University of Portsmouth
In 2015, I left my childhood home of Somerset to study Film Production at the University of Portsmouth. The course, whilst qualifies as a degree, takes a more vocational focus on our learning. We were all given basic training in sound recording, camera skills, lighting, editing, producing and directing. Furthermore, there was an aspect of learning on the course given through independence. You were put with a group of people you’d never worked with, and were given the task of creating content before being sent on your way. Sometimes it would be client based content, sometimes a short fiction film, and sometimes a documentary.
During my time, I took a focus on editing and production development. In my second year, I wrote, edited and worked as an assistant producer on a short fiction film called ‘Cassette Boy’. This film earned selection at Winchester Film Festival, Porto’s FEST Film Festival, and won the Grand Jury prize at Portlands’s Festive Film Festival in Oregon, United States.
In my final year, I formed a similar core team to that of my second year project, but took on the role of director to create a thirty minute environmental themed documentary about the 90s Anti-Road Movement, and the influence it had on people’s lives. This film won the ‘Best Film’ Prize from the University, and after several years of improving and tinkering with the film after graduation, the film has finally gone on to multiple festivals internationally.
I received a 1st Class Honours from my time at the University, whilst I also came away with a solid network of contacts to head into the industry with, and a variety of sink or swim experiences in those three years that helped me immensely.
My Industry Experience
During my degree we were always encouraged to gain experience from the industry; this began as a runner. I started my time as a runner with a short film funded by the British Council and Film London; “Wyrdoes”. Through the producer of this short film I was given an internship with Creativity Media as a Post-Production assistant, whilst it entailed mostly running I also spent time working as a Quality Control Assistant. I continued during and after my degree to work as a production assistant in various scenarios, commercial content such as adverts and music videos and a variety of other student short films. After graduating, I moved to Manchester where I was given the role of Post-Production Assistant full time at the Farm Manchester Post-Production House. Within six months I changed roles to digital-tape archivist, working on a contract with BBC Sport to archive, organize and digitize decades worth of BBC Sport content. Once the contract ended and COVID-19 died down, I began working as a freelance filmmaker back home in Somerset, creating client videos for independent businesses, a series of content for Spark Somerset and shooting wedding content with Chameleon Video.
Growing up in Somerset
In the year 2000, my family left Barcelona and moved to Langport, Somerset. Here, I spent the next fourteen years of my life before leaving for University. Growing up in a vastly rural area has come to influence my recent work, with a heavy focus on the environment in my first documentary, whilst the base of the film is also set in Glastonbury town, twenty minutes from where I grew up. Other works of mine entail arts and crafts people from Somerset, whilst I have created content taking a focus on people’s recreational time spent outdoors, such as surfing, cliff jumping and kayaking.
When I graduated Secondary School and moved on to College, I took Media Studies as one of my subjects, and through a small filmmaking module, I discovered a passion for creative filmmaking. Because of this course and module, I decided to apply to the University of Portsmouth for a Bachelor’s in Film Production.