Infectious

Infectious was my second lockdown project. Having made Anywhere But Here I felt inspired and wanted to keep creating, but also challenge myself more and continue to direct remotely.
 

The story treats confidence as if it’s a pandemic, a virus that can spread and infect, making people feel better about themselves, causing industries to suffer in the process. It is a social commentary on today’s capitalism and it’s ridiculous beauty standards, pitching the idea that the world would be a different place if we were all allowed, and encouraged, to be more confident.

I enlisted people from all over the country, and from various industries, from drag to pole dancing to participate. 
 

It was an interesting experiment to direct people over the internet and collate all of the footage into something that works.

Personally, if I was to go back, I would re-edit and make it shorter as it feels too montagey for me now, but during the lockdown, it felt cruel to cut people too harshly when they had been so kind in helping.

 

I feel I learned a lot from it even though we will, (hopefully), not be in a similar situation again and I am still proud of being able to be creative during a tough time, and of how it helped others fill their time, and tell a story that is relevant whilst still being entertaining. I still value the themes and feel it’s an important message which is on track with my ultimate goals as a storyteller.