In October 2018 I found something really cool on Facebook Marketplace and decided to turn it into a mini project for that month.

I love looking around charity shops, thrift stores, and junk shops alike to see if there are any good things worth having. Usually camera related, but anything old or could be useful to me tends to be what I look out for. I have the privilege of having six charity shops in my town and one junk shop which has an amazing name of Come in an Rummage, with an being a typo on their sign. Most of my film equipment has come from these shops so it’s great to wonder around every so often to see if anything new (or old) comes in.

But recently in my spare time I’ve began looking on local selling groups online with Facebook’s Marketplace being a great browsing experience for anything out of the ordinary close to my area. And one day I stumbled across a user in town selling 15 reels of Super 8mm home movies!

 

Five boxes each containing three reels of Super 8mm film. And she was selling the entire collection for £10! I’ve had my film projector since uni and a handful of movies but never anything shot by someone. So seeing this collection for such a low price and in walking distance from me, I had to have them.

Meeting the seller in town with cash in hand she asked why I was interested in them. I replied I’m a filmmaker freshly graduated from uni and have always had an interest in film. She was pleased to hear this as when I asked her reason for selling this collection of essentially ‘home video’ she replied with how she’s selling the house and moving out and needed to get rid of everything inside. The seller was against throwing anything in landfill but wanted to see if anyone would be interested in what she has and maybe earn a few pennies on the side. When it came to the reels of film, the story takes a different turn. The seller had recently divorced, hence the moving out, and said the reels were shot by an aunt on the husband’s side. Neither her or the husband had any contact to this person anymore so had no need to keep the films; and the seller’s son was described as indolent and a bit of a loser so naturally didn’t want the films either. So when someone like me with an actual interest in movie-making and history came along , she was thrilled they would go to a good home.

I guess that’s why she priced the group of films so low, she didn’t know who would be interested in such a niche collection. And who would? Firstly you’d need a projector to view them (which she or many others don’t have) and they’re someone else’s home-movies from a bygone era. But to me they were an amazing glimpse into someone else’s life and a ticket to the past documented in colour.

 

I love music but I’m too scared or embarrassed to share my tastes with other people; it’s the type of music I listen to that makes it difficult to share with others.

For example, We would sit in a car together travelling on a nice day out and the phone would be passed around for songs to be played on the journey. I would just pass it to the next person without adding anything to the playlist. I get way too nervous playing any songs I like to others, especially friends, and especially over speakers. I either get scared they won’t like what tracks I add or embarrassed they question my taste in music. To be fair, it would be very jarring to go from one upbeat modern pop song to a song with no lyrics and just experimental sound, but that’s why I find sharing my taste in music with others difficult.

That’s not saying I don’t like music though, I love all music! Any genre of music I’ll find a way to enjoy it. The amount of stuff I Shazam on a daily basis and ask people what’s playing is staggering! And I love that people love different genres of music; I’d never go out of my way to personally attack someone for liking something that’s different or not to everybody’s taste in music.

So what is it I listen to? Electronic, synth, and techno. Music made by machines and computers that I can turn the volume up to 11 and feel reverberate in my chest as I listen though headphones. I listen through headphones as I feel it’s the best way to experience this type of music and sense every change in rhythm, tone, and frequency – identifying the single layers in electronic beats or components of the track, remembering them for next time or forgetting they exist as a new digital bit comes in. I love this electronic music of the future because it redefines what a musical instrument is and what we classify music itself as a whole. With headphones on and the volume at maximum, I close my eyes and picture stories that blend with the tones of sharp stinging electronic signals. If jazz is the sound of the past, pop the sound of the present, synth is the sound of the future. I am entranced by synth and computer-made music. This false music, played through electronic instruments or programs not only fascinates me on the technical level, but projects the sounds of the future.

I’m not 100% certain on how it came to be that this type of music would be my jam, but I have a pretty good guess. As a child I only had two CDs and they were probably rejects from my brother – they were Zombie Nation’s Kernkraft 400 and Eiffel 65’s Blue – I would have been maybe five or six years old at the time, but I listened to these albums constantly. This was my first taste of music, but somehow it stuck – maybe through influencing me at such a young age when my mind was still malleable.

Then as I grew up through secondary school and college, I started to source out similar artists on YouTube. I discovered Daft Punk when I started secondary school, The Temper Trap was big for me in 2009, and in 2011 Drive had the biggest musical influence on me with its soundtrack consisting of stunningly composed ambient synth by Cliff Martinez and French electronic artist, Kavinsky. Tied with the occasional recommendation from my brother, my love for this type of electronic music was cemented.

I’d say my brother helped me get into this type of music as he was always the one with access to it – even if now his tastes have completely changed. But I must acknowledge my Dad as well, as just like the connection of listening to Zombie Nation at an early age helped influence me, Dad has had a interest in this type of music his entire life – as I only discovered that when I shared with him what music I was in to and that I had Shazammed a track he was listening to. The story goes, Dad was listening to Kraftwrek through speakers, I liked what I heard and didn’t know what it was so I shazammed it in secret, and later burned the disc to my iTunes. We then talked about them afterwords and he showed me that he owns Kraftwrek on Vinyl!

Let’s not ignore what influence film and TV had on me though, with Doctor Who being the best example of electronic synth and music concrete, and one of my favourite films of all time, Blade Runner having a killer ambient score by Vangelis. When I went to Brighton for the Story of Sound I met Martin Stig Anderson and experienced his moody acousmatic score for the game Limbo.

Since then I’ve gone through a rabbit hole of electronic discovery, building collections of Daft Punk, Kavinsky, College, The Glitch Mob, Com Truise, Avicci, Fuckbuttons, Vitalic, Kauf, Flashworx, Sonic Youth, New Order, Empire of the Sun, The Chemical Brothers, Gary Numan, Vangelis, Bonobo, Grimes, Chromatics, Kreftwrek, and the creator himself Giorgio Moroder.

There are tonnes of other electronic artists out there it’s hard to take a wrong turn. Again, I do love music and not just this electronic stuff, it’s just this happens to be the stuff I listen to most. I adore Art Garfunkel and Metric, and will always give other stuff a go.

My advice for listening to this type of music; put on headphones, crank up the volume as high as it can go, and feel the music inside you. Share at your own risk because it’s not really dancing music… Case in point, Kraftwrek live… keep an eye on the audience and the one dude waving his arms…

On Tuesday 17th April 2018 my friends and I went to Dunsfold Aerodrome to be audience members in an episode of BBC’s Top Gear. It was a surreal experience but highly enjoyable, and being a media production student I got to see how a show like this is recorded.

Tickets were offered to all Bournemouth Uni Media Students thanks to a current crew member reaching out to Nick Bamford, who used to work on Top Gear as a producer, and now leads the MA Directing course at Bournemouth Uni.

“I work for Top Gear and we are currently filming the studio segments of our episodes with the presenters – when the studio audience has the chance to see the films we’ve shot throughout the year, watch the celebrity guest’s lap and interview and have a look at the vehicles we have in the studio. I notice that you used to work on Top Gear – I hope you don’t mind me emailing you but I thought coming down to watch a record might be of interest to some of your students studying TV Production, so I would like to offer free audience tickets for any of the upcoming records to your students and faculty.

There’s 40 tickets on offer per recording – possibly more if you want them.

The studio is in Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, audience members would need to arrive around 12pm and the record should wrap around 1730″.

I’ve never been a fan of Top Gear, I would watch episodes in the past when it used to be Hammond, May, and Clarkson; but it never really did anything for me like it does to other viewers, so I’ve never been invested in the show. But as a media student who wants to work in the film and television industry, passing an opportunity to be present at a recording and see how something like this is made would be foolish. You can never learn too much about an area you’re interested in, and for me, attending this recording would provide a new insight into how this form of content for TV is made.

Naturally, there was huge demand from students to attend (and there were multiple days on offer), but luckily we got to go.

The whole event is so organised and regimented. We arrive at Dunsfold and drive in single file to to the parking spaces, wait with everyone else there at a pop-up bus stop, to then be taken by double-decker bus around the airfield to the hanger where Top Gear is filmed. We’re ushered into the hanger and told to switch off all phones and refrain from taking pictures whilst inside.

The first thing that surprised me was the size of the set and how many people attended as we’re shuffled around. Nestled by the audience are the cars that’ll be talked about on the show – squeaky clean with signs on the floor saying “Do Not Touch” which naturally people ignore and proceed to spear their faces all over them as they peer in the windows for a closer look of the dashboard.

As said, I’m not interested in the cars, I’m here to see how it’s done. And looking around there are maybe four active cameras. There’s one on a crane flying over the audience, two on pedestals filming the presenters, and one handheld for quick setups. I only saw this handheld camera once as it was quickly placed on a high hat near the end of the show to achieve a low-angle shot of the leader board for best lap times.

Looking from a semi-audience-simi-media student perspective, working on a show like Top Gear would be fairly straight forward. All the shots and direction come from someone in the control room telling the operators where to point the camera next. The presenters memorise their scripts and read off a teleprompter, so the only direction to them is which car to stand next to. They’ll inevitably fluff up their lines, but everyone knows exactly what they’re doing they just pick up where they messed up and do it again without cutting. There are no slates, just continuous rolling of sound and camera and endless retakes. Retakes themselves may not be due to mistakes made by the presenters, but reactions not being good enough from the audience.

The producers and people on set want a flawless performance from both the presenters and audience on each recording. Therefore, they want full engagement from us, the audience, to make this show look like it’s worth watching. We’re supposed to look engaged and constantly smile, as we’re told at the beginning that “we WILL be seen on TV” and they don’t want it to look like a room full of bored people. There’s no point in shuffling closer to the ‘action’ as the combination of cameras make it impossible not to be filmed and end up on the show. How they get these responses from us though is probably the funnest part about the recording – they have this entertainer to warm up the audience before takes with jokes and competitions. He stands up and asks people the distance they’ve travelled, what excuse they’ve used to leave work early, and has general banter with audience members to get a rise from us. He’s funny and puts everyone at ease. And it’s him who asks us to look fully engaged in the show, as he points out different levels of audience laughter – he says something like how ever crap the joke is, it’s our duty to laugh and really sell it as a funny joke.

The presenters come on stage, we give them a HUGE round of applause and proceed to watch the live show. Pre-recorded VT’s play a certain intervals and the crew take the opportunity to set up for the next segment – the audience may get shuffled around too at these points. It goes so quickly, you’re just standing there for maybe an hour watching them present the show. I honestly didn’t realise how scripted it was until seeing how many attempts it would take to get certain bits right. But it’s fun and a real privilege to have been there – especially getting to go for free and stand with my friends.

I say it looks like an easy job to do, but I guarantee you there’s more to it 😉

Whenever I go on a shoot I like to dress appropriately. What I wear is practical, and ultimately serves a purpose. Unless I need to blend in, it would be very unlikely to see me wear a suit while on set.

So what am I wearing?

A plaid or checked shirt.

To me, it’s a bit of a fashion statement in the filmmaking community. George Lucas is famous for wearing them, J.J. Abrams wears plaid shirts, and when I filmed with Ian F. Hunt he too wore a plaid shirt.

Shirt over shirt.

Here’s where the functionality comes in. Wearing a plaid shirt over a plain white T-shirt keeps you warm with layers if you’re filming in the cold, and cool in the heat if you strip down to just the T. Further, if a surface needs cleaning, or someone on set needs a shirt, you can just hand them the plaid shirt and you’re still wearing the T. There is one final practical reason for wearing a shirt over a shirt if you are an independent and freelancer, and that is to remove glare on a camera monitor. Take off your over shirt and cover your head and monitor with it like one of those vintage Victorian cameras that take the picture upside down. It puts you into shadow and gives easy access to seeing the screen.

Black Cargo Pants

So many pockets! They’re super comfy, lightweight, and durable. It’s okay to get these things dirty too, as unlike my jeans these are basically working trousers. But just to have the ability of storing loads of things on your person is a grand selling point.

Boots

Ideally, I would love a pair of military boots. After that, leather 1490 Dr Martens. At the moment, I wear black canvas Dr Martens and they’re so good. But why boots? For me, I can wear them all day – they’re comfy, and with Dr Martens, designed to support your feet. Additionally, boots support your ankle and rise to your shins for added comfort and protection. They also have amazing tread giving you extra grip – stopping you from slipping on uneven surfaces. Boots are usually waterproof too and easy to clean. But they also protect your feet if something were to fall. Filming equipment is heavy and can easily break your toes if you drop it – boots can provide you that extra bit of protection.

An Eyepatch

Constantly looking down a viewfinder can be really straining on your eyes and face – you have to constantly block out and close the eye your not using to look down the viewfinder. An eyepatch, just like a pirate, covers the eye you’re not using and allows you to relax your face. You can only scrunch up one side of your face for so long without feeling pain and numbness.

2nd AC Pouch

Just like the addition of extra pockets on a pair of cargo pants, the 2nd AC Pouch allows you to hold more equipment with you. To get an in-depth look at my AC Pouch, follow the link here.

Jacket

A military styled jacket that keeps me very warm in the cold. It has epaulets for clipping a walkie talkie to or feeding bag straps through. Pockets to hold things. But most importantly, is made from cotton. Coats and macs are usually made from Polyester which builds up static, and constantly makes a ‘swishing’ noise which is not only really annoying, but can ruin a shot when heard by the sound guys. A coat or jacket made from cotton is virtually silent and rustle free. And my jacket has a hidden hood in the neck.

Wristwatch

Keeping on time and to schedule is vital on a shoot. Most people would look at their phone to get an idea for time, however you must have your phones off when rolling, this is etiquette but also due to signals being picked up by the sound crew. A watch is silent, and on you all the time. Only a move of the wrist and you can see when you are. No need to faff about searching for and unlocking your mobile. Nor would you blind or distract anyone with the glowing screen. A watch is with you all the time.

A beard

All the great filmmakers have beards. George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, Hayao Miyazaki, and much much more!

When I go on a shoot, whatever my role may be, I wear my 2nd AC Pouch. It’s a side pouch similar to a builders belt where I can store and carry around with me important and useful tools that may be needed on a film set.

I like to be prepared for any situation I may be in so it is a really useful accessory to own.

It’s the CineBags CB03 AC Pouch and it has seven outside compartments and three inside.

On the outside, I store my different pens. I have two wipeboard pens for the slate, a biro to write with, a sharpie, and a lens cleaning pen. Lens cleaning fluid is kept in the side compartment.

On the inside, I have a 30M fibreglass soft tape to measure long focal distance, and a small notepad to log shots and write down any important information.

Inside Flap, is where I keep a lens cleaning cloth at hand, chalk (if ever I were to use a chalk slate), and a 10p piece for screwing flathead screws on tripods.

On the outside is attached a Lego minifig. There is a really nice story to that. During the summer of 2016 I went with my best friend, Jo, to Star Wars Celebration Europe. The two of us cosplayed for the first time ever and the costume I made and wore was a rebel pilot. Come Christmas time, I received in my stocking a Lego Star Wars Rebel Pilot Minifig from my parents because they thought that was me. It was such a lovely gesture and since then it’s been on my pouch acting as a little mascot and a nod to how nerdy I am. It does have a function though. When on a shoot it is really useful to have a torch with you, especially at night when the slate can’t be seen. The minifig doubles up as an LED torch by pressing his chest.

On the loop is where I hook my lanyard of tapes. I have four colours of cloth tape for marking up actors, a roll of Sellotape, masking tape, and a roll of duct tape.

Things I’m missing are a Leatherman multi-tool and crocodile clips.

I hope you have found this an interesting read and if you have any questions relating to what these tools do or why I may need them drop me a line below. Also if you think there are any things that I should change or add to my collection I’d be happy to hear.

 

My first film festival experience was attending the 23rd Raindance Film Festival in London in November 2015.

If you have ever seen me when I am wearing my jacket, you may have noticed a white badge I always wear on my collar. I was handed that badge when I entered the festival and have worn it ever since. To me it is a symbol of everything I stand for and to continue to pursue my dream of working in film. If I ever feel unmotivated to make a film, I simply look down to it and remind myself how important it is to me. A constant reminder that I carry around with me.

It also acts as a motivation tool. When at the festival, I saw these great films that were  made with small independent budgets, and I mingled with likeminded people passionate about film, and these factors brought home to me that if they can do it, so can I. And one day, I will.