How I work

Universities and research films need to do several things at once. They have to communicate clearly enough to reach a public audience, while doing justice to the complexity of the research. They need to feel human rather than institutional. And they have to work for the people commissioning them — for funders, for public engagement reports, for archive — without becoming dry or impersonal in the process.

My approach is documentary-led rather than promotional. I spend time with researchers before filming, reading around the work where I can, so that when we come to record interviews and conversations I am asking real questions rather than scripted prompts. That groundwork shows in the finished film. Contributors relax when they feel the person behind the camera actually understands what they are talking about, and that produces better material.

Universities and research films work best when they hold the tension between the specialist and the accessible, when they respect the intellectual weight of the work while finding the human moments that allow a non-specialist audience in. I have made films with academics, research centres and universities across the North East and beyond. Partners have included Durham University, Northumbria University, UCL, University of Bristol and Durham Institute of Advanced Study. I have also worked with the AHRC, the Wellcome Trust and the Being Human festival, which supports publicly engaged humanities research across the UK.