Kelly Jones
AC/Camera trainee
Miles:
Hello Kelly, welcome.
Let’s start with the standard questions first. What drew you into film? Or - how did you get started?
Kelly:
So yeah, I first started in the industry, helping out on a short film that my uncle wanted to make.
Before, he would have his son there but around this time - he wasn't that interested, so my uncle asked me if I wanted to come on board.
It was at a time where I didn’t know what to do with myself and a nice way to occupy myself while I figured out what I wanted to do.
I found myself thinking though - ‘Oh, cool, I kind of like cameras, photography and stuff’ and I was encouraged to keep going.
And, yeah, I've kind of stuck to it.
Sometimes it's difficult but you keep coming back and you keep trying to become better at it.
Miles:
Newbies take note of the last sentence.
Miles (cont.):
Okay Kelly, we’re going a little rogue now.
If you could go back in time and work on a particular film, what would it be?
Kelly:
Man I think if I could, I would love to be on the set of Alien.
… I would have loved to have worked on that.
It would have been pretty hard but amazing.
Miles:
Great film.
Kelly:
You know.. all the practical effects, the analogue futurism and obviously the actual alien itself. I think that's one of my favourite films. I could comfortably watch it twice in a row.
Miles:
What do you want to be doing with your career in the immediate future?
Kelly:
As a trainee I’d like to see more high end TV, get on those marathons and really shape up.
Still AC on the shorter, lower budget stuff too.
Miles:
What are some of the challenges of AC’ing/trainee’ing and also - things that keep you coming back?
Kelly:
I've met people now who are neck deep in their career and they still feel the imposter syndrome. And that always affects me all the time.
Sometimes you have a couple of shoots that are difficult and don’t reflect your ability.
Maybe you're sometimes not vibing with the person you're working with too. But all you can do is just do your best and just be yourself, you know. I think it's really important just to be yourself.
The positives though: not letting your self doubt outweigh your potential.
And when you’re working with people you get on with, it’s not like working a ‘job’.
Being able to work with those who believe in you and able also to pat each other on the back, collaborate: those kinds of professional relationships keep you invested.
Miles:
Connected this question, are there any definable things you feel you’ve learned in your career, that you’d want to share with newcomers?
Kelly:
1. I think working on self awareness and being more conscious of your space around you but that’s not an easy thing.
Part of self awareness comes from being a bit more considerate of yourself.
Making sure that you yourself are healthy enough and that you have enough time for yourself in life; as someone with ADHD, those having breathers make a world of difference.
2. Making a bank in your head of like all the things that you need to do on the day and return to it all of the time. With that, learning the patterns of who you're working with.
Usually everybody has a similar structure to how they work but everything is easier once you have that down.
Miles:
What are you watching at the moment (film, TV)?
Kelly:
Well, I'm currently watching The Sopranos at the moment and it's actually phenomenal.
I'm only on season three but you can just see all the influence it’s had.
Breaking Bad, Ozark and maybe True Detective also has probably taken cues from it.
I won't go into it too much but I really, like, fanboy over it.
Kelly (cont.):
I think I've been watching a lot more TV and just trying to find the sort of time to sit down and watch a good film. But, you (I) can watch three episodes of a TV show and then you're like, “Oh, I can't watch a 90 minute movie.”
But I think the most recent film (animated) I watched was Paprika.
Miles:
Beautiful film… Man, all of the colour!
Kelly:
You know the one? Yeah, it's beautiful.
Miles:
One last question.
I know well you’re a musical man and you play in bands.
What's your most listened to band though at the moment?
Kelly:
I always, always come back to this group or band called The Books. They're fantastic. They don't do anything anymore but they're still on Bandcamp, selling CDs.
They’re sort of a jazz classical duo.
One of them plays jazz bass, the other one plays classical cello. They're masters of sampling music and sampling anything.
One of the coolest things that they do (or did), was they went into thrift stores, into the CD and cassette collections, finding like any old stuff.. like radio dramas, recorded nature, talks or walks and sample it, tying it in with the story of the song.
The specific album that I always come back to is ‘Lost and Safe’.
Miles:
Kelly, it’s been a joy. Thanks for chatting and catch you soon my friend.
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