Eyeline Media / Channel 4

Ewan McLeod:
Design Against Crime Television Short

Kit: Matrox Digi Suite using Speed Razor v 5.5/Final Cut Pro and a Digi Beta 790



Ewan won a competition run by Channel 4 IDEASFACTORY Scotland. The prize was a placement with video and TV production company Eyeline Media (www.eyeline-media.co.uk). His task was to collaborate with Eyeline Media and Grays School of Art in the production of four short TV programmes on the subject of design. He worked across all aspects of the production of the films, even directing one of them. Pre-production began in December 2004 with a brainstorming session at the School of Art to develop ideas. This coincided with the talk by David Kester, Head of the Design Council, who praised the collaboration between the School and Channel 4. He also produced a video diary of his time with the company. The videos are available online at the Channel 4 website - http://scotland.ideasfactory.com

Ewan was interested in directing; however we agreed he should gain experience in as many areas as possible over the ten week period. He set about researching content for a Design Against Crime short - a Design Council initiative that Professor Mike Press, Head of Gray’s School of Art, had previously participated in.

Ewan’s natural enthusiasm for the task was immediately apparent, and over the next three weeks he worked hard to identify appropriate content, and to set up the filming. He also had to storyboard his vision - as the director he needed to communicate the pace and the style of his piece. Ewan put considerable effort into his storyboard, using photographs - which made for an enjoyable presentation. Ewan was tenacious in his setting up, on numerous occasions he was told that filming wasn’t approved by Head Office - filming this subject matter is very sensitive – so he then approached other companies until he found a suitable replacement. 

His filming began with some indoor shooting, the exteriors having to wait due to poor weather. The indoor sequences included interviewing Mike Press and filming in HMV in Aberdeen. Ewan prepared well for the interview, which he found rather daunting as he was interviewing his head of school, but his preparation paid off and it all went well.

He found the concept of offline editing, doing a ‘paper’ edit with BITC tapes, confusing to start with, and so devised his own system including a timeline which worked well for him. Having begun his editing process he had a better idea of what was required from the pickups and these were shot quickly and efficiently. Music was selected from a small pool of royalty free discs and Ewan was almost ready for his online. Just one night working through to prepare his material! During this process Ewan had strong views as to how the piece would look, but was still willing to accept advice. The end piece is very much his own work, it’s pacy and informative, and he should feel justly proud of it. He stuck to the brief but made it his own, and so he was granted a director’s credit.

This assignment again shows the value of harnessing the creative talents of design students as a means of tackling crime problems head on.