Filmed for UNet

What a day! Today was the day I had my first ever piece of filming done! The filming was for UNet, an organisation that works closely with the universities of Bath, Oxford, Reading, Southampton and Imperial College London to widen participation and grant fair access for groups currently underrepresented in higher education. Since I came from a state school, and I was a female doing physics I fitted into this category perfectly and so I was chosen to represent Imperial College London in the video UNet were shooting for sixth formers. The video aims to help answer the questions of those just about to start uni. I spoke about my experiences at Imperial and my secondary school - hopefully I'll inspire at least one person that watches it. Check out the video here: coming soon

I had crazy butterflies as I walked through Imperial's main entrance and saw the camera that was going to be used to film me! Those nerves quickly diminished as I was warmly greeted by the producers and my interviewer and they gave me a brief introduction into what they were looking for in the video and away we went. The interview lasted for about an hour and then it was time for some action shots! They asked me whether they could come to the Physics Department and do some shots there and I said 'Of course! I might even try and get you into the Plasma Physics labs that I worked in over the summer!' So the Imperial Outreach Officer sent a quick email to the Head of the Plasma Physics Group (whom I worked with on the #PopOMatic project seen in previous posts) and he agreed for us to film in his labs! Woop! Woop!

At around 11am we went over to his office to quickly discuss safety and the reasons behind the filming and once all the safety talk was done, the cameramen, camera, Prof Smith and I went down to the first lab location: the Death Star! Yes, it is called the Death Star! #Awesomeness 

Here's a picture of it here:

Death Star

We'd arrived outside the lab, put on our safety overshoes and laser goggles and then it was time for the camera's to get into the lab. I think I came at the wrong time because five people were working in that lab at the time and they had to be kicked out :( sorry guys! It was nerve-racking having all those eyes on me, but particularly having someone film you was definitely a weird feeling. I had to think about what all my limbs were doing and I had to make the work I was doing in the lab look as realistic as possible even though I'd never worked on the Death Star before! Hopefully I look like a pro-experimental physicist rather than someone who's just playing around with equipment! ;) 

After that a quick shot of Cerberus, the largest UK university laser system, was taken to add even more cool physicsy stuff to the video. The cameramen loved being able to film in the lab and were in awe by all the cool research work that was being done - they were as excited as I was about the lasers!! #LasersAreCool 

Shout out to Prof. Smith for making the filming in the lab possible, regardless of the short notice - thanks!! 

After the cool physicsy shots (obviously my favourite bit of the day! ;) I was taken out to Exhibition Road where I was told to walk down Exhibition Road to get some 'out and about' shots near the Science Museum and Natural History Museum. It was lovely and sunny at this point so it was perfect timing!

All in all, it was a great experience! I must say I felt more relaxed in the lab shots then the interview. I definitely wish I could have had a bit of media training beforehand because I was stuttering at the beginning. But it was great fun and I would certainly do it again if given the chance.

Filming in process