This Production Diary marks a special moment in my filmmaking journey—my first official commission for Durham Cathedral.

While I’ve had the privilege of filming inside the Cathedral on several occasions over the years—including The Durham Hymns project, a commission for Channel 4, as well as events for Durham Brass Festival and Durham University—this was the first time I was invited directly by the Cathedral team to document a major public artwork. That made this project feel particularly meaningful and personal.

The installation, Peace Doves, is the work of artist Peter Walker. Comprising over 15,000 individually suspended paper doves, each one carries a handwritten message of peace from a member of the public. It’s a breathtaking piece—not only in terms of scale but also in how it interacts with the architecture and atmosphere of the space. The doves are suspended in mid-air, forming a flowing canopy above the nave, moving gently with the currents of air and light.

From the outset, I knew this wouldn’t be a conventional filming setup. Filming inside a place like Durham Cathedral requires a different rhythm. It’s a space of reverence, stillness, and spiritual weight. Add to that the delicacy of the Peace Doves themselves, and the challenge was to capture something so light and ephemeral without overwhelming it. No crew, no rigging, no artificial lighting—just a quiet approach that allowed the space and installation to breathe.

This production diary will document that process—from first site visits and early sketches, through test footage, sound considerations, and the slow assembly of the edit. I spent a lot of time simply walking through the space, camera off, watching how the light moved across the doves at different times of day. The stained glass windows provided subtle shifts in tone and colour, gently illuminating the paper birds from one side of the nave to the other. This movement of light became a central motif in the film.

I shot using a combination of handheld and gimbal setups, with natural light throughout. My aim was to move with the same softness as the doves themselves—floating gently, observing details without intrusion. The soundscape was captured from ambient recordings inside the Cathedral: footsteps, distant whispers, the creak of pews, and the occasional flutter from a dove in motion. All of this helped shape the edit’s rhythm—more like a meditation than a typical documentation.

Filming Peace Doves also gave me time to reflect on my ongoing relationship with Durham Cathedral. Over the years I’ve captured everything from large choral performances to intimate solo reflections within these walls. Each time, the space offers something different—sometimes grand, sometimes incredibly human. This project, however, invited me to slow down even further. To listen to silence, to light, and to the quiet weight of collective messages suspended above our heads.

The final film will serve both as a standalone reflection and as a record of the installation—something that can be shared with those who couldn’t attend in person, and a lasting document for the Cathedral’s archive. It’s a film that asks for patience and stillness, echoing the spirit of the artwork itself.

This kind of work sits at the heart of my practice: documenting not just events or installations, but experiences—moments of emotional, cultural, or spiritual resonance that unfold in real time and in real places.

I’ll be sharing more updates as the edit progresses, including decisions around pacing, audio treatment, and the final colour grade. For now, I’m grateful to the team at Durham Cathedral for the trust and openness they extended, and to Peter Walker for creating such a thoughtful, moving piece of work.

👉 You can explore more of my music and performance-based films here: alanfentiman.co.uk/vimeo-videos/music-films

👉 And see my full collection of heritage commissions at: alanfentiman.co.uk/vimeo-videos/heritage-films