Profile: Louis Hollis

Why did you pick this subject for Fresh?

BBC3 has a always made great documentaries and is good at using alternative perspectives or styles to tell stories that aren’t necessarily always in mainstream news. When I saw the brief for fresh I felt that this film fitted quite well and better than some of my other work as it’s of a similar style.

What motivated you to make this film?

A keen interest in reportage and observational documentary filmmaking combined with a fascination in British nightlife and culture. Over the course of a few months last year, I would hang around outside nightclubs with my camera waiting for everyone to pour out when the clubs closed. You see everything, loud drunken lads and girls, stag and hens - usually in fancy dress, a guy and a girl who’ve just met, crowds hovering around the kebab shop, the late night bars, bored husbands, people who’ve had to much or lost their mates, two lads squaring up to each other. You’ve seen it all before, but normally you’re just as drunk as everyone else and don’t really remember.

I constructed the narrative of the film to try and mirror a night out from start We get a pretty bad reputation for our drinking culture in this country; I didn’t want my film to depict nightlife in the negative light we are used to seeing on the news, because there’s so much more to see than just the negatives. I’m currently at Bournemouth Arts University studying for a degree in film production.

What equipment did you use to shoot the film?

Canon 700D, 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses

Tell us about post-production.

I edited the film myself on Adobe Premiere Pro CC. I would go out and shoot and then look through the footage the next morning. After a few shoots I started to build a narrative and went out with a clearer idea of the of shots and scenes I needed to finish the film. After a few months of this I had an edit I was happy with, the temptation was always there to go out and shoot more and more, but eventually I had to draw a line under it and finish the project.

Who/what inspires you?

I’m a big fan of the photographer Don McCullins’ work; he is most famous for his work in the most dangerous war zones around the world during the 60s/70s and 80s. But he started out photographing London’s impoverished, post-war East End in the 50s; he captures the community he came from so vividly and with such a great eye for capturing honest human emotions. My parents, both photographers, have always pushed me towards filmmaking and have helped me every step of the way so I can’t really talk about inspiration without mentioning them.

What are your plans for the future?

I’ve recently started shooting a sequel, similar topic nightlife but focused more from the perspective of the university experience. Think of it as being set on the same weekend as the first film but a different night and a different crowd. In September I’ll be starting my 3rd and final year in a film production degree, so there’s a lot to prepare for as I’m hoping to direct a documentary graduation film.

What is the most important thing you have learned so far?

I worked entirely alone on this film and I think the most important thing I learned when shooting like this is to have patience. The good things don’t always come quick, sometimes they do and you have to be fast, but often there’s a lot of waiting involved, hours sometimes but I believe that if you make the effort to put yourself in the right place at the right time then eventually you will be rewarded. And charge your batteries, and remember to actually take your batteries and buy extra batteries...