Creating a documentary for my Project Management apprenticeship

Real experience starts at the edge of your comfort zone, as they say; and 2020 has definitely pushed me and the rest of the SSS crew beyond any sense of cosiness!

Gifting MP Stephen Morgan one of our panoramic aerial photos on canvas!

As the project manager at Solent Sky Services, I’m sort of like the glue that holds everything together. I keep everyone as sane as I can. Project management is what I’m studying at Highbury College as an apprentice, so my roles include building client relationships, organising shoots — that sort of thing.

When lockdown hit and the amount of work that was coming in slowed up a bit, I found myself with fewer projects to manage, so I got slightly worried that I wouldn’t have a firm foundation for my portfolio.

Two weeks into lockdown, I went on furlough. Shortly after, Mike explained that the drone photos he was taking of an eerily empty Portsmouth were evolving into a full-blown documentary project, which we now of course know as ‘A Different Perspective of Portsmouth’.

And just like that, my portfolio found its soul!

Interviewing key workers for A Different Perspective of Portsmouth

A few months later, I started heading back to the Solent Sky Services offices, and jumped straight into the deep end — helping Mike with the documentary crowdfunder; arranging shoots and interviews; planning public screenings, and so on.

Sara and Mike made the office incredibly COVID-safe, so I was able to focus on maximising productivity without worrying about my health. Very important, as baby George arrived before long, and I took on more responsibilities than ever.

It’s been quite challenging — and very rewarding, naturally — to manage certain aspects of some projects in the face of a global pandemic. It’s not necessarily something that textbooks have a chapter on! But finding solutions to tough problems is what it’s all about. Looking back on the chaos, I feel proud of myself.

Through working on ‘A Different Perspective of Portsmouth’, I’ve had the chance to overcome budget restraints, tight deadlines, unprecedented risks, and other hurdles.

On a personal level, I’ve been inspired by speaking to people who are doing so many selfless things and helping others even though they’re struggling to keep their own businesses afloat.

It was also uplifting to see small businesses finding clever ways to keep people happy, and to celebrate important holidays like Easter and Eid, in spite of the worldwide lockdowns.

As I write this, we’re on the verge of announcing a date for the release of ‘A Different Perspective of Portsmouth’, and I couldn’t be more excited. To be managing a project this much bigger than myself — and so much bigger than the team I’m working on it with — almost feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.