Leeds School of Arts

NFS students part of a film shoot featuring artist Damien Hirst in partnership with Yorkshire Sculpture International

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a place that I hold close to my heart. Set in beautiful countryside I have experienced many happy moments at the park with friends & family. So when the opportunity to assist a professional film shoot featuring Damien Hirst came up I was thrilled to take part.

Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019 Logo

The shoot with Damien Hirst was part of an ongoing filmmaking project between Yorkshire Sculpture International, a 100-day international sculpture festival beginning in June 2019 and The Northern Film School, Leeds Beckett University.

For the shoot I was working with fellow documentary filmmaking student Enya Mason and professional cinematographer Jonathan Walton (Kaptur Creative). The shoot enabled us to apply our practical filmmaking skills while receiving mentorship from a professional cinematographer. Both Enya and I were delighted to take part in this opportunity as we are genuinely enthusiastic about gathering new experiences and meeting people working within the professional filmmaking industry.

The shoot consisted of a 3-camera set-up which was simple enough to get our heads around and we soon developed a strong working ethos with other crew members. Listening to Damien Hirst speak about his work was brilliant, and it was a pleasure to meet such a big name in the Art world. It's crazy to think that one day I was at my desk finishing my dissertation and graduation film, and the next day I'd be travelling to meet and film THE Damien Hirst in such a beautiful Yorkshire landscape!

The entire experience was so positive and encouraging, and put to rest any initial concerns we may have had about working in a professional context and not having the relevant skills for the job. We absolutely had the skills for the job and working in a non-educational setting was thrilling. We know far more than we thought we did, everyone was satisfied with our work and as individuals, we left with a very positive experience under our belts.

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