In the brainstorming session one outstanding suggesting became in to a short investigative documentary.

The group was mentored by Chris Nriapia from BBC and David Wilson, Director of Bradford City of Film. They both gave fantastic feedback to when the youngsters pitched their idea to them. David Wilson said “they delivered a well presented pitch that was better than Bradford University Students.”

Bradford is known for many famous people including artist David Hockney and pop stars Gareth Gates (pop idol) and Kimberly Wash from Girls Aloud. However there is one mystery face around Bradford. Our learners went on a search for this person.

The group made 2 films, a short trailer that that can be accessed in the Media section of the Bradford Foyer Website. And the full film that can be accessed on the Bradford Foyers youTube channel very soon, but will be also broadcasted on the Community Channel.

All the young people involved enjoyed making this film, even it meant for one young person embarrassing himself in the town centre says Josh (16)

Sam (16) says “ I came into this project half way through and never had done filmmaking before, it was fun but also tiring but I love the finished film. I’m really proud of it and I’m thinking of having a career in media”

“I’m really proud of what I’ve done and I cant wait to see it on TV!” said Zoe (17)

A huge credit to Haseem Hussain for coming up with the original idea, Ali Jaber, Raihan Uddin, Joshua Lavavasseur, Sam White and Zoe Senior.

Check out some of the production photos on the Facebook page.

Dynamo knows the area well and is proud to be a Bradfordian. His presence gave a buzz to the Foyer and all residents and learners were very excited to meet the magician.

After a long wait our youngsters finally got to meet him, and even though he had a long days filming he took the time to sign autographs, talk to the young people and take photographs. Best of all he was able to perform a few of his tricks before jetting off to Los Angeles early next morning.

Ours youngsters are hoping he will return again and perform more of his tricks.

Bradford Foyer managed to catch him on camera. Please do take a look of the short video and photos put together of when Dynamo came to the Foyer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-zFtxVv5_o&feature=youtu.be (unfortunately they wouldn’t allow us to film his tricks) Also go on our Facebook page to see all our photos.

Bradford’s Secret City talks about the ‘hidden homeless’ a subject very close to the 4 young filmmakers. Those labeled ‘homeless’ are often regarded as being on the very fringes of society, but preconceptions are misguided. The short documentary follows the story of one young girl who was recently made homeless and highlights the services that are available in Bradford’s City and the need for them. Is homelessness an uncomfortable secret within our City?

Bradford’s Secret City will be broadcasted on 20th March 2012 on the Community (Sky 539, Freeview 87) as part of their news programme. You can also see the film in the Media section.

A huge credit to the 4 residents involved Scott Wignall, Kelsey Turton, Tom Layden and Catherine Nevin.

There were many presentations and awards handed out on the day. It was a fun packed day with lots of quizzes with a happy resident winning her prize of strawberries, – and of course a lot of eating!

Other young people from other housing providers and also members of Bradford Council attended the event.

You will be able to see photos from the day on our new Facebook group.

All participants were later invited to a tour of Hallmark premises to see how things were done. During the tour they were shown every facet of the Hallmark operation from designing a product to manufacturing and distributing.  With a few free samples along the way!

The project received some great feedback from the residents and learners. “I enjoyed doing a practice interview and got some great advice,” said one resident. A survey showed that every participant felt more confident and motivated after the training.

The project was a real success and Bradford Foyer are now in process of assigning job coaches to assist the young people in their job hunting.

The day included a tour of Doncaster Foyer, checking out their gym facilities (which most of our residents were jealous of), communal areas and the resident’s quarters. The day also included a questions and answer session followed by a picnic down their local park.

Both Foyers are now keen on keeping an ongoing relationship with Richard from Learning & Developments seeing how they deliver on new learning programmes. With also Chris from Housing interested in having friendly football matches with Doncaster Foyer, having set up their own football team recently.

Doncaster Foyer are hoping to come visit Bradford Foyer and we will welcome them as much as Yvonne (Manager) and the residents from Doncaster welcomed us.

Bradford Villa played exceptionally well and were (by far!) the best team, winning 3 matches and drawing one game. A special mention to Luke Smith and Kyle Wood who both performed admirably. The success of the team will hopefully stand us in good stead for various tournaments and football opportunities in the coming months.

