(A picture of me checking my camera on the train before I head out to the festival)
On Saturday 26th May 2018 I participated in the Birmingham Pride Festival 2018 (which takes place annually in Birmingham’s Gay village) to help a classmate of mine called ‘Phoebe Webster ‘ together with fellow classmates to help them film their Final Major Project, a documentary on the ‘LGBT’ community. This opportunity also allowed me to experience this unique festival itself.
Birmingham Pride started in 1997 and is still continuing to flourish to this day. This year was Pride’s 22nd anniversary and lasted from 26th May to 27th May 2018.
My job role was being a camera operator and to capture as much footage of the festival as possible. Parts of the festival I filmed with my team mates were the Carnival parade and filming the crowd on the HSBC main stage at the festival site. I was allowed access onto the stage because of my classmate Phoebe obtained us AAA pride guest passes that allowed us to go up onto the main stage.
Overall, I really enjoyed the festival as it was an event I never experienced before. I learned more about how to film at live city events and seeing a city come together to celebrate equality and diversity for the LGBT community.
My two most memorable parts of the festival were the following:
Filming the crowd on the HSBC stage at the festival site
As I have mentioned above this was a memorable part for me because I got an amazing opportunity to go onto the HSBC main stage and film the crowd as the organisers for the festival were giving a passionate speech.
The Carnival Parade
The diverse Carnival Parade started at 10:30 and finished at noon travelling from the city’s Victoria Square all the way to Hurst Street. I got the opportunity to film the parade as it progressed to different streets. Moreover, the atmosphere was lively and I really enjoyed seeing all the different aspects of the parade.
I got to capture a lot of footage of the festival and experienced an amazing atmosphere that I hope to relive again for future festivals I go to. I would defiantly recommend to go to it next year or any other pride festival as you can learn a lot about the LGBT community.
In addition, as mentioned my classmate ‘Phoebe Webster’ and her other classmates are still currently finishing off the final edit of their documentary on the LGBT community. Since I worked as a camera operator at this festival I will soon be creating my showreel which will include footage from the documentary together with other footage from past projects that shows my skills and how I have progressed during the past two years on the media production course at Stratford Upon Avon college, so please stay tuned for my blog to see my showreel, more posts and personal projects to come in the future…..
Here are a selection of photos:
Sammy Productions 