Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Students are occupied with protest drama
The students, working with 33 external actors, are all in the final year of the BA (Hons) degree in Film and Moving Image Production. 'Occupy Leeds' is a three week shoot of six, four-minute-long episodes, centred around an occupation camp outside a bank headquarters, where protesters have gathered against the bank's unfair distribution of wealth. Filming will be completed on Thursday 10 May.
In the series, it transpires that the occupiers each have a different agenda, whilst working towards the same goal. The drama unfolds when secrets begin to come to light. Filming is all taking place in the grounds of the University's Headingley campus, with students creating their own set made up of tents and associated camping gear.
Student and 'Occupy Leeds' film crew member, Alice Maenzanise, commented: "With 59 students and a cast of 33, this has been the biggest group in the history of the Northern Film School. Pulling it off was a challenge, especially being on set for almost three weeks. Talking from a producer's perspective, co-ordinating everything was a big task. There were so many people involved, and so many things to be done by one person, but I had tremendous help from my tutors. Despite all the challenges we faced, it has been a very good learning curve. We have all gained a lot of experience working on this project. Usually students are on set for only around five days, with a small crew and cast. Ours has been quite unusual, and we will always cherish that."
See images of the shoot here.