BIOGRAPHY
NICHOLAS SPEARS
An aspiring film-maker, recently graduated from the BA Film course at Edinburgh Napier University, my central interests lie in the direction and editing of social anthropological documentaries. I enjoy the distinct link between the direction and editing of documentaries. Where fiction provides you with clear guidance in the forms of a script and storyboard, often with documentary, you discover the narrative while in the edit, resulting in the direction and edit going hand in hand. My documentary ‘The Pigeon Game’, explores Edinburgh’s underground doo flying community through the portrait of James Ulke. The documentary came third place in the Palm Dewar film competition and commended at the Scottish Student Journalism Awards, in category Long Broadcast. The film was also screened at ‘Doc Heads: The Best of Scottish Documentary’. My more recent film ‘Over the tracks and into the Tree’s’, took a more poetic and observational approach. The film is a portrait of Paul Smith and his connection to nature, as he practices primitive bushcraft techniques to survive out in the wild for extended periods of time. I especially like this observational approach, where the filmmaker's presence is removed from the film as much as possible, to allow the subject to tell their own story.
Aside from my interest in social anthropological documentary, I also love writing and directing short fiction projects, with a number of writer and directorial credits under my belt from my time at university. In my writing, I enjoy exploring themes of brotherhood through portraits of underdogs and anti-heroes. Currently, I am working on my short film ‘Oilskin’, which I am writing and directing. The film is inspired by my own youth, growing up on the Isle of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. Alastair and Robbie are two brothers living on this island. Robbie feels trapped on the island, as his brother expects him to join him in repairing their late father’s fishing boat and carry on his work. As the brothers travel across the island to return a road sign which the frustrated Robbie vandalised and abandoned, the brothers’ tension comes to a head when Robbie reveals his plans to leave the island, and Alastair, behind. Oilskin' is a story of brotherhood that explores themes of loss, masculinity and the difficulty of leaving the comfort of one’s home. Below is the link to our indiegogo and facebook page.
My professional work experience includes working as an assistant editor for Scrumptious Productions on the film ‘Mimi and Me’. I also directed and edited a short promotional film for Scottish Mountain Rescue and worked as a runner on BBC Scotland’s Debate Night.
Following my graduation from university I am looking for work in production companies in the roles of runner, production assistant or researcher. This purpose of this site is to provide access to my portfolio of work, in order to showcase my skills.
