King’s students to screen their short film ‘The Girl in the Bubble’ at the BAFTAs

A group of King's students will be screening their short film 'The Girl in the Bubble' at the BAFTAs in early September.

The screening is a collaboration between their production company, These People Make Pictures, and Imlach Films – formerly Grey Bear Films.

We spoke to third year Film student and co-founder Megan Stewart about the project:

How did you start your production company These People Make Pictures?

Four of us started the production company at King's after working together on a web series called Hero. The shoot was a laugh, we worked well and wanted to continue to make films together.

What are you guys doing now?

Since then, Michelle has moved into theatre production and is bossing it and Rob is still our Head of Production and go-to cinematographer.

I remain Managing Director and Cameron is Creative Director. We both produce, direct, liase with clients and build the projects from strategy to shooting to post-production.

What's the short film about?

When Ginny and Iris were young, their mother used to tell them the story of a girl trapped inside a bubble, who floated away to the edge of the universe and was never seen again.

Since Iris' death, Ginny lives alone in her old family home where she tries to come to terms with the loss, to finish her drawing of the girl in the bubble and finally let go.

How did the filming come about?

We had hired some great kit to film a business promotion and by chance had the kit for a day longer than we needed it. So we wrote the script, got our crew together, and completed filming within four days. It was hectic and straight-up mental but such an exciting project. It was all hands on deck, the crew were an absolute dream and I think everyone got a kick out of getting a project made collaboratively that quickly.

How did you manage to get a BAFTA screening?

In the past few months we have been working with Imlach Films on a large shoot and they are holding a screening at BAFTA to celebrate the year they’ve had making short films, as well as their rebrand. As one of their collaborators, they’ve selected to screen our film on the night alongside their own.

How many other films have you made?

Commercially all in all, we have made promotions for schools in England, entrepreneurs, musicians, a charity, a fundraising event, and a new business launch.

This is our first full short film, and we have three more in pre-production stages.

What advice would you have for anyone trying to start out in the film world?

Work with your friends.

One of the pitfalls in the film industry is the idea that you have to wait for someone else to come in order to break into it. Don't wait for them. We literally made up our own job out of thin air and started publishing our own content. We decide how we work, what we make and how we do it.

Also learn the logistics of owning and running a company. Between us we study English, Film and History (hardly Dragons Den) so we had to learn on-the-go about the financial, legal and operational logistics of running a business. It’s fun and I love it. I get a real kick out of it; but it can be a little full-on, so either do your homework and accept the madness as it comes, or get someone on board who is purely business-minded to deal with that side of things

What are your plans for the future? Do they involve the company?

Our plan for the company was always to create work that we wanted to make, and I reckon we’ll keep it running as long as that is still the case, and it’s still fun. At the end of the day we get to have a laugh, make films with our friends, learn about the industry that we want to enter and take the initial steps to building our careers- that’s the dream and I have no complaints.

Grab your tickets to their BAFTA screening of 'The Girl in the Bubble' on September 5th