Luke on his work experience with SAZ MEDIA

Here at SAZ MEDIA we've been hosting work experience placements with those who would normally struggle to gain access to the work and the media industry.

Through Pure Innovations (a company supporting those with disabilities or health-related issues to live a fulfilling life with a sense of purpose and belonging.) We have supported Luke to visit us twice a week over 3 months to gain media skills and a feel for the working world.

In this video Luke tells us what his work experience has been like. For more information about what we can offer, please fill out the contact form.

Jake our Production Trainee writes in more detail about Lukes Work Experience here in Greater Manchester.

At the start of Lukes work experience we introduced him to Photography, which plays a big part here at what we do at SAZ MEDIA. He had not used cameras outside of what is on your phone so we went to the local park here in Salford and began letting him take photos of whatever, just so he could get used to the equipment but also have fun and not feel pressured to do an amazing job on his first try. After viewing the images we introduced him to a software that he can use to edit the pictures he had taken.

We then spent a few sessions getting Luke used to photoshop and later Lightroom, to build up his confidence with using the software. He began to create some really cool and unique posters, using a blend of his pre existing art skills and his new ones on photoshop.

After a bit of time we gave Luke a task to create some positive affirmation posters that we could possibly sell at a stall in the future. He started creating them from scratch which included looking at similar pieces of work online and drawing inspiration from them, then going out into the local area with a camera and snapping pictures of anything he thought would make a good fit, he brought the pictures back and edited them on Adobe Lightroom, and then to finish off he edited them further and added positive affirmation text to his posters on Photoshop, as a result he created some great work that he himself can take away and look at and hopefully feel proud of creating.

In his time here at SAZ MEDIA we also took Luke on a few photography and filming jobs that we had, so he could gain better insight into what we do when we are out of the office and so he could gain that experience of working as a team, and communicating with others that are not the people that he is used to. As Luke is someone with Autism he found the days when we were filming and photographing an insightful experience, and he did a really good job of stepping out of his comfort zone and learning from these experiences.

Digital me!

Digital technology provides an opportunity for us to explore, innovate, access and improve our lives. This month we’ve been going bonkers championing the use of digital technology. We’ve interviewed residents across Stockport to find out how and why they use digital, the results have been a mixed bag as expected. The use of digital covers everything from taking an image on a digital camera to using an app on your phone, to video calling your nan in Austria to using AI for all sorts!!!

We created an entirely new web page for this project as its something we want to keep growing, so check it out here https://www.sazmedia.co.uk/education . We can learn so much from conversations with others and we think in order for us to get more comfortable online, then seeing useful videos like these is a great place to start.

So check out the videos and let us know what you think. Will you become a digital champion?

Filming for Pursuing Individual Excellence (PIE)

In December we filmed across Stockport and at Manchester Metropolitan University with PIE a Social Enterprise. We created a film for them that showcases their organisation and their Into the Mix Programme, that seeks to support new students get acclimated into High School and to help bring positive social change to them and their communities.

This film was expertly project managed by Sara, filmed by Phil and Jake and edited by Jake.

Beth Nunn (Founder and Director of PIE) “ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT” and said her colleague started crying (in a good way) as they recognised all their hardwork come to life through this film.

Watch it and let us know if you need creative and thoughtful content for your organisation.

Greater Manchester businesses support the Living Wage

It was great to create this film for The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, capturing organisations that champion the Living Wage across Greater Manchester.

At SAZ MEDIA we pay the real Living Wage because we want our employees to know that they are valued and that they have a basic employee right to be able to live a full and happy life without worrying about making ends meet.

What's your reason for paying the real Living Wage? #socialenterprise

#videoproduction #livingwage #goodemployment

Mental Health First Aid - Production Trainee Jake qualified :)

Film and photography production trainee Jake recently attended Impact Hub London for Mental Health First Aid training hosted by Social Enterprise ABC Life support. Jake really enjoyed this training and in his own words below wants to tell you why he’d recommend it.

Jake - ‘It was an enlightening and educative course that showed me a lot and how little I knew about positive mental health and the best ways to support people that are struggling. In the course we went over a broad spectrum of topics such as stress, anxiety, depression, Bipolar and much more. When going through the topics we learnt the ways that people may show signs that they could be experiencing these struggles and the best way for ourselves to identify these things and to approach the person that we are concerned about without making things worse.

One of the biggest things that I learnt is the massive difference between sympathy and empathy and how sympathy can sometimes seem condescending to the person you are talking to even if that is not your intention or it lacks sincerity as that may appear more obvious than intended.

