in doing jobs and believe in myself more.”

A comment from CB: “I run my own business as a freelancer i also help out with the project design group at beacon films and i am a volunteer filmmaker at 🤬… I already am established in my career thanks to beacon films”

ZF: “It makes me work on my communication skills, my organisation and giving my ideas”

DR: ““Quite recently I got a job as a general Productions assistant which entails a lot of filming, editing and much more to do with the creative industry. With my previous experience for beacon films it has help me to adapt easier into the role, Beacon films has taught me a lot about the whole process that goes behind creating a piece of contents.

Example it was at beacon films where I was introduced to a more advanced editing software to what I was using previously (Windows movie maker 2008) and the features I didn’t know that existed, as well as taught how to use the software I was also showing different ways on editing and the many effects that I never knew existed. Also learnt the different shots I could take with a camera how to storyboard, script-write, light and much more. I also learnt how to work in the team when it comes to projects. All of this has been a massive help to the job that I am in now.”

From our external evaluator’s report

“

The Next Steps programme [part of Viewfinder Plus] ran from October to December 2021

with 11 participants.

Seven people completed their identified goals within the programme: for two others progress towards the goal was made but the work could not be completed within the time scales. Two other members were not in contact with Beacon Films during the period. Although some was done on-line, the work was mainly undertaken face to face in parallel with members attending other Beacon Films sessions.

Perhaps reflecting the preparatory work with members, “there was a real eagerness to sit down and talk.” Some expectation management was required and although “most members identified goals effectively” some people found it difficult to sustain focus on a specific goal. For some members the goals were met through the sessions, sometimes supplemented by additional time with the worker.

For others their goals were met through other work within Beacon Films. Where a few people had a similar goal, specific sessions were developed including podcasting, animation, and video making. Three peoples’ goals were not about film making and creativity, but broader issues such as interview skills and creating a CV.

”

“

In mid 2020 HTYT approached Beacon Films seeking to enhance its engagement with film

makers with learning disabilities, with logging being identified as an area of business need. The details of the role and opportunity as communicated to members is reproduced as an appendix. Four members employed by Beacon Films were appointed each with around 48 hours work per phase. The initial phase between October and December 2020, was extended to April 2021.