Tegan Pearce is a filmmaker and storyteller, having worked her way up from Production Runner to Production Coordinator on a variety of feature-length fiction films and documentaries. With a passion for telling the stories of voices previously unheard, in 2017 Tegan submitted a hopeful proposal to Random Acts, an education, training and production programme dedicated to creating artworks that push boundaries and provoke thought.  Based on her own experience of growing up with Autism, ‘Spectrum’ has since been commissioned by Tyneside Cinema, True North and HOME, and selected for Channel 4’s online Random Acts showcase.

Jenny Dyke from Jeppstones talks to Tegan and gets a behind the scenes look at The Tech Behind her filmmaking.

Define what your subject means to you in 15 words or fewer:

Filmmaking offers the power to tell stories, both educating and entertaining at once.

When did you first get interested in filmmaking – what drew you to it?

I was a bit of a trouble child at school, even though I had the brains to do well, and as such I was encouraged into more creative and hands-on classes. At GCSE I didn’t study languages or religious studies, instead I doubled up on Design and Technology classes and picked up something they called ‘Media Studies’. Up until then I was dead set on becoming an accountant; I loved Maths and I still do. Media Studies changed this for me though when we analysed some of the James Bond movies. I had been massively into reading books at this point and I wrote a load of short stories that I dread to look back on, but film had never grasped my attention until then. James Bond brought it all to light; the different components that go into telling a story, the thought that goes into the process, how light, colour, and music can all sway an audience.

From there my outlook changed. I still took Maths at A-Level, but I switched my other subjects to Media Studies, Film Studies and Photography – I even picked up an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) in Filmmaking. Back then I didn’t have a smartphone, and I remember the cameras the department did have were tape-based. Editing took hours even just to get your footage digital as it involved manually logging timecodes, but I didn’t care; I loved the process and I loved the end result. Through college I got involved with a course at ITV West, and my first short film centred on an affair between two friends’ parents. It was rather creatively called ‘The Affair’ and I learnt so much in making it (mostly about what not to do). I made a few more shorts with ITV West, as well as getting my first job on a feature film as a Production Assistant. I completed my A-Levels and went on to do my degree, a BSc in Film and Television Production.

‘Spectrum’ – A short film

How did ‘Spectrum’ come about?

‘Spectrum’ started out as a shot in the dark. I finished university and started working in corporate video production and I craved another opportunity to be creative and tell an inspiring story through film. In early 2017, a friend from university posted a link to ‘Random Acts’ a few days before the deadline, urging people to get involved in the scheme. Throughout my education I was told “Write what you know” and whilst under time pressure I took this very literally. What do you know better than the story of your own life? Although generally speaking my life isn’t overly exciting, I knew my experience of growing up had been very different to those around me and this was due to my Autism. I called it ‘Spectrum’ because I wanted people to know that this was just one perspective of Autism and not a generalisation, Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is just that, a spectrum. The stories it presents are as vast as the ways in which it presents itself.  I mashed some vague thoughts of my own experience down on paper, alongside a collection of my travel photography in an attempt to put the audience in the shoes of someone with Autism and allow them to see the world through my eyes. And Random Acts liked it. It was an arduous journey from there but it was worth it, and in April 2018 ‘Spectrum’ was released.

What were the steps from your initial idea to the finished product?

Following the initial submission, I was invited to a development day. This was vital, and is something I would try and work into all of my future projects where possible. Groups of around ten joined together and each pitched their film ideas to each other, from which the other nine asked questions. It’s a great way to get you questioning your own project subjectively, because although you know in your head the ins and outs of the story it needs to be clear to the audience, and it needs to be clear in your pitch how you are going convey that. I then did the same with an industry expert – they asked slightly more difficult questions based on their production experience, and gave feedback on areas I might improve.

Following this day we were invited to resubmit our initial proposals, taking into account the feedback received. I realised at this point that what had started as a rushed proposal now needed to be taken much more seriously, and I worked long and hard fleshing out my proposal. I gathered together a portfolio of inspiring imagery and content to help others to imagine the final product and I wrote the first draft of the spoken word poetry that narrates the finished film. Throughout my childhood I loved writing poems, and basing it on my own experiences made the process that much easier, but I had to be sure, through rehearsing and recording the poem, that it would fit within the given timescale of 90 seconds to three minutes.

After resubmitting, ‘Spectrum’ was selected as one of 24 films that would be produced – this was the start of a long and crazy process, most of which was taken up in development. I attended a development weekend dedicated to fleshing out the original idea further and developing a clear storyboard, alongside ongoing one-to-one sessions with an industry professional. This was again an invaluable experience. By thoroughly scrutinising and expanding on every individual aspect of the film, the steps that followed were made far easier.