One of the hardest things about the sessions were the practice conversations, we would group up in threes, one person role playing as the Mental Health First Aider, one person struggling with their mental health and the other judges the conversation and how you can improve as a First Aider, I found this particularly difficult as I am no actor and I struggle with mock up situations, this was obvious in my first attempt at the conversation, however by the second I found my feet a little bit and by the final attempt I felt myself massively improve, which helped to build up my confidence. From these practice conversations I pulled out a lot of knowledge and experience I can take with me further, but it also showed me how important it is to plan conversations so that I don’t just stare at them blankly and make things worse.

Overall it was an amazing experience to get to learn about how I could possibly help people in the future and how I can apply the knowledge I have gained from the course at work, the workshops that we provide at work, as well as my everyday life. I would also like to say aa big thank you to The Impact Hub London and ABC Life Support for hosting and providing this great Mental Health First Aid training course.’

Sara - We are so proud of Jake for completing this two day course. We think it's really important in every workforce that someone gets the opportunity to train in this area, you could be the difference between someone surviving or thriving and we all thrive when we are supported.

Social Enterprise UK

We captured the Social Enterprise UK procurement event in London.

Businesses and Social Enterprises were in attendance to see how they could collaborate to increase their social and environmental impact. Have you got an event that needs filming? Get in contact email contact@sazmedia.co.uk

Social Enterprise Day 2023

Social enterprises are businesses that work to achieve positive social or environmental impact. They are primarily motivated, designed and driven by a desire to make a positive difference in the world. Like all businesses social enterprises seek to deliver profit by trading in goods or services, but they reinvest or donate at least half of those profits to their social or environmental mission.

Social Enterprise Day takes place on Thursday 16 November 2023 and is a global event celebrating the incredible contribution that social enterprises make to communities and the environment across the world.

SAZ MEDIA reinvests 100% of our profits to support our community and mission which is to be ‘the go to place for creative content that inspires positive social change’ we don’t just create lovely photographs or films for clients, we make content that carries a message, that inspires people to see things differently or make a change. We also up skill young people in digital media through innovative workshops, work experience, traineeships and through engaging our youth board.

This Social Enterprise day we will be making a difference within our Stockport community, we will be filming the Proper Good Business conference where businesses and Social Enterprises will come together to collaborate and see how they can mutually benefit to support the community and better the world we live in.

We look forward to sharing the content we create with you.

SAZ MEDIA IS A CERTIFIED SOCIAL ENTERPRISE :)

Living Wage Week 2023

This year Living Wage week was held at Media City in Salford where businesses and institutes came together to celebrate 10 years of the Living Wage movement in Greater Manchester. We filmed and photographed the event as well as our own Director Sara Auty speaking at the event. Sara introduced the film we created for Living Wage on behalf of Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter. The event was a massive success, with Andy Burnham Mayor of Greater Manchester opening the event and hearing from employees about the difference being paid the real Living Wage makes.

A call to arms for all businesses

What do we do best at SAZ MEDIA? Create films that inspire positive social change? absolutely!

We created the Living Wage film released for Living Wage week which is an initiative set up by Living Wage Foundation on behalf of Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter and its employer organisations.

We filmed at 3 different businesses across Greater Manchester and asked them questions written by Chris Dabbs at Unlimited Potential With our pre production sorted, it was then beautifully captured by Phil and Sara, they took it back to SAZ MEDIA headquarters, Sara edited the storyline and laid down the imagery and music on the timeline and Phil finished the final touches. We are really happy with the results and we think it proves a strong business case for any organisation to pay the real Living Wage. Let us know what you think! Watch below.

SAZ MEDIA celebrates 5th anniversary!

In 2016 Director Sara set out to find a way to utilise her skills gained in the broadcast media and charity sector to support young people to get hands on experience using photography and filmmaking equipment so that they could gain experience and knowledge in that creative digital field, bridging the gap for young people who may not have access to extra curricular activities and could benefit from experiences that go beyond their norm, examining life through a lens to form conversation and gain a greater sense of identity and purpose through meaningful themes.

SAZ MEDIA was formally established as a Social Enterprise in 2018 and has been trading ever since. Now thriving SAZ MEDIA continues to support young people through innovative workshops and utilises their power of combining business and industry knowledge with exceptional filmmaking and photography skills to service some of the UK's largest companies.

We're celebrating forming a youth committee with some of the first young people to attend our workshops in 2018, we're celebrating 3 paid employees and a volunteer that have been with us for 5 years! We're celebrating all our volunteers past and present, lighting a candle for Freya who sadly passed. We're celebrating recruiting our first apprentice and investing in young trainees. We're celebrating the accreditations we've gained with amazing institutions that drive positive social change. We're celebrating moving in the right circles with people and organisations that want to make a difference to people, planet and place.
We're celebrating all the young people we've worked with and our wonderful clients who support us on our mission to be the go to place for creative content that inspires positive social change.
SAZ MEDIA is a company for the community and long may that continue.

A video that celebrates SAZ MEDIA the film and photography Social Enterprise.