Project Round-Up #9

Behind The Scenes on Red

Shooting Red was just what I needed. I got to work with a fantastic cast and crew. I felt I was in my element. I love directing; something about a group of people working towards a shared creative goal is inspiring. I adored the script of Red, a feminist retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, as soon as I read it. The hugely talented local writer Lisa Hurcum wrote it. But to be honest, it scared me a little. I think it feels trickier because the lead character breaks the fourth wall. So I said I'd direct another short film that makes up Once Upon a Time in Suffolk. Then things changed, as they often do in production, and I was asked to direct Red. I felt this excitement race through me and knew I had to say yes! I worked with Segment Producer Jordon Sendell, also local to Great Yarmouth. We met up for the first time over Zoom with the feature film producers at Film Suffolk and then in person when we did our first of many location scouts in Lowestoft, where we were filming. Working with Jordan was great for me as he is so organised, kind and funny. He also helped me plan what I was doing, as it takes time to get your head into the script and how it will work in the location. 

Photography credit - Scott Godding

We had a lot of challenges, which is the nature of low-budget independent filmmaking. However, in a way, these can bring more creativity. Nearly all our action occurred at night in a park and the Lowestoft Scores. So, I spent time in the location to feel the story as things came together. We had two lead characters, and I had a lot of help from Casting Associate Agnes Lilis, who had worked with me on a few productions. 

I can see the film when the casting is in place and get excited. I remember seeing our lead, Emma Zadow's audition tape, and I found her mesmerising. I knew she'd be up for taking the performance in my desired direction. We found Callum Adkins through his agent, and although he was late for the online audition (helping his grandmother take the cat to the emergency vet!), he was so funny and present that I knew I wanted to see him again. We auditioned Emma and Callum together, which was a lot of fun. It's essential to understand how the actor will respond to direction and change their performance accordingly. I remember coming off that audition very happy as I knew they'd be great together, and they were.

It's always exciting to start the production, especially on the first day on set, when you meet many of them for the first time. Our first day was a short 'day' shoot, followed by three long night shoots. 

On our first day, I directed just two scenes, a luxury as you'd usually have a much longer schedule. Since we had just two scenes during daylight hours, shooting them as an extra day made sense. 

Photography credit - Scott Godding

Actors- Emma Zadow & Callum Adkins

One of the elements that excited me about the production was that our lead character, Sassaba, the wolf character, transforms physically, so we decided we would use prosthetics. We worked with a highly talented make-up person, Nicky Elwood and only had our first test day for make-up a few days before production started. One of the trickiest things was scheduling the shoot to allow for the make-up changes, which took about an hour. You want to shoot chronologically as a director, but this wasn't an option. I worked with Jordon and Daniel Coates, our DOP, and we finally devised a schedule that worked, so the chase scenes fell across two-night shoots. 

Photography credit - Scott Godding

One of my favourite scenes to shoot was the end of the chase scene. I can't say too much, as I'm not allowed to give away any spoilers. These scenes took a lot of lighting, so we had a generator and our talented DOP Daniel Coates and our fantastic Gaffer Ben Baily were responsible for filling the park with light and smoke for our characters to run through. Our art director, Simon Anderson, did a stellar job with the

smoke machine, and the setting looked magical. Sometimes, when standing around waiting for lighting, which always takes ages, you, as a director, need to keep your focus to be ready to go. As often, you have very little actual shooting time to get the shots you want or have planned. So, a lot of the directing role is adapting and knowing your script and characters so well that you can change your shooting plan and still capture the intent you had planned. Also, if you are lucky, you have time to prepare a robust shot list, and then often, you have to ditch that and think on your feet, shooting something completely different but keeping the tone and essence of your plan. 

I had four fantastic days on Red and met some wonderful people. I am very much looking forward to the edit. Red was the first segment filmed of Once Upon a Time in Suffolk, and our three producers, Nick Woolgar, Julien Merry and Matthew McGughan, left our shoot at 5 AM to head to the next Segment shoot near Ipswich, which started at 8 AM. I greatly respect them for bringing such an ambitious and inclusive project to life in our region of East Anglia.