I had a great amount of assistance from True North in sourcing the many different components that would make up the final piece. As an experienced and professional production company they had access to a vast library of contributors, locations, crew, props and sound effects. I did, however, spend approximately fourteen hours meticulously constructing the main props, the geometric animal masks. These were crucial for the film to alienate the people around the main character and as such I wanted them to be perfect.

Only once all of these aspects were in place could we then of course move onto production. Surprisingly, the filming and editing took up the least amount of time in the whole project, with both taking up just one day each. This only stresses the importance of the development process. We filmed on location at a house in Leeds in the morning and, after a quick lunch, filmed at a studio at the University of Leeds. It became clear in the development process that in order to complete the filming in a day the locations would have to be far more limited than I had envisioned in the original submission, which as I mentioned drew on my travel photography. In doing this, however, it also ensured high quality across both locations – sometimes simplicity is key. I took on the role of Director on the day of filming, guiding the actors to the envisioned result, and trusted the experienced Camera Operator and Director of Photography to capture the resulting shots. They were both fantastic crew and through very little instruction managed to bring my vision into reality.

I worked closely with a professional video editor during the edit, whose experience once again made bringing my vision into reality seem effortless. In one day we recorded the spoken word poem and cut this together with the footage. Through utilising a variety of visual and audio effects, the film really started to bring the viewer into the shoes of someone with Autism. I left the edit suite with a smile on my face, as following almost a year of hard work and development I finally got to see an end result.

What kit did you start with when you first got interested in filmmaking? Has any of it changed and if so, why?

As I mentioned previously, when I first started out I remember the painful process of recording to tape and logging timecodes. I was restricted by whatever kit my school, college or university had available. Of course, the joy of filmmaking in the modern day is that the tech is often right at your fingertips, with a lot of people now producing films through their smartphones. The other joy is that more professional kit is becoming more affordable.

Since starting filmmaking I have been collecting my own kit, which I try to keep adding to and refreshing based on a combined evaluation of necessity and cost. The kit I currently have is in desperate need of an update but has been faithfully reliable through the last few years, particularly with corporate video production contracts:

In terms of editing I have always been faithful to the Adobe Creative suite, using Premiere Pro and occasionally venturing into After Effects for graphics and special effects.

The Future

If money was no object, what tech would you use?

It is tempting to go for the high-end kit, used in feature films worldwide, but I actually think there’s a happy middle ground. I wouldn’t want to overcomplicate the kit too much as it can prevent you from capturing the story as well if a massive camera and boom is in the face of the talent. I’ve always loved the Sony FS7 for capturing beautiful imagery whilst still being versatile and not overly technical. Great cameras will only capture a great image if you know how to use them and people train specifically to use higher-end cameras like the RED Epic Dragon – although that would be a dream to play around with.

Who would be your dream person to work with?

I’m going to avoid a cliché in this one! For me the dream is to work with likeminded people, and people with a great story to tell but lacking the resources or knowledge to do so. It would be great to go back to Bristol and find the hidden stories there – I know the city is hiding a wealth of talent and creativity.

What are your next projects?

My next projects are exactly that – I want to make ‘Spectrum’ into a series of similar pieces, each focussing on their own issue. My sister has OCD and ME and I have considered exploring how these counteract each other, and what it must be like to have a need to clean but no energy to do so. Alternatively, my mother is recently going through some health issues of her own, and I want to explore aging and how you are still the same person in your mind even when your body begins to let you down. There are endless options for my next projects, so the research and development will be key to ensure that whichever it ends up being is best-suited, well explored and truthfully depicted.

Advice

For anyone wanting to start filmmaking what would you advise?

The main advice I was given was to make films. It sounds simple but with the technology now at your fingertips there’s really nothing stopping you. If you want to learn a language or an instrument you could only do so through practice, and filmmaking is the same. It’s only through making films (some of them I hope to never see again) have I made mistakes, learnt from them and made better films.

Are there any things for newcomers to avoid?

It’s an increasingly saturated field, and I would say to avoid ‘plain’. In a time when anyone can make a film, what will make you stand out? It could be the story you tell, the way you tell it or a combination of the two, but one thing’s for sure we do not need any more boy meets girl love stories in this world. Avoid straightforward – everyone loves a twist.

What are you doing now that you didn’t at the beginning that has made the filmmaking better/easier to make?

The main thing I am doing now that I didn’t at the beginning is utilising what I have and what is around me. As I’ve said already, anyone can make a film now. So I really started to ask myself, after making some unsuccessful films, what can I offer the industry? What can I see or do or show that others can’t? And that is essentially the basis of ‘Spectrum’. Everyone has a unique perspective in this world. Why write another love story? Why write another action adventure?

Use what you have around you to your advantage and show the world what is really going on, through film.

Links

Tegan’s short film ‘Spectrum’ can be viewed here

You can follow Tegan on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/pearce_tegan

Here is a link to Tegan’s instagram, which is filled with her travel photography.  https://www.instagram.com/fp_tegan/