Coming into Harbour | The Friday Update

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Friday Update, in which I give a little insight into what I’ve been up to for the past seven days.

What have I been up to this week?

This week we’ve been putting the final touches to our upcoming video: Britain’s New Prison Ships.

It’s been a really interesting project to work on. On the one hand, in unpicking the right-wing media’s obsession with immigration and the crisis in the UK’s asylum application system, it’s been really rewarding to focus on a topic which feels important.

It’s also been tough at times as it’s a fairly heavy topic. Nevertheless, whilst I enjoy working on videos about online platforms and the like, it’s very rewarding to work on topics which feel a bit more visceral in their stakes.

On the other hand, we’ve also been working with a slightly differently approach to production. We’ve been trying to get some slightly slicker audio for voiceover sections, whilst also incorporating the on-location shots I mentioned in the last edition of the Friday Update.

This was a bit scary at first—it always feels a bit silly to mess with a process that works well—but it’s been a lot of fun. I think you’re likely to see a lot more on-location and mixed-approach techniques on my videos in the coming months. Maybe some of those will work and some won’t, but I’m looking forward to experimenting!

I’ll also have an exciting announcement about a new format we’re trying out soon so keep your eyes peeled for that!

And outside of work?

My evenings and weekend have been fairly relaxed these past seven days. Which I think is largely a result of the evenings closing in. We’ve already reached the part of the years where it’s dark by 5:30pm which is a little bit sad. I always struggle a little bit with this part of the year as I’m someone who very much needs that sunlight for energy!

That being said, I have managed to sneak in a few more runs this week than I have in recent months. For some reason, I quite like running in the dark and rain. Not only does it mean I’m not *boiling* hot like I sometimes am in the summer; something about the additional amount of perseverance that makes me feel like I’ve pushed through some adversity rather than just gone for a quick jog around the park!

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

I finally got round to watching the latest season of Black Mirror a few evenings ago. In fact, we ended up binging it in just a couple of nights. Which surely suggests it wasn’t *terrible*.

Nevertheless, I don’t think it quite hit the same spot early seasons did. I think Black Mirror has unfortunately reached the point where its twists and turns are so expected that they become predictable and it becomes impossible for the writers to catch us off-guard in the way they once could. It’s also been so influential on other media that it seems cliche even though it was the show itself that originated those cliches.

It was interesting that they threw in the paranormal angle this time round; that added something new to the mix. Although I do wonder whether that makes the show something slightly different than it once was.

Anyway, I’d love to hear anyone else’s thoughts! Drop them below!

That brings us to the end of this week’s edition of the Friday Update. I hope you’ve found it mildly insightful.

Thanks as ever for your generous support and I’ll look forward to updating you more next week!!