Bradford Kickback was set up 18 months ago and is the first of what is planned to be an ongoing football league. The aim of the project is to be a weekly free event, for young men living in hostels and other supported accommodation, to come together and play together, whilst also improving their health. A range of clients come from all over Bradford every Friday to play the beautiful game.

Opportunities have arisen for one young person at the event to be a potential candidate to play for his country in the 2011 Homeless World Cup in France. We’re hoping that our 6 young men will be added to that short list! They will be attending the event every week. We wish them all the luck!

The project involved bringing in a mentor to work with a group of young people to produce 2 films to be broadcast on Sky’s Community Channel. Angela Davison was the chosen mentor for the young people. She is a Producer/Director who has worked on programmes for BBC and ITV including Top Gear and Bizarre ER.

Five young students from the Foundation Learning course took part in the project. The students came up with 2 film ideas. The first film raises awareness of Women’s Rugby; the second film shows the effects of EMA cuts for young people. Both films are very topical at the moment in the news and are shot in a documentary style. Each film was given a £500 budget to make a 4 and a half-minute broadcast-quality short film.

All participants were very dedicated to the project and had to come in to work unsociable hours including a weekend. The young people went on location, dealt with professional clients and members of the public. They were given individual roles such as Director, Camera, Sound, Project Manager, Editor and also 2 of our young people were the main focus in both films. The project was very youth-led and they got a real insight into working as a real film crew. It was a very intense 4 weeks of planning and filming.

Doing this project has shown the progression for Foyer Media and the Learning and Development team. To be able to have 2 broadcast quality documentaries to be shown on Sky’s Community Channel is a massive achievement for Bradford Foyer and especially for the young people.

The short films will be shown on The Community Channel between 22nd March- 26th March 2011.The channel is broadcast on Virgin 233, 24/7 on Sky 539 and on Freeview 87 from 5am-8am. The 2 films will be uploaded on the our Media page, youtube channel and Facebook group very soon!!!

A huge credit to the 5 young people who were involved in the project. Wasim Khalid, Rizvan Akhtar, Zoheb Hameed, Paris Williams and Natasha Hinchcliffe.

Last year the Foyer was approached by Fabric for any young people to take part in a 2 week filmmaking course. The Media team sent Natasha Hinchcliffe who is a resident here and also a student on the Foundation Learning to take part in the Project.

Fabric ran 2 week courses in November and December 2010 in partnership with Bradford City of Film and InspirED who delivered the course. The course gave 30 young people the chance to make a short documentary film about issues affecting them. Topics chosen by the young people to explore in their documentaries were School, Unemployment, Attitudes to the Police and Drugs and Alcohol.

Natasha was heavily involved throughout the project. She took the lead on coming up with ideas and script development, research, camera, sound, and interviewing. She edited the final film by herself with support from staff.

“Tasha was the star of the group” said Abbe Robinson, who ran the project.

The finished films made entirely by the young people will be screened in the community and also at Bradford International Film Festival in March 2011. Fabric and City of Film are hoping to run another filmmaking course in the summer.

For the past few weeks our Foundation learners have been making a new video based on the concept of MTV Cribs: A popular programme that shows off a celebrity’s home.

The aim of film is to show other young people what the Foyer, and a typical flat or cluster looks like. This allows any young person to have an insight to the Foyer environment if they wished to come to Foyer as a resident.

Natasha Hinchcliffe, who is also a resident at Bradford Foyer, was the star of the film. She made a fantastic presenter, a role that she would have never have considered doing before joining Foyer Media. The Learning and Development department have seen her confidence grow immeasurably since she started the course.

The film shows the reception, the accommodation (living room and bedroom) car park and also the Media Centre.

Credits go to Natasha Hinchcliffe, Stephanie Fenton, David Blackburn, Rizwan Akhtar, Zoheb Hameed and Waz Khalid in making the film.

You can watch the Foyer Cribs film in the Media Section of our website and also on our YouTube channel.
Production stills can be seen on the Bradford Foyers Facebook group

Some scenes are created for dramatic effect and for entertainment purposes.