I'm Officially a Graduate!

Well, the time has come. After spending my whole life studying, realizing what makes me tick as a person, my passion. It feels so weird and quite sad to be leaving the student life, more importantly, Sheffield Hallam. I would joke about hating university when times were tough, but I take it all back. Sheffield Hallam University has made me who I am today, from start to finish.

When joining Sheffield Hallam, I was an extremely introverted person. I was very insecure about my height and appearance. Fitting in was something I worried very about a lot. I remember in the first year, I didn’t even go out on freshers week, I’d lock myself away in my dorm and avoid going into the kitchen if I heard people.

Moving on three years, I’m on stage delivering the vote of thanks speech in front of hundreds, possibly thousands of people at my graduation. I never ever expected myself to be in that position. However, throughout my time at university, I knew I had to keep pushing. One of my biggest moments was forcing myself to ask the talented filmmaker and good friend; Brett Chapman (known as brettinthecity) to meet up. I adore his work and love the fact that he has a unique style that just screams wholesome. Having worked alongside Brett, helped me realise that I can get work in film. From that day I kept going, being as proactive as I can.

I think it would be really dumb not to mention my two best friends. I met Jess/VHS girl in the first year and we just clicked. Fast forward three years and we’re in Brewdog. I was so set on working by myself and I remember Jess wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Then she told me an idea she had. At that moment I just dropped my idea and said: “I’m working on this”. It’s actually mad how much effort we put into this one film. It was such an ambitious project, sourcing Filipino actresses, finding a variety of locations, fundraising over £800 and shooting alongside a pandemic. We are actually built different.

And Ai. We met at a Hallam freelancer job which I find very fitting. Now we’re working together under our established company; Yellow Pocket for big clients such as Hallam. I like how we are able to really just be ourselves and our clients can accept us for us.

I find it crazy, graduating I’ve managed to DOP a handful of short films, work with clients like Amazon, assist on large film sets, run my own company with Ai, make a fantastic handful of talented friends, shoot on stage with singer song-writer; EDEN, my absolute idol and progress as a human.

Thank you everyone,

I love you x.

Darshan.

Promoting a Good Cause with Film, Filming with Sheffield City Contact Tracers.

I am happy to announce that I am now part of the filmmaking team at SCCT (Sheffield City Contact Tracers). On the team, I will be working as their director of photography for their second episode, check out their first one if you haven’t already. Coming on as the DOP, I wanted to get under the skin and know all about the project to inform my decisions when behind the camera.

The project, albeit a simple one, was a sensitive one. In this episode, we plan to get under the topic of mental health and how it has affected people during the pandemic. Above are a few stills of the first day of shooting. We shot with Mental Mate, which is a charity that not only provides boxing lessons to help with mental health, but people to talk to. Everyone at Mental Mate has/is going through something and are all about talking about it! I cannot wait to share what we have done in the fullest, video form!

We did it, we shot Kilig!

I have had the absolute time of my life bringing Kilig to life. It's been both fun and stressful but most definitely worth it. Over the past few months, Jess and I have been doing constant work towards our final film at university and I can say it is really starting to pay off.

When Jess told me about the idea, I jumped straight on it. I didn't think for a split second about going back, but I knew we had a lot of work ahead of us. Amidst a pandemic, we brought limited cast and crew on board. Constant zoom meetings and late-night pre-production calls. Finally being on set, we got to both watch our months of work come to light.

Photo by @AiNarapolFilm / Shooting Scene 2

Onset, we went through challenges. From shooting late nights through tough winds to limited crew and COVID guidelines. One highlight for me personally would be when our lead actress Maria made everybody the most lovely hot chocolate ever. Maria was quite literally a mother on set and I loved it.

From this experience, I can say that I have had a boost of confidence. Growing up, I have had issues about people taking me seriously (probably because I look like a child lol), and for me to step up and direct, having people take my judgment seriously made me feel extremely welcomed on set.

Photo by @AiNarapol

I’d like to take the time to thank the amazing crew we had on set. Jess has pulled me through thick and thin with this project. I cannot stress how much pre-production she has gone through, not only that, she jumped in and sound opped the project! Jordan really helped transform this film, giving me the chance to focus on directing and camera a lot more while he sets up the lights. Ai, I mean what can I say about her? Partner in crime at Yellow Pocket, much love for her doing all the BTS, styling, and acting as Hazel. Last but not least, Shaun, an absolute legend in doing quite literally anything you tell him, (he was 1st AC by the way)!

I'm happy to announce we are beginning our post-production phase. I'm excited to share the final project with you all. I cannot thank everyone who has helped enough with this project. Whether you lent us props, donated, shared, volunteered, whatever. I love you ❤️. #film #project #university #sheffield #sheffieldfilmcrew #sheffieldhallamuniversity #kilig #kilig2021