Parallel Worlds

With reference to the quote in my previous post. Term has ended. We've nearly finished the film. Mainly editing now. Here is the final draft for my article surrounding the project, along with some pictures. It's going to appear in my University's magazine, The Pulse,very soon. Please have a look.

Parallel Worlds

Brighton can be a very interesting place. Since starting my second year of studying here, I have observed the emergence of personal choices: either to invest fully into the ‘student experience’ by turning up to lectures with pen on your face from the night previous, sit in a messy living room amongst pizza boxes watching Scrubs as the ‘best years of your life’ pass by, or, invest in the copious amounts of free time. It has always been my desire most prominently to do the latter, and I am fortunate that I have managed to find a group of like-minded, creatively driven people.

I remember the start of the day quite vividly; grey, overcast, and all of us suffering from a case of itchy feet. We had been speaking of getting the project under way for a while, and that afternoon it just happened.



We decided to make a documentary centered on the burning question - What is it about Brighton that draws in such a diverse amalgamation of people?

When darkness falls on our quiet terraced streets, a darker, seedier side to the city emerges; drug dealing, prostitution and homelessness are aspects of Brighton that can all be encountered when sought after. With this as a backdrop, Saul Abraham, Callum Cameron and I took it upon us to conduct an investigation into the socio-cultural make up of our quaint seaside town.



Brighton is a city that, to a degree, is built upon a reputation substantiated by façades. For the majority of people who do not actually permanently reside here, it is largely observed as a place of escape. Whether this means a weekend soaked in alcohol, a short break during the summer, or, more poignantly, a place to come and search for a new existence in a new environment, it is easy to get ‘lost.' It is this concept of escape that is so prominent in Brighton – twinned with the drab inclement seaside weather of the dark winter months – that really inspired us to document a side to the city that can be so easily surpassed.

I guess it would be imposing and somewhat arrogant to say that one of our aims is to educate people, as well as to tarnish their most likely positive opinions of the city. However, there is a definite culture surrounding Brighton that bleeds ignorance. Homelessness, and people’s obliviousness to it, was a central theme that was able to come into the foreground of the documentary almost organically.



We have a Natwest branch at the top of our street, which seems to have unwillingly adopted a role not only as a depositary, but a meeting place for homeless people and, more often than not, prostitutes. Such regular contact with these people (be it through choice or not) is definite fuel for the creative fire, and that is really how we got started. We went out on the streets with a camera and started talking to people. All of what followed came from there.



We got some great footage and a couple of great interviews, but there was one that really made an impression. It was the story of a relatively young man who grew up in Brighton and had lived here all his life. In a perhaps dubious exchange (we traded money for his story), he spoke of how he had recently managed to overcome heroin addiction, and he wanted to start building a relationship with his daughter, that had previously been unattainable. One thing that really struck me was how he said it was easier to get hold of drugs, and access the lifestyle that comes with it, more easily here in Brighton, than in other cities.



It is this type of distinction found in Brighton that our film focuses on. Without giving too much away, I would say it is an investigation into what draws such a vast amalgamation of people to a relatively small town, which in turn encompasses such a diverse cultural and social environment.



In terms of what we are aiming to get from it ourselves, we all have relatively different interests, despite our obvious passions to explore our surroundings. Saul is already a well-established filmmaker, so I think a documentary of this investigative kind was something that he wanted to conquer to further his creative diversity. Callum and I had never really had anything to do with the film-making process until this project, so we were keen to get involved as much as possible. I myself also write, largely about anything and everything, so I was able to bring this aspect of documentation to the table too.

We also have one formidable goal for the film. Once we have reached a stage with editing (and all of the other post-production processes) that we are happy with, we aim to hold a screening of the finished article in the Duke of York's cinema. We will be advertising this to the homeless population of Brighton at the various night shelters and projects located around the city, with the invitation of free entry to come and see the film. All others who are invited to come to the screening will be asked to donate an entry fee of £2, with all proceedings being donated to a homeless/rough sleepers charity of our choice. The homeless population of Brighton has given us so much, and we have been able to learn a lot not only about our town, but also about the perspective of life of a group of people so far removed from our own existences. This is why we are going to give something back.