Adam Gee, Red Bull Media House and ex-Channel 4.
Roger Graef OBE, CEO Roger Graef Productions.
The second panel for THE EVOLUTION OF STORY symposium features Adam Gee and Roger Graef. Both Roger and Adam in their distinctive ways have spent their careers in search of new and pioneering ways to tell stories on and with film/video – whether that be making a musical in a young offenders’ institution or an intimate observational documentary on a smartphone. The offer two complementary televisual perspectives on stories which punch through the noise of contemporary media to make an impact in real life.
Adam Gee will explore a TV-centred multiplatform narrative which changed EU legislation in just 12 weeks and had a significant positive effect on the ecology of the North Sea. While Roger Graef will spotlight ‘CERNpeople’, a project for Google+ which used unprecedented access to CERN to widen the audience for particle physics. Both filmmakers highlight aspects of story structure and visual approach deployed to achieve impact.
Adam is a Commissioning Editor, primarily of human-interest documentaries, at Red Bull Media House. Previously he was the first Commissioning Editor of original programming at Little Dot Studios ‘Real Stories’ documentary channel and a long-time Commissioning Editor at Channel 4. He specialises in short-form/online video, multiplatform TV and digital interactivity. He has won over 90 international awards for his productions, including five BAFTAs, an Emmy and the Grand Award at the New York International Film & Television Festival. Adam has served on BAFTA’s Television and Interactive Entertainment committee and is a voting member of the European Film Academy. He has taught at the Royal College of Art, the National Film & Television School and NYU and is currently teaching Storytelling on the Masters Design course at Ravensbourne. He is an Honorary Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts.
Adam was Commissioning Editor for ‘Missed Call’ which won the 2019 TV BAFTA for Best Short Form Programme. You can watch the film below – it was shot entirely on an iPhone X.
Roger Graef is a filmmaker, theatre director and criminologist. Born in New York City, he moved to Britain in 1962 and has since made more than 160 films as director and producer. He is known for his films about justice, including the BAFTA-winning experimental prison musical Feltham Sings (2002). His 1976 film A Complaint of Rape changed the way police handle rape victims. He is also known for observational series made inside institutions, including the US Senate, the UN, the EU, the British criminal justice system and the new US Embassy in London. Roger was awarded an OBE for services to filmmaking and broadcasting in 2006 and a BAFTA Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement in 2004. Beyond filmmaking, he has directed drama, theatre, opera and comedy. He is also a criminologist at the LSE and was visiting professor of broadcast communication at Oxford University.
If you can’t wait till the 19th February here is a short TEDx clip of Roger talking on the Myth of Communication.
You can get your tickets for THE EVOLUTION OF STORY by following the link to the programme page, it’s free and we look forward to seeing you there.