Hello, world! My name is Nick, and last July I spent the month working with and learning from the Visible Fictions team. I was a student at the University of St Andrews and chose to spend my summer with VF to learn more about the creative industry and to develop skills in areas like creative direction, educational outreach, social media and more. Let’s go through a day at work with VF together!
I spent a lot of time in the rehearsal room with our team for Up, so a typical day began with my commute to that space. When I arrived, I was greeted by friendly faces and a chorus of good mornings from actors Zöe and Michael, who were discussing their scripts with creative director Dougie. They were still nursing morning coffees, but they were already pouring over technical details together. I waved hello to the trio before joining our social media coordinator, Malena, in the back of the room. That morning we were filming some short-form interviews with the team. Michael was our first victim; he was dragged into the hallway. His hilarious and witty improv made it hard to keep the interviews short! Zöe, Dougie and stage manager Rebecca also offered charming interviews, and then Malena and I stealthily and respectfully collected some rehearsal footage.
I learned to predict lunch time by on-stage goofiness. That day it was Zöe who dragged the room into a fit of giggles with a stunningly sassy and sunglassed line delivery. During lunch I shared some insights and quips from life back in California, while Dougie (an intrepid foodie) recommended some of his favorite Glaswegian restaurants that I simply MUST try. Then, his game face returned and he redirected us back to the rehearsal room to continue work. I quietly opened my laptop, keeping one eye on the stage and the other on my screen, and got some work done on another VF project. I was helping our education coordinator develop another piece, an animation called Papergee and the Spider, into a fully fledged creative learning package for North Lanarkshire classrooms.
After making some headway on my task, I finished my afternoon by sitting with Dougie and engaging directly with the rehearsals. I watched how he interacted with the scenes and how he communicated his thoughts to Zöe, Michael and Rebecca. The atmosphere was intense and challenging, but also rewarding and exciting. When Dougie called it for the day, we were tired but in good spirits. A lot of progress had been made throughout some key sections of Up that day! With thank-yous and see-you-laters, we all began our respective homeward journeys for the evening.
No two days looked the same here at VF, but this was just one example of the work I did and the breadth of experiences to be tackled. Thank you for joining me for a wander though a day in my life with VF! If you happened to be considering a placement of your own, I couldn’t help but suggest that you at least reach out and connect with the team to learn more. You could also find the interviews I mentioned, along with a quick interview of myself, on VF’s social platforms! You could clock me by my American accent.
Nick out! 🤙
