Richard Eastick graduated from Documentary Film & Television in 2010. Richard sent an email to Cardiff based post production dubbing company SOUNDWORKS the day after his graduation and was invited in for a day…..this quickly became a few weeks very valuable work and the first step on the ladder he was hoping for.
“I am currently recovering on a day off from an intense couple of weeks at work at ‘Soundworks’. It’s been a real eye-opener into sound in the industry! I sent an e-mail to Soundworks and I was brought in for a day to see what I could offer and show me the ropes I guess. They did throw me in at the deep end!
The dubbing mixer got me in the Foley booth on the first day as he thought my boots would be helpful, then a moment later he was telling me to watch what the sound editor was doing as he’d be getting me to do that soon (I found my eyes flitting back and forth between this car length mixing desk and the monitor trying to soak it all up, without letting my a dazed expression form across my face!) The next thing I know he’d sent that guy off and was getting me to do his job!
I just had to do it, simple as that! But I’m used to a challenge, as you know from the documentary film course. So the next day he gets me in to record more Foley for him; this time down in the basement to get good acoustics for kitchen scenes, the reason, because I was working on the new BBC comedy drama Whites. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00v372r/Whites_Episode_1/
Since then I have been in and out of the Foley booth recording Foley for Ep2-4 so far and have got more to come! It’s great! Recording ‘moves’ or ‘foots’ rustling my clothes or walking on the spot as you know. And after I have been in the booth all day, I go through all the recordings edit and sync them the next day. On top of that I’m also working on an S4C drama set in a school called Gwaith Cartref.
It’s hard work but I love it! I’m so happy to be working in the industry so soon after graduation (from 5 days to be precise!) and to be being paid well too! I didn’t expect that for a while! It was on the 3rd day working there that he offered to pay me and he is getting me in for 28 days or more to carry on what I am doing now. I will be continuing to work on the rest of the Whites episodes and Gwaith Cartref also.
This has been really good for me. It’s given me a chance. They’ve trusted me to do work at a good standard. Hopefully I won’t let them down. I wouldn’t have the confidence or the background to do what I’m doing now if it wasn’t for the course! I really enjoyed my time studying with at Newport and maybe I’ll come back and share my new skills in sound with your students.”
“The graduates I have met and indeed employed from Newport Film School actually know their craft and can integrate into the industry immediately, bringing fresh creativity along with technical know-how. The students from Newport go into the world of work with the best possible qualification," said the owner of SOUNDWORKS Simon Jones, "Richard came to us in September, just after his graduation. He was immediately deployed as a Foley artist and sound editor on a BBC2 network comedy series called Whites, and a Welsh language drama series called Gwaith Cartref. During his time with us so far he has completed Foley for 13 hours of TV drama and has completed 8 hours of Final Cut Pro Welsh versioning video editing and graphics, all with minimal supervision."
We wish Richard every success in the future!