Forced to find creative solutions in the face of a national lockdown, our students’ determination resulted in the fantastic production of a psychological thriller series. The story which follows a couple who live together, just as the Government announce a national lockdown, starts lightly but then suspicion and mistrust begin to creep in and the show begins to take a dark twist.
All 6 episodes were written and directed by second year, Level 3 Creative Media students, project-managing, collaborating and creating the entire show entirely from home, via virtual meetings. Together they managed to produce concepts, story-boards, scripts, and shot-lists, however still faced the biggest challenge in all this; the physical filming of the location and actors!
With everything set in place for an award winning show, they were initially halted by the national guidance of “Stay at Home”. However, our Creative Media Production and Photography Tutors, with years of experience under their belt stepped in to help. Tutor Frank Harriman offered up his award winning film making and acting skills, placing himself entirely at the students’ disposal. In a bizarre role reversal, the students were now granted the power to tell the tutors what to do!
They supplied Frank with their exacting requirements and each took turns at Directing an entire episode, with Frank recording himself in a rather unusual film set; his own home! In addition, the voice of his “partner” was actually recorded by Tutor Sara Cassidy, in her home 20 miles away! Despite the restrictive limitations, communication between everyone remained outstanding and all the footage and audio was recorded and delivered back to the students who then edited it all together into a fantastic thriller.
Student Joshua Daw, now in his final year at Southport College, reflected on this unprecedented experience, “Doing all this from home was definitely one of the hardest parts of this project because at College you’re out and in a controlled environment. At home there can be so many distractions but having discipline and pushing myself was a payoff for sure.”
“Frank is a great guy for doing all of that in his own home for us. Sometimes we would worry about how he was coping with it all! We’re a tight knit class and coupled with the fact we have good relationships with our teachers is great. Considering the circumstances, we all really pulled together and did a great job on it. Definitely an experience to remember.” When he finishes College, Joshua hopes to take the wide range of skills and experience he has developed with us to the Liverpool SAE Institute, to study a degree in Digital Film Production.
This striking and poignant series, is well worthy of a slot on your favourite streaming service, and we invite you to join us for the Premiere, from the comfort of your home. The show launches at 7pm on Thursday 15th April and can be found on the Southport College YouTube Channel (dinner jackets and ball gowns optional).
Interested in Creative Media Production and Photography? Find out more.
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