News / 02 Apr 2025
Filmmaking students complete Film Buddy placements on Channel 5 and BBC one productions
BA (Hons) Filmmaking
BA (Hons) Filmmaking students recently completed Film Buddy placements on All Creatures Great and Small for Channel 5, and Riot Women, Sally Wainwright's new show for BBC One.
Students Laila Harding, Annabelle Pettifer, Sol Howard and graduates Glaila Carter and Harriet Lethbridge completed their placements after connecting with Film Buddy through their course.
Film Buddy partners with leading universities and colleges to offer an extensive range of bespoke employability services for students, staff and graduates. The aim of the organisation is to plug the gap between industry and education, providing a pipe line into a employment for students in filmmaking and television production.
Collaborating with some of the largest production companies in the world, Film Buddy has successfully provided work experience and employment opportunities on some of the most prestigious film, television and creative media projects. Leeds Arts University students and graduates enjoy full access to workshops, mentorship programmes, industry talks and more.
"Film Buddy want to help you get into the industry, evident by how much they are willing to give you and teach you. The support they give through one to ones or while you’re applying for roles is amazing and extremely insightful. Without them I wouldn’t have found this opportunity or had the nerve to apply thinking I was under qualified or not the right fit but thanks to the Film Buddy team I am able to say I am truly starting my career in location sound."
Annabelle Pettifer, BA (Hons) Filmmaking student
Sol Howard worked on new BBC One TV series Riot Women, directed by Sally Wainwright (Gentleman Jack, Happy Valley), as a Camera Trainee. Sol's responsibilities included charging and swapping batteries, coiling cables, moving director monitors when changing camera positions, and general jobs like collecting lunch orders for the department, and tea and coffee runs.
"Overall it was a great experience getting to work on a set of that size, seeing how different departments and roles work in the industry and being a part of a project that’s set to be aired on BBC1 was a thrill."
Sol Howard, BA (Hons) Filmmaking student
Laila Harding and Annabelle Pettifer worked on All Creatures Great and Small for Playground Entertainment and Channel 5.
Laila tells us that the experience was invaluable. Her role involved shadowing/ helping out as a Camera Trainee through various tasks and to keep the camera department happy by setting up monitors, changing lenses and batteries, or getting lunch orders and making teas and coffees.
"Film Buddy put out the amazing opportunity to have a week's work experience for Channel 5's All Creatures Great and Small, working in various departments. I applied and chose the camera department as it is the area I specialise in. Ben at Film Buddy made sure to call me before and after the experience to prepare me for the week and aid me with how to follow up contacts, and this helped with any queries I had about the role and industry."
Laila Harding, BA (Hons) Filmmaking student
Annabelle Pettifer joined the location sound team for a week, which involved learning how to properly radio mic people and derig them, as well as recording sound with a boom mic, and assisting the team in managing sound levels across the production.
"When I arrived on set, they were quick to make me feel like a part of the team, showing me around the set and introducing me to other departments. On the first day I was really able to observe how the team worked the mixer, taking time to break down how their kit worked and even talking about the differences between the kit they were using on this show and that they would use for films and projects of differing budgets. I learned so much about location sound during this week and I will use as much of the knowledge as I can on bettering my location sound recording for my up-and-coming projects. I hope to keep in contact with those I have worked with and hopefully will be able to work with them again in the future!"
Annabelle Pettifer, BA (Hons) Filmmaking student
All Creatures Great and Small is an ongoing Film Buddy collaboration and other students will have the opportunity to work on the production through Spring 2025.