See the Other Side (2005)...

This was the second of two group projects shot for the Documentary Video Production course at the University of East Anglia, and it was all about providing a semi-experimental, visually interesting interpretation of a location – in this case, the seaside town of Great Yarmouth.


Working together as a group more consistently on this second project compared to the first, we yomped around the town, the back streets, the beach, the pier and everywhere in between. Our inspiration was the look and sound of “Requiem for a Dream”, and it certainly came out that way.

Sounds of the City (2005)...

This was the first of two group projects shot for the Documentary Video Production course at the University of East Anglia, and it was all about the buskers on the streets of Norwich city centre. I fondly remember how we studiously worked constantly with the tripod and boom microphone as a foursome, running around the city centre pointing our camera at the variety of buskers.


Unfortunately after the first of two days of filming I ended up with a dreadful flu and was physically incapable of making the second day. I also remember the tense times editing the projects for Documentary Video Production – four people crammed inside a small, non air-conditioned edit suite. It was ultimately a good lesson in group work ethics, and it was a pretty good little video that was well-liked by our tutor and peers.


Watch the film below:

Movie Madness (2003)...

During my time at UEA we got to do some practical courses, the first of which was Television Studio Production. By the end of the semester we (teams of two – one editor, one director) had to put together a 15 minute long ‘live’ magazine-style show. We decided to set ours in a world where events in movies were happening in real life. I co-wrote the script and acted as editor, while my team partner co-wrote and acted as director.


During the course I discovered that I was far happier not directing multi-camera ‘live’ stuff – I guess it’s the whole problem of multi-tasking thing inside a male brain. Instead I took better to editing multi-camera ‘live’. This said I do prefer to shoot and direct single camera, or multi-camera non-‘live’ depending on the project.


Of course this was several years ago now and I’ve grown as a filmmaker a hell of a lot since then, and would no doubt be much better suited to such a task if I was presented with the challenge – even though my preferred style of filmmaking is single camera – it’s more film rather than studio television, and that’s what I dig the most.

The Uni Video Saga (2003-2005)...

While my uni mates took photographs, I shot video – initially on Hi8, and then on miniDV. I experimented with digital editing (and initially analogue editing, prior to upgrading to NLE), and importantly I was training myself as a by-product in ‘shooting from the hip’ and responding to unknown events unfolding in real time. These skills honed on a series of such videos have continued to prove invaluable, especially on projects I’ve shot for the Arts Council – big events, only simple preparation and prior planning, and a lot of ‘run & gun’ documenting.

Over the course of these videos (compiled at the end of each semester) I also improved my editing skills (both understanding various pieces of editing-related software, as well as the technicalities of editing theory). It was a great opportunity to try out ideas (some nifty, some rather daft – both in filming and editing) in a free, experimental environment. It also helped get a lot of ‘young ideals’ out of my system (certain ways of filming or editing) before I moved on to bigger and better things in the following years.

New short on the way?

Possibly - just had word from Sean (Signing Off) today that he was in town and was wondering if I had anything to film - annoyingly, I didn't - but because I've been rather keen to film 'something DeadShed' for a while, I got my thinking cap on and a few hours later I had not only an idea, but the script written - the title is "Skinner".

Hopefully we'll get to shoot it very soon (i.e. within the next two weeks, according to the available timetable), and then I'd set about editing it.

It's cool actually, pressuring myself (in a way) into coming up with an idea, and then actually getting really genuinely excited about it, and envisioning it so quickly - indeed I decided to write the script in terms of a shot list, rather than a normal script.

Anyway - more news on this possible new DeadShed Productions short as-and-when.