For the final project I found out about this steel mill
on the east coast in this small town called Redcar.
The steel mill closed down about four years ago.
And I thought it would be really interesting
to make a film about that.
It particularly resonated with me quite personally because
Lancashire also has a similar history.
It was cotton... the cotton industry in Lancashire which was
the dominating industry for, well, 150 years or so until the 90s.
With the steel mill I was really interested in the idea of this...
both this industry and this town and community in decline.
And in trying to tell that story as best I could and...
Also in the cinematic possibilities of that, of filming on the east coast
which can have some, you know, great scenes.
I worked for many years in different steam plants
throughout the north.
And I got into oil and gas in 1980
and offshore wind in 2002.
I was very lucky that I was never... never out of work but
I loved doing construction because
the great thing about construction
is you see something from the line on a drawing
to, if it's a module you see it sailing away.
If it's a blast furnace, you leave it complete
and then someone comes along and powers it up.
So you see something for the fruits of your labour
and that was the greatest thing I had in my lifetime
of working, is seeing something that I've been involved in
personally, come to fruition.
That was my initial idea and I teamed up with
initially, just one other person for that.
And then two more people came onboard with the idea as well.
And, together, we just went and made the film.
And we had a few access issues with getting people in the film so
initially, in the start we were just filming the landscape.
And trying to get a sense of what the community was like.
And what that area is like and what it looks like cinematically
and the best way to tell that.
And then when we finally got some breakthroughs with the access
we went and filmed those guys and
they had some fantastic stories and so...
That was really what we'd built the film around, just a collection of
their stories and then a collection of...
the area as it looks today.
And to sort of build it into this kind of poetic documentary
about this area and almost a bit of an oral history piece as well.
♪WORKERS' SONG
Well, we worked together on the dissertation film and
I think we were able to bring, especially from
the independent filmmaking module
our own styles and so on
and we were able to see from all the modules previously
that we would work well together.
So, we made a film, an observational documentary
about a family.
Which one?
I'm not sure if there's anything else we can do about it.
There's a button on my stomach which keeps unpopping.
Oh my God. Ok.
When we started planning the film and we met Brandon
and his family
we kind of thought that we might take a different road
because Brandon had just had a really bad injury
and was recovering from it.
So we kind of thought that we would follow
this road to recovery narrative.
But after spending more time and building this relationship
with the family, we were able to make a film
which, I think, felt kind of almost more profound
because it really ended up being about the relationship between
Brandon and his mother and kind of
the love that she has for him and
the devotion both of them have to his figure skating.
And how hard they work.
- You ok? - Nope!
OVER TANNOY: Thank you Brandon!
APPLAUSE
Together we made a film about a Chinese writer who moved...
who recently moved to England and started writing in English.
And...
And the writer lives in Norwich but I first met her in Leeds
during a, like, a writers' event.
And during that event she talks about her confusion of
cultural identities and being a first time mother like
how she copes with writing and looking after the baby.
And then I was thinking about, like, we can discuss
the issue of cultural identity because we are both
from another culture and settling in England.
And... but then when we travelled to Norwich to actually meet her
we found out like her struggle as a mother is probably
a bigger issue than cultural identity.
SPEAKING CHINESE
Yeah, I think it's a good vibe to become a friend with her at first
so we met her without any equipment, so...
Yeah, it let us think that we're not just filmmakers
just a friend of her and recording her life and...
Yeah, and like how we
go, like going to her house in the morning like every 8 o'clock and
follow her through the whole day.
Like for a week.
RECITING TOGETHER: Our Father who art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not within temptation
But deliver us from all evil
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Forever and ever
Amen.
My film this year was about a spiritualist church in Newcastle.
It...
Yeah, it was about 15 minutes long I think and it sort of...
I think over about three or four months
we were going into this church and filming, meeting the people
talking to them. And we didn't really go in with an idea
of what it was going to be about.
We sort of just knew about this sort of niche community that...
that we knew nothing about basically so it was more of
an exploration.
Which again I think is more interesting than
sitting writing about something because
every day that we went in that was our research
and we were speaking to people and it was interesting
and it was like personal.
- Comfort the family. - Right.
Alright? And he's coming in with a lot of love for you.
And the understanding of what you've been through
in the last...
6-12 months. Can you understand that?
- Yes. - Now, I want to give you
the colour yellow for inner peace.
Alright? Now, that inner peace has got up and gone
quite a long time ago.
And it's just gradually starting to come back into you.
- Yes. - Alright?
But I also want to say there is also a lot of purples and lavenders
around you.
That is for the healing you need at this moment in time.
Now, when we talk about healing it's not always because
we've got a heart problem or cancer or this or the other.
Sometimes it's just because we're stressed a bit, alright?
So just remember it's a new beginning.
So it's up to you whether you take that
on board and go forward, alright? - Right, ok.
Yeah, I was director-producer so I was doing a lot of the interviews
and everything.
And then practising a lot of the skills that
I'd learnt earlier on in first year when we were like
learning about interview techniques.
Which, again, I didn't really realise at the time
until you're reflecting on it and then you sort of realise that
"Wow, when I was coming to uni I would never have had
the confidence to go into a church
that I'd never been to and just like plonk myself in there
and start interviewing them and asking them
quite personal questions about death
and everything else."
WHISPERING: Are you ok?
How are you feeling?
- Do you need a drink of water? - No, I'm ok.
You're ok, good. I wonder if you could...
UNINTELLIGIBLE WHISPERS
It's fine, yeah.
Did you get the bus?
Quite a walk!
Good.
Do you want to go back to your seat.
The body, the spirit, the mind...
We aren't the healers.
A channel for
spirit to be able to
come through us
into the patient in front of us and going to exactly where it's needed.