Events

Join us for a practical club night looking at camera movement and focusing techniques, the sort of stuff that can quietly lift a scene from “fine” to “that feels like a film”.

We’re delighted to welcome Col Spector to the club for a talk on something most of us only learn the hard way, how to shoot a documentary that actually turns into a film, not just a pile of interesting footage.


Col has worked across documentary, commercials and fiction, and he’s known for being both practical and refreshingly direct. This evening he’ll be sharing his “8 rules” for documentary making, the kind of rules that stop you drifting, keep you honest about what you’re trying to say, and give you a structure you can lean on when the shoot starts throwing surprises at you.


Col Spector set up documentary consultancy to help documentary filmmakers make emotionally engaging films that get seen and launch their careers. Using the principles/guidelines that he developed throughout his career as a documentary maker at the BBC, Col has worked with hundreds of early career directors helping them turn their ideas into films that have been commissioned and screened on the BBC, Netflix and many top tier film festivals. See some testimonials from filmmakers Col has helped and for more about how he can help you at www.thedocumentaryconsultant.com

Join us for a practical club night looking at camera movement and focusing techniques, the sort of stuff that can quietly lift a scene from “fine” to “that feels like a film”.


This is not a sit back and listen kind of evening. Expect plenty of exercises, short explorations, and supportive feedback as you work on what casting people and directors actually respond to, believable character, clear choices, and an actor who feels present rather than “performed”.

On 18 March, Adrian Dean is running a Film In A Night challenge built around a simple idea, one concept told in multiple genres. We’ll split into teams and be given a basic plot plus a genre to tackle it in.
Each group will then discuss and plan quickly before going off to shoot their idea, aiming to edit in camera so we can screen a finished film to the rest of the club at the end.

If you’ve ever sat in front of a timeline and thought, “I know what I want this scene to do, but it’s not landing”, this evening is for you. We’re keeping it simple and practical, a night focused on the basics of film editing and the core decisions that make a sequence feel clear, natural, and emotionally right.

This is a fully practical, hands on follow on session where members will be learning by actually editing. It is not a lecture and it is not a software demo that you simply sit and watch. The whole evening is built around getting stuck in, trying things out, and learning the basics with support from experienced members as you go.