Entering the 2023 Kodak/NAHEMI Commercial Competition

In this interview, Television BA(Hons) students Ella and Cara talk about their Kodak/NAHEMI Commercial Competition entry and what makes studying at Falmouth so unique. 

Ella: I'm Ella and I study BA Television

Cara: I'm Cara and I study BA Television.

Ella: So we recently entered the Kodak Commercial Challenge, which is something that the course introduced to us last term, where you did like a test shoot/proof of concept for it and then they picked like the best one and then we got to put ours forward to get actual film to shoot on.

So the concept of the film - we did a brief for The Soil Association, which is an environmental charity that wants to get people to pledge for the planet and make change for the environment.

So we got to shoot on 60mm film, which was really fun. I directed it and then Cara DOPed it.

It was a really interesting experience because we've never got to use the SR3 before. It's not something that you would ever really use but it's something they do have in Stores, and it just doesn't ever get taken out. So it was really, really good to get our hands on that.

Cara:  I think the best thing about being here is the access to kit and the access to just anything we want, anytime we want it.

Ella: The fact that they actually have industry professionals working in the uni to give you insight into the industry is really helpful.

Both: We love the techs!

Cara: Obviously they inducted us on everything so we knew what we were getting into. They were very supportive throughout. We had the confidence going into it that we we could do it.

The camera was quite heavy. We were kind of filming blind for a lot of it, which was a very interesting concept - just trusting in myself that I was framing it right and trusting my 1st AC (First Assistant Camera) that it was all in focus. I think it was all just a really good learning experience.

Ella: And Cara is a pro now at loading it.

Cara: Oh yeah, loading is a whole other thing! I had to learn how to do that. That was very scary because at both times, loading it and unloading it, I could have just exposed the whole film. Our course leader really helped us out there.

Ella: He came in the day after at 9am and we unloaded the film and then we had it all sent off with a courier up to the Kodak lab and they developed it all for us and they send it back as a digital copy.

It looks exactly how I imagined it. So much pre-production went into it so I was very proud of it all.

We finished really early - two hours before the wrap time! I think it was just really good that we could all just do it, like it all just worked out.

Cara: Our projects this year are very much including set design, we've got makeup, we're getting to collaborate with people we would never be able to collaborate with in any other way.

Ella: Like if one day you wanted to try out sound, you just go to your friend who does sound and be like "hey could you give me some pointers?"

Cara: Everything just kind of overlaps and it all really works together.

Ella: You can see people who want to get into industry - you know that you'll end up working with them again and maybe you'll help each other get jobs.

Cara: This term we're also we're doing a whole 'exiting uni' module - helping us find our way to what we're going to do after uni. It's kind of having that trust that we've got support around us.

Ella: This is a hard industry to get into and there's nothing in the world that I'd rather do. At this point, every time I come onto a set it's like an affirming moment of like "Oh yeah, this is why I do it". I'm having fun!

Find out more about studying Television BA(Hons) at Falmouth University