I grew up in Birmingham and moved to Brighton to begin my film studies, incorporating those into a social history-skewed university degree. Upon graduation, I moved to London being accepted into the BBC Current Affairs & Documentaries department. After working on the pioneering BAFTA-nominated first series of Faking It (C4), I began to explore ... Read More

I grew up in Birmingham and moved to Brighton to begin my film studies, incorporating those into a social history-skewed university degree. Upon graduation, I moved to London being accepted into the BBC Current Affairs & Documentaries department. After working on the pioneering BAFTA-nominated first series of Faking It (C4), I began to explore cinema verite and the direct cinema techniques of observational filmmaking. I was then quick to use the new hand-held/run and gun camera technology to capture real world events - in a more intimate way: notably my self-shot warzone footage was used as part of the HRH Queen’s Christmas Day speech. Continuing to acquire all the skills of documentary production during the next twenty-years focusing on primetime broadcast television, then recently moving into feature docs and YouTube projects.

Filming techniques:

Not wedded to particular film equipment. Being adaptable, skillful and experienced to utilise whatever is best placed to capture each particular scene, situation and story. Collaborating with DOPs, to ensure shared vision and teamwork create less obtrusive scenes as the camera rolls. Searching for emotional truth rather than a specific image: the mundane details are often more revealing.

Meticulous planning and preparation, allow for improvisation. Conversations, not interviews. No rehearsals. Stay fresh. Explore and react quickly to the subject’s value system. Always human: how the situations affect the subject. Using the natural environment to capture scenes as truthfully and cinematically as possible.

Always listening, empathetic, sympathetic: eliciting deeper responses. Keep the camera rolling searching for essence: not technical perfection but heart, tension and emotion. Using personal lived experience to connect to the subject: being courageous and vulnerable in demonstrating an understanding of humanity. Focus only on the details that talk to the essence of the story. Dive in quickly, and stay for as long as possible. Rely on internal moral architecture: respect ethical boundaries, dignity and privacy.

Being brave enough to acknowledge that Shakespeare once wrote: the most truthful poetry, is the most feigning. Facts do not constitute truth. They don’t illuminate. Film is/Telling stories are more than journalism. Never act as simply a fly on the wall. Draw on my own voice - through imagination, thought and dreams - to capture moments in a way that delivers the subject’s truth. Read Less