Over the summer I set my desires on becoming a content creator/photographer/media officer working within the realm of sports (football, particularly).

I set out a plan to build a portfolio. In August, I acquired my first ever camera (CANON EOS R50) and made contact with several local football clubs in pursuit of volunteer work. This landed me internships at nearby Bracknell Town FC and Woking FC's prestigious Academy, as well as for the Farnham Town FC Women. I also began volunteering to create media for the University's Football Society, of which I was already a regular member. This included leading the social media promotion of the 2025 'Foodbank Trophy' Charity Match, which helped raise £1,000+ for charity.

In the midst of this I was able to undertake my first bit of paid work in the field. I was commissioned £50 to cover a matchday for Bagshot FC. It wasn't much, but it really felt like a start and invigorated my feeling that I was on the right path to becoming a professional.

Over the ensuing months I began volunteering my Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Weekends to work for these clubs. I also assisted the Boxing Society by photographing their end of year charity boxing event. The work I developed went straight onto my socials (as well as theirs) and to my LinkedIn CV. Ultimately, my hope is to have built up enough evidence of my skill and capability by the end of my third year; so that once I've graduated, I can immediately look to find professional work in the field.

It's not been easy. Balancing University work, my second non-academic job as well as my volunteering has at times been difficult. Moments of congested workload, having too much on my plate and working over time created moments of fatigue and frustration. In these moments, I worked hard to mentally overcome these challenges and push myself forward until I had risen above the pile. The trouble has been worth it, as I can now reflect upon an already impressive body of work - with the satisfaction of knowing how hard I worked in order to achieve it.

A short story about two murderers, turned lovers, whose violent instincts intrude upon their feelings of lust and romance.

Although I have racked up plenty of experience working as an editor over the years on my own projects, this film marked my first attempt at working as an editor under a different director.

It was a unique experience. My main take away was developing an understanding of what it's like having to exercise and build that communication and coming to grips with the process of working under a different creative mind in that capacity. Despite regular disagreements, I was left feeling proud of the way we were able to healthily and productively communicate in order to build upon each others ideas and come to a final product that we could both feel proud of.

An additional learning curve was editing in DaVinci Resolve for the first proper time. Despite the initial difficulties and many bored hours watching long tutorials covering the basics, it was satisfying to put the software together like a puzzle and immediately utilise my newly developed skills into creating this film. Since, DaVinci has become my default editing software and I haven't looked back since.

I was disappointed when I found out the film had only received a 58% mark. I was initially put down by this result, but reflected and realised this was my first project operating in that role and that the mark reflected plenty of room to grow and develop. It has emboldened me to seek further strength and development and I now seek to better myself in a similar role in my third year.

Nonetheless, I chose to stick to the challenge. I rooted myself into an obsession to find out who this Director was and understand why he was being loudly and often hailed as the classes 'favourite' or at least most well known foreign filmmaker.

For this section of the course we were required to write both a group slideshow and an independent essay. I chose to combine my research and go all in on finding out who he was. I obsessed over reading his autobiography - aptly named 'Something Like An Autobiography' - as well as documenting books such as Stephen Price's 'The Warriors Camera'. I chose to read a little of these books first, to develop a brief understanding of Akira's background, before indulging in his most popular films. I hoped that this would allow me, whilst watching, to develop a more contextual understanding of what I was watching, how these films came to be as they are and why they are near-universally hailed.

Through all my reading and watching I became fixated on this idea that Kurosawa was a director caught between 'East' and 'West'. The main conflict of his story seemed to be that this eastern director had been so influenced by western cinema, and how ironically his eastern films would then go on to influence the west in turn. It was a fascinating story and this is what I chose to write my essay on.

It was hard writing about someone I had only recently learned of - but my fortunate interest in Akira kept me going. I was able to produce my essay 'Somewhere Between East & West' which went on to be awarded a stunning 80% mark.

This result has given me a huge boost of confidence in my ability to essay write and my desire and encouragement to invest in and explore new topics. Last year I had written an essay on my favourite movie 'The Thing (1982)' by John Carpenter, which while fun did not feel anywhere near as challenging or engaging. I feel as though this project forced me to invest myself in a topic completely alien to me and kicked me firmly out of my comfort zone. But this in turn only emboldened me and drove me to work harder - which in the end led me to a higher grade than I had ever achieved on an essay piece before. Thanks Akira!

For this brief study, we were exercised with flipping a provided 11 minute film into a 2 minute creation of our choosing.

Supported by additional lectures on colour grading and editing theory, I felt confident enough to rework this 11 minute film into a 2 minute re-cut.

Using my previously acquired skills in Davinci Resolve, I dived back in. My main intention was to shorten the film into a simpler, more digestible narrative. To achieve this, I did a briefly study of research into character archetypes and the very fundamentals of storytelling. My main sources of research and inspiration were the works of Christopher Brooker and Carl Jung, particularly their respective works 'The Seven Basic Plots (2004)' and 'Instinct and the Unconscious (pub. 1919)'. I was also inspired by the concept of the 'Hero's Journey' as promoted by George Lucas and outlined by Joseph Campbell. These works helped me develop an understanding of basic plot lines and characters arcs commonly found throughout fiction. The purpose for this research was so that I could find out which arcs the characters in the 11 minute film followed, so that I could boil down the basics of their story and streamline the way they're told into a more condensed 2 minute piece.

I primarily achieved this by removing unnecessary nuance from the characters and boiling them down into purer archetypes. For example, I recut a Chef characters runtime to purely consist of him being mean to the established main character. This created a more distinct protagonist/antagonist dynamic that was necessary for a shorter story. Another example, I recut the Grandma character's screen time into her solely being kind and helpful to our protagonist, to mould her into a clearer common Jungian archetype 'the Caregiver'.

I used other techniques, such as montage (inspired by Vince Gilligan's 'Better Call Saul (2015-2022)' and 'Breaking Bad (2008-2013)', to help condense the story into a shorter runtime. I elaborate more on this process on my editors log linked to the side.

Ultimately, it was another test of skill and helped me develop further comfort and confidence in my use of Davinci. Although I was working under my own creative independence, I was still tasked with re-cutting somebody else's film which restricted me to a degree to their vision, which also allowed me to build upon my experience working as an editor on Meat Cute.

In particular it was good to get experience colour grading, as was taught throughout the workshop. I utilised these teachings as another way I helped shorten my story, as I used a newly developed understanding of grading and colour theory to apply grades that help distinctly identify and amplifying the themes and emotions of the story, which was a necessity in order to tell it in a shorter time.

I collaborated with a few colleagues to create a short 120 minute film, focusing on creating distinctive visuals.

I also acted as the editor for this film, allowing me to brush up on my post-production skill as well.

In total the film came out well, given the short amount of time we were given to create it - and it felt like a satisfying cap to a productive year.

I can't wait to see wait Year 3 brings, and to finally see my University journey to an end.

It was my first experience filming abroad, which was an amazing, yet terrifying experience. The main struggle I faced was being so far outside my usual comfort zone and attempting to stay professional and proactive. Overall I felt I succeeded and I was pleased with the result of our film.