Facebook status: “I can’t sleep again!”

Course Brief 1 = “each group will produce 3x1” stories about a place or a person without dialogue.”

My production group is 'Group 4' and our first 1 minute ‘story’ titled ‘Insomnia’ is a stylish, (I say “stylish” because it was shot in high definition on a fantastic 5D camera) look at the night-time wanderings of an insomniac!

Kudos to Tim Hunt for his camera work, the close up of Daniel Whitehouse on the sofa is very dramatic (!) Also points to Dan for being such a good sport and taking the starring role; not sure he relished climbing all over the railings above Falmouth docks in the dark because it is one steep drop!

A key lesson I learnt from this production, is that voice from radio or television does constitute dialogue not background noise and therefore would have to be scripted in pre-production. Additionally, this assignment has really proved the golden rule of television, “show me, don’t tell me”, because as a viewer watching the insomniac updating his facebook status with “I can’t sleep again” is much more believable and personal than hearing the character say the words.