Behind the scenes on 50 Days
This summer we’ve been shooting Season 2 of 50 Days: Alone Together. We asked Kickstart media assistant Nick Monfard to share his experience of working on the shoot.
Hello! My name is Nick Monfard, and in June 2021 I joined the Peer Productions family as a Media Assistant. Having read a lot about Peer and the work on 50 Days: Alone Together especially, the prospect of meeting the actors and planning a full shoot was incredibly exciting. Like many others, I’ve experienced challenges with mental wellbeing amongst other issues the series touches on. With every actor and audience member having their own relationship to these topics, I count myself very lucky to be someone helping create this series. This is a little look back at my experience so far working on 50 Days: Alone Together.
It’s the 8th June. I’m arriving at South Hill Park Arts Centre and for some reason…I’m a little nervous. I didn’t want to be that new camera-person who people don’t get on with, or the one who misses the most beautiful acting take because they weren’t recording! But after sitting down with the cohort, it was clear this group of brilliant performers weren’t concerned about that. Artistic Director Nina had written a scene about stealthing, which the actors were reading. Stealthing is when a partner removes a condom during sex without the other person’s consent - this is also rape. Going through the scene, Nina and the cohort would pause, reflect and refine the dialogue as a group, making sure it is truthful and naturalistic before getting it on its feet to shoot test shots. This was the first of many thoughtful rehearsals I had the pleasure of being a part of, and quickly helped me understand what being a 50-days contributor was all about.
I had the privilege of watching the actors improvise scenes about abuse, anxiety, grieving and so much more. More often than not, they blew me away with their intuitive dialogue that gave a realistic take on each issue. This carried onto set at Reading University - where our multi-camera setup rarely needed more than a few takes to capture a scene, and as a trained actor myself, I thoroughly enjoyed being on set to help capture some great performances.
Recently, I’ve been reflecting on why I was a quite nervous that first day. Was it meeting the students? The project? A mix of both? During my time studying at Arts University Bournemouth, I had filmed and acted in various small-scale projects, but being part of a bigger set-up was definitely new for me. From learning to assemble gimbals, testing head cams and preparing kit bags - one piece at a time I became more comfortable as we prepared for 50 Days. Inevitably there were problems with equipment, travel, accommodation and other bits and pieces - but none of them changed the direction of this project. Thankfully too, Nina and brilliant cohort members Grace, Alicia, Naomi and Emma have been working alongside me on the technical side, picking up on all the mistakes I make (thank goodness). Their organisation and eagerness to help exemplified the togetherness of this group of young actors I have been lucky to work with.
As I head into the editing stage with a lot of syncing, cutting and learning to do - I’m confident I’ll continue to overcome my challenges as they arise. 50 Days: Alone Together is a brilliant series which aims to amplify the voices of young people who aren’t heard enough - and I’m certain our work, as passionate young artists, will achieve and exceed these goals.
In the meantime, here’s a sneaky peek …
