Murad Ali

Aspiring Film & TV producer, director, editor. Studying Television Production at Bournemouth University. On a very exciting journey trying to make it in this crazy but beautiful world of film and television. Whether it's funny, heartbreaking or thought provoking, I am your friend behind the lens.

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Here it is! Check out '4' a short film I had the pleasure of working on earlier this year as a camera assistant. So proud of the final result, it really is a credit to the talented cast and crew that worked on the making of this film!

In the confines of his disheveled bedsit, an agoraphobic young man is challenged to a game of connect 4. However it soon becomes apparent that this is no ordinary version of the parlor game that we are watching. What was designed for recreation has now become an obsessive addiction. Losing for him is no longer an option, but are the odds stacked against him, and the stake too high? A suspense drama........."Every move counts, but for some people things don't always fall into place".

Euan - Stephen Collins Director/Producer - Bim Ajadi Writer - Nick Sturley Producer - Ray H Graham 1st AD - Bev Wilson Hair/Make Up - Ann-Marie Mays Art Director - Amy Jane Lockwood Art Assistant - Thomas Giddens DOP/Colourist - Vince Knight Camera assistant - Murad Ali Composer - Olly Ashmore Sound recordist/mixer - Juraj Rutsek Editor - Ted Evans BSL interpreter - Sharan Thind

A Bim Ajadi Production for BSLBT

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Check out the behind-the-scenes video from the production of '4' - a short film directed by Bim Ajadi on which I worked as a camera assistant. Thank you to Ted Evans for shooting and putting together this brilliant BTS video!

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Photo courtesy of Niki Bruckner and Ted Evans.

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Production of '4' - a BSL Zone short film (15th - 18th January 2013)

I recently had the pleasure of traveling to London to work as a camera assistant on a 3 day short film production titled ‘4’. The film was directed by Bim Ajadi and was funded by the deaf governing body BSL Zone and the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust.

As a deaf filmmaker myself, this was a particularly inspiring experience as this was the first time I had worked with an all deaf cast and cast and crew, which opened my eyes to a whole community of film makers that I did not know about. I felt the experience to be one of the best of my career to date and I found it incredible how those who were unable to hear can be the best listeners and the best people to work with!

Check out the behind the scenes video of the production of ‘4’: bit.ly/1dbThXZ

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Bournemouth Air Festival 2013 (26th August - 1st September 2013)

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Bournemouth Air Festival 2013 (26th August - 1st September 2013)

It has been a brilliant experience this past week working with the Fonix crew on the Bournemouth Air Festival this year. Preparation in the office prior to the event has been intense these past couple of months but thanks to an amazing crew, this year’s Air Festival has been declared a success and the company’s best yet – so hats off and well done to all, the intensity was worth it!

The Air Festival was broadcast live over 4 days, 12 hours a day, to 9 giant LED screens placed throughout the 5km site to a record breaking 1.3 million. As part of the air festival’s television production team, I worked as the graphics controller and as a stand in vision mixer.

I’d be lying if I said working on this particular event wasn’t challenging at times. There were instances where I had to prepare visual graphic content such as lower thirds, news tickers, stings, live twitter and weather streams under pressured time constraints, whilst live on air!

Unlike working on a live show as part of my university course, where there is some degree of complacency given the educational nature of the environment; playing such a key part of a team working on such a huge event really threw me in the deep-end. Nonetheless, it has certainly been an experience I will highly value, seeing as it taught me just how to adapt to working in a busy television studio environment where stress levels can get unbelievably high at times.

My personal highlight of the event was the aviation displays but this was nothing compared to being given the opportunity to take on the role of technical director on the final day, which meant directing visuals for the evening’s aviation displays – an experience I thoroughly enjoyed!

I shall be uploading some pictures from this incredible event, so do keep an eye out!

Read more about it on the Fonix LED website at: www.fonixled.com/bournemouth-air-festival

Roll on Bournemouth Air Festival 2014! It’s going to be even bigger and better!

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What a brilliant lineup for the Sound Island 2013 Festival this year! Absolutely thrilled to have worked on this event!

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Sound Island Festival 2013 (26th - 29th July 2013)

I was overjoyed to discover that I was lucky enough to be chosen to work at the Sound Island Festival this year at Quex Park in South East Kent. Even more so to see the WONDERFUL line up of music artists this year. Amongst the many; Rita Ora, James Arthur, Plan B and the brilliant Jessie J!

As expected, the actual event itself was a blast! Even more so since I was positioned as an onstage camera operator this time - which meant I was just inches away from all the artists on stage as they performed! It was difficult at first to concentrate on the camera shots and what your director is telling you to do (especially if it's one of your favourite artist playing) - but thank god for noise cancelling talk-back headsets! It was quite a surