Filmmaking in 2017

As the year comes to an end, I’ve been thinking back to what has probably been the maddest year of my life. I graduated from university with a First Class degree after the completion of the biggest film project of my life that also saw my team accepting an award from acclaimed editor Walter Murch for the edit that I assisted with. I also gained my first relevant employment, as a ‘media practitioner’, sharing my skills with a team of young people on the government’s NCS scheme. I made progression in my radio career this year, ascending to the rank of Trident Media Chairman, and made a number of professional contacts within that field. Moreover, 2017 was the year that I finally gained a sense of where I want to go and what I want to do with my career in general.

My biggest project to date, Kill the Director was my undergraduate degree film, that I wrote and co-edited as part of a team of 7. Dubbed a ‘Com-Rom’, the film was our version of a Rom-Com, however with more attention paid to the comedy elements than the romantic tone. I received a lot of feedback on my ten minute screenplay, and took advice from a number of experts to craft the perfect story. We screened the film at the Visions film festival once it was completed, and people laughed at jokes that I had written!

Looking back on it, the real challenge I faced whilst writing the screenplay was ensuring that the relationship between our two main characters felt believable when considered alongside their actions in the short film. I had to be economical with the time spent developing the protagonists; we couldn’t show their first meeting for example, and the resolution to the plot is little more than ‘they walk off together’, and yet I actually feel that the film is rather true to life. Unlike in a traditional RomCom, the events all feel realistic and not overly filmic in their portrayal of key moments; the first meeting of a couple is often mundane. Perhaps this is my niche, creating narratives that feel deliberately un-cinematic? I’m okay with that.

Thinking on this point further, my fairytale screenplay troubled me, but ultimately tells a story that’s somewhat buried in reality. Sure, the concept of the magic mirror may be fantastical, but the modern day twist of having it be a webcam to a slightly seedy gentleman was inspired by the manipulation of modern society in the works of Charlie Brooker. Whilst I initially struggled with the three minute time limit of this short, I really feel that isolating my key ideas and appropriately scaling them is something I’ve grown better at over the past few months. However, I do feel that my most exciting project is still to come, and my intention to write a feature length screenplay for my final MA project is something that keeps me excited for 2018. I have the idea ready, and cannot wait to finally have the shackles removed.

There’s one more project I want to focus on in 2018. I spent the summer of this year experimenting with some other ideas, teaching young teenagers on a summer NCS programme to operate a camera, to edit, and to form small documentaries that would focus on a charity or community groups, and these were each produced over a three day period. This shortened production schedule was a breath of fresh air for me, as I was able to work on a number of films without having to worry about paperwork, pre-production or fundraising. It was really enjoyable, and I’ve always wanted to consider leading production on a documentary of my own. This experience motivated me to look at this option seriously, and I have two documentary ideas that I really want to start work on next year.

As a result of all my learnings in 2017, I feel like I’m ready to have a successful year over the next twelve months, and am fully inspired to bring the projects that most excite me into fruition.