In 2024, the British Museum launched a fresh announcement for it’s £50m ‘Masterplan’, which would see the largest renovation project in the museum’s almost 300 year history. I was trusted to lead the creation of the announcement film.
I combined the rich history of the museum from 1753 until today, impressive drone footage, a continually evolving and a cinematic glimpse into the future plans, all underscored with a powerful music track.
Against the backdrop of the looming October 2024 Supreme Court case, where the fate of the only legal wild camping area in England is to be decided, two friends trek and wild camp across Dartmoor’s captivating wilderness, from north to south. Along the way, they interview those they cross paths with, and capture their perspectives on this historic battle between a wealthy landowner and the public’s freedom.
This was a personal passion project, created solo, in response to the right to wild camp on Dartmoor being threatened by landowner Alexander Darwall.
As a passionate believer in humans having access to the land, this was my way of helping the protest movement that sprung up against the landowner, to show how special wild camping can be, and how locals’ identity is rooted in the access to Dartmoor National Park.
This is the story of a father’s devotion to his son in the face of serious mental illness. Peter plays a critical role in helping his son Derek’s journey with schizophrenia. As a caregiver, Peter worries about what will happen to Derek when he’s gone, working hard to stay healthy to be around for as long as possible.
I travelled to Ontario, Canada, to shoot with Derek and his family. Balancing the sensitivity of capturing a deeply personal topic, and gaining the trust of the family, and yet ensuring I captured the emotional context and a diverse range of actuality to build up the picture of Derek’s life, was key to success.
Conservator Nicole delves into the mysterious world of the Khipu – Incan knotted strands of fibre used for accounting and story telling – and explains the ambitious research project which is meticulously documenting these khipus, bringing them together across the world into a database in an attempt to unlock their meaning.
Using After Effects, I created striking animations and overlays, that help engage the viewer and aid the understanding of a complex topic.
I was entrusted with cutting the trailer for the primetime series “Fixing Us” for NBC, along with a trailer for each of the four episodes in the series. It was essential that I pulled in all the exciting and heartfelt moments across the series, chose music that fitted the tone perfectly, and hit the narrative beats exactly right.
Zoe is working to improve her cholesterol, which has been an issue in her family for generations. Using diet, exercise, and integrating Benecol into her daily routine, there are surprising results.
Sarah from Benecol adds their perspective to the story.
With this project, we really wanted to hone in on getting sincere moments between members of Zoe’s family, and walk the balance between talking about cholesterol as a serious subject, at the same time avoiding crossing the line into alarmism.
A glimpse into the ‘Legion: Life in the Roman Army’ exhibition, led by curators Carolina and Richard.
The exhibition follows the letters of a lone soldier, Terentianus, as he makes his way from recruit to hardened veteran, and as we follow his journey, we learn more about what life was really like for your average soldier and their families.
This was an immensely fun and rewarding project, particularly working with the curators to nail down exactly what the most interesting parts of the exhibition were, and figuring out how these key moments could be weaved into a narrative that would engage people from the very beginning.
Curators aren’t often slick media professionals – they have more important things to do.
With such an info-dense script, I avoided any issues by shooting takes where the curators were reading from the paper in front of them, and only shooting to camera when I knew I needed to cut back. This saved heaps of time, kept everyone relaxed and unflustered, and cut seamlessly into the final product. Its times like this when knowing how to ‘shoot for the edit’ can pay massive dividends –
“Legion” has gained over half a million views on Youtube.
IAG Cargo ships essential spare parts for Boeing across the globe. As part of Social Films, I travelled to Seattle to visit the largest (by volume) building in the world: the Boeing factory. The brief was to shoot a high octane, jaw dropping 30 second spot for their collaboration, plus a long form interview with one of Boeing’s staff to explore how critical this service is.
Every year, IAG Cargo donates hundreds of airline blankets to the DSWT, in Kenya, to protect their orphaned elephants from the cold. Social Films flew me out to their orphanage and we shot a delicate, restrained film, allowing the ambience of the Great Rift Valley and the sheer joy of the relationship between keeper and elephant to fill the screen. Shot, edited, graded, by me.
Curator Alfred Haft takes us through a rare find – original drawings by Hokusai’s own hand. The illustrations form an ancient encyclopedia,
‘The Great Picturebook of Everthing’.
I lead this project from start to finish, concentrating on using brush strokes and embedded graphics to keep the audience hooked into otherwise a very static subject.
To date the video has almost 200,000 views.
John Harding 