Sharing tales with cameras running
A few months ago, I was approached by Hannah and Emily, final year students at Cardiff University, to see if I’d be up for them making a short film about my life with prostate cancer.
I was humbled that they wanted to record something with me, so I said yes.
And after months of planning, I spent a couple of days with them, sharing my story and what I have achieved over the past few years.
Everything was done professionally, with pre-reading and agreement of timings, locations and ideas for the shoot.
Day one was spent being interviewed in a studio and it gave me the opportunity to really talk in depth about what it’s like to be in my situation – the highs and lows, laughter and tears.
I enjoyed answering their thought-provoking questions – and how they made me think about my journey from different angles.
Day two was all about getting running shots that they could overlay my words on for the final presentation.
So we spent hours around the beach on Barry Island, near where one of my favourite shows, Gavin and Stacey, was set and filmed.
Typically, the dry day was the one we spent inside so we all got a little wet while I ran along the beach, cliff path, grassy banks, rocks and any other backdrop we could find to vary what they had available to use for the final film.
It would have been easy to have said “no” to Hannah and Emily at the outset as it meant two full days tied up.
However that would have been hypocritical of me and gone against everything I believe in so I am glad I invested my time with them.
I hope that you too will always help others when the opportunity arises.
Giving something today can have a really powerful impact in the future.
We talked about the highs and lows, the laughter and tears