Filmmaking Notes A Guide to Documenting Your Heritage Project, and Why Funders Want You To 11 August 2026 If you’re planning a heritage project, whether that’s restoring a building, running a community archive, recording oral histories, or delivering a skills programme, documentation is usually treated as an afterthought. Something for the final report, a few … Read more
Filmmaking Notes Documentary Podcast Production: Two Very Different Recording Days at Durham 1 October 2025 I did not expect to end up making podcasts. For twenty years my work has been behind a camera, but in March 2020, when the country went into lockdown because of Covid, that work stopped in a single day. Phone … Read more
Filmmaking Notes Filming the Gateshead Riverside: Ovoline Lubricants and the Changing Tyne 1 August 2025 Filming the Gateshead riverside in 2018, I captured a landscape shot I had almost forgotten — a slow take of the Ovoline Lubricants building on the south bank of the River Tyne. The clip is only a minute or so … Read more
Filmmaking Notes Videographer or Filmmaker? On the Labels We Use for the Same Work 29 July 2025 This week, I began a new project with Northumberland Wildlife Trust, filming on a beautiful beach near Amble. As we set up, I overheard one of the project coordinators telling a participant that they had brought in a … Read more
Filmmaking Notes Filming Prior Castell’s Clock in Durham Cathedral 28 May 2025 I am a documentary filmmaker based in Gateshead, and filming Prior Castell’s Clock in Durham Cathedral was one of the most absorbing commissions I have worked on. The clock sits high on the north wall of the cathedral, half-hidden in the shadows of … Read more
Filmmaking Notes The Creative Flow of Documentary Film Editing: Challenging Final Cut for “Forgotten Voices” 1 May 2025 Today marks the end of an extraordinary period of documentary film editing, as I complete the latest cut of Forgotten Voices: The Third Reich’s Elite Schools. In just a few days, on 7 May, we’ll be sharing … Read more
Filmmaking Notes Rekindle: Light, Memory, and Movement in Amble 1 November 2024 This screengrab is from a recent series of projections I created for Rekindle – Amble Light Festival, a community celebration produced by Dry Water Arts in Amble, Northumberland. The event transformed the town’s harbour and streets with a glowing mix of lanterns, light … Read more
Filmmaking Notes Production Diary: Peace Doves at Durham Cathedral 11 August 2024 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 … Read more
Filmmaking Notes From the Edit Suite: A Documentary Filmmaker’s Journey Capturing Margaret Bradshaw for Durham University 12 May 2024 I’m currently in the editing studio, deep in post-production on a recent academic film commissioned by Durham University. It’s one of those films that has lodged itself firmly under my skin — thanks to the remarkable … Read more
Filmmaking Notes Documentary Location Scouting on the Tyne: A Morning Walk to Dunston Staithes 16 November 2023 This morning, after an early meeting near Newcastle Station, I took a spontaneous walk with my camera — an unplanned bit of documentary location scouting that turned into something more reflective. I headed down Forth Banks to the … Read more