Unfiltered

Unfiltered  follows the story of a social media influencer, Joy, as she struggles to live up to the expectations set by her large fan-base.

This film was produced as part of the 20-21 BFI Kent Film Academy, in partnership with Folkestone-based production company Screen South. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the films on the course were worked on and recorded remotely over Zoom.

Over the 10-week course, my talented team and I worked hard to turn this script into what you now see. As director, I endeavoured to get involved in every aspect of the project, producing shot lists, storyboards and the like. We were incredibly efficient, having already filmed half of the project before the officially assigned shooting date. 

For me personally, Unfiltered  provided an opportunity to lead my own film shoot, and really put my directing skills to the test. Thankfully, I believe it to have been a success, and I am very proud of the final product.

It was of utmost importance to get Joy's transition, from her bubbly, excited on-screen persona down to her lonely, depressed self, just right. To achieve this, every aspect of our production was geared towards showing that change. I worked closely with the camera and lighting team to ensure that the difference in exposure and saturation conveyed a clear change in personality, whilst the production designers came up with concepts regarding how to get the balance between on-screen cleanliness and off-screen messiness perfect, so as to not be abrupt when the change occurred. Ultimately, a lot of work went into every aspect of the film's design, and this proved necessary in ensuring that the story made fundamental sense to the audience.

At the final showcasing event for all films produced on the course, Unfiltered  received 4.5 stars out of 5.

The other film I worked on during this course, The Last Day of Winter, can be found here.