I have been extremely fortunate to be a part of the Creative Media Skills team, holding Courses and Workshops for Young Filmmakers and Students in different parts of the world which create their own challenges and opportunities for everyone involved.

We have Team Leaders sharing their experiences and expertise, including Camera, Lighting, Props Making, Makeup, Hair and Costume Design.

We have a talented Young Director, David Anderson, who works with all the students, so we can shoot a scene at the end of the course to give everyone “On Set” experience, with several students given the chance to Direct a “set up”. This gives superb experience to trainee filmmakers.

The script we use is called “The Suspect” and has 3 Principal characters, The Suspect, The Superstar and The Security Person. Unfortunately, David couldn’t join us on the course in June 2024, so between us we helped one of the students direct the scene.

We always hold auditions to give the students experience of what to look for in casting, a valuable process. In June we had a very interesting development when one of the young ladies wanted to play the Superstar, but we cast a charismatic Man as the Superstar. This gives the makeup hair team the opportunity to create vivid designs.

We had a wonderful Traditionally dressed Young Lady (full hijab and burka) who wanted to play the Superstar as well. So, I decided we could rewrite the script to have 2 Superstars in the Scene and cast accordingly.

A few hours later I was informed the young Lady whose nerves had gotten the better of her was terribly upset at not having a role. I was able to ponder during the class and came up with the idea of creating a “Presenter” role. She would even have some dialogue. At first, she declined but my Assistant was able to convince her it was a very good part.

We shot the scene with 2 Superstars and a Presenter along with our Suspect and Security Person.

The Traditional Superstar had adorned her clothing with lots of sparkle and our Makeup Team did a superb job on the Male Superstar and Presenter.

I was chuffed to bits with the outcome. A great lesson in always trying to find a solution. 

Image 1. Film Set Up, The Suspect (Photograph Terry Bamber)

Image 2. Superstar (Photograph Terry Bamber)