Some of my favourite projects over the last ten years have been the ones where the participants have been co-creators of the film. This way of working often begins with fun, informal workshops where participants have the chance to learn some basic, easy-to-absorb filmmaking skills (e.g. camera operation, sound recording, directing etc). They then use these skills to help craft the film itself. The results are often delightful and surprising, allowing glimpses into the participants’ experience, thoughts and feelings that would otherwise not have been visible in the film. Here’s an example of what participatory filmmaking can look like.
Participatory Art Film (commission in progress – release 2026)
Commissioned by Shieldfield Art Works to help a community of painters make a film that will allow them to share their stories of transformation made possible by participation in the community and demonstrate the healing power of the arts & resting through communal, creative activity.
Collaborative Photography
Over the last fifteen years I’ve led photography workshops for young people and adults from a diverse range of different backgrounds, age groups, and cultures. Most of these have been focused on empowering individuals to tell their own stories using the equipment available to them. Some of the projects have been centred around a particular discipline such as portraits using natural light (see blow), whilst others have been collaborations with charities and community interest companies where participatory photography was integrated into an event such as tree planting or pop-up maker-space sessions. In these workshops I typically provide access to professional equipment whilst giving participants the option to use their own cameras if they prefer. The creative empowerment participants feel at the end of these workshops is what makes these projects exciting and worthwhile.
Wellbeing at Forest School – Filmmaking with Cared For Young People
Young People from Northumberland, in foster care and residential care, were guided in how to use camera and sound recording equipment which they then used to express their experiences at forest school, and show a glimpse into some of hidden treasures offered by the woods. To maintain the anonymity of the participants, no faces could be filmed. Instead of being a drawback, we used this limitation to create a more textural style of film that mirrored the importance of physical touch with the more-than-human-world of nature: a vital thing considering these people had just come out of a long period of lock-down during covid where they were told not to touch anything and not to be around other people.
Client Testimonial:
Ben managed to sensitively and authentically capture the voices of young people, he supported them to properly reflect on their experiences and to speak up about how things are for them. He amplified the voices of young people who are usually marginalised and the result was beautiful and empowering.
Sophie Watkinson, CEO – Stomping Grounds North East CIO
From the Mountains to the Sea – Filmmaking with Young People and Adults during a Boat-Making Workshop
For this project I was commissioned by Cardiff-based arts organisation New Territories to create a short film with the participants of a boat-making workshop. Alongside actually making the boat, participants were invited to learn basic filmmaking techniques such as sound recording and camera operation, films shots of the boating taking shape, and even help in the editing of film. Participants were aged 14 to 70, and almost all of them joined in.
Client Testimonial:
Ben did a fantastic job in encouraging our participants to express themselves visually in this film. Some had never held a camera, but by the end of the workshops they were joining in with a new found confidence, even getting into river to film shots of the shore. I would definitely work with Ben again, and highly recommend him to anyone considering a collaboration. He is easy to work with, and our participants took a real shine to him, even asking us if we could bring him back in the future, which we are intending to do.
John Whitehead, Co-Founder – New Territories
Bridging the Tees (Community Film with Young Musicians)
In collaboration with We Make Sound and North Pennines National Landscape, this film documents the journey of a group of young musicians from Hartlepool. It begins at the Winch Bridge in Upper Teesdale and ends at the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough – the same river but very different locations. Thanks to excellent facilitation from We Make Sound, and from Jenny Dockett from North Pennines National Landscape, the young participants were given a unique opportunity to be immersed in rural and urban nature, to make field recordings along the way, and to transform their experiences and recordings into songs.