Identical - A Twin Story Update

I now have a rough edit of the Identical—A Twin Story documentary. Its running time is 1 hour and 15 minutes. 

I have two interviews, one with a set of Great Yarmouth-based twins and Lucy and my interview. My good friend and fellow twin Nicola Schauerman will interview Lucy and me with her sister, Julia, who is helping out. 

I have recently been looking at old letters that Lucy and I used to send each other when we were away from each other, either travelling or at university. As a way of remembering our relationship when we were younger and how entwined it was. We wrote to each other a lot, as it was the days before mobile phones, and often, you wouldn't speak to someone in person for weeks at a time. 

When I was younger, I sensed Lucy always being there, even when we were apart. It is hard to explain, but other twins in the documentary have described it as a sense of being plural, more than yourself. You can have a shared identity in that your twin identity is more significant than your identity from childhood through adolescence to young adulthood. 

Lucy and I are still meeting up one day a month to finalise our story, which is central to the documentary. 

My accreditation was just accepted for the Berlinale in February 2025, allowing me to connect with distributors and sales agents. I have been to Berlin before, and in a way, I found it to be a smaller, more friendly marketplace than Cannes. 

Identical wasn't selected for the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival, MeetMarket. However, they recommended I apply again next year when I should have a more finished film. 

Visual Poems

Visual Poems: My photography work started in lockdown after my mother's death. If I hadn't lost my mum, I wouldn't have started working with photography, sculpture, and installation. I look for a visual way to explore my feelings when terrible things happen. 

Getting the Arts Council Develop Your Creative Practice back in 2021 gave me such confidence that the work had merit and allowed me to develop my ideas for a year. 

I lost my dear dog, Junebug, in May 2024; she was fourteen and a half and had been by my side since 2010. Before she died, I had started to photograph her on slides as I knew the day was coming, as she was getting so old. I have been projecting her image and drawing from the slides. 

I like to start my drawings by tracing the outline; it becomes a therapeutic process. A part of me feels like I am cheating by tracing, but it's essential to make an exact copy or a replica outline, and I then continue drawing freehand. I did the same thing with photographs of my mother and sisters projected into her house and later mine. Pictures of Mum with me and my three sisters when we were young. It helped me process my grief in the months and years after she died. 

I exhibited a small selection of my Visual Poem work at the Studio Us exhibition at Primeyarc, run by Original Projects, in the summer of 2022. By then, the work had developed into installation, sculpture, and drawing, captured in photography. I have explored this work further by incorporating live art and performance elements. I am now considering where to exhibit the work to give it an audience. 

TAMED: Or It's Hard to Get a Real Horse

I have worked with the Theatre Company Flight of the Escales since May 2024 on their TAMED: Or It's Hard to Get a Real Horse production. he multimedia output occurred in July at St George's Theatre, Great Yarmouth. 

Please take a look at their website below to see the fantastic work they do. 

Flight of the Escales Website

My small part has been to shoot a documentary about devising the project's production and community element within Great Yarmouth. 

I first heard about the production when they called for local women to take part in a photo shoot. t said, 'Must be comfortable sitting on a horse' or something like that, and it sounded like a lot of fun. I thought, 'this will push me out of my comfort zone,' but alas, the dates didn't work as I was on shift at my mental health job. Honestly, I was just a bit scared at the thought of performing.

Then, much later, the director, Sarah Calver, contacted me and asked if I would be interested in making a documentary film about the project. 

Therefore, it has been a joy to film this, which has involved capturing the making of a 'Frankenstein-style wedding dress. I filmed the rehearsals and saw how Sarah Calver, the director, and the creative team worked together, which was fascinating. I've always been intimidated by theatre after directing a video and theatre piece straight out of university. With any creative endeavour, you have to be thick-skinned regarding reviews! Then, very soon after that, I started working in TV and forgot about theatre. For TAMED, I got to work alongside long-time collaborator Paul Thompson, who has supported me in filming and capturing the sound for the project. 

I'm now deep into the edit and recently filmed the lead actress in the wedding dress singing a traditional Polish wedding song, which was spellbinding.

So watch this space; the film should be finished early next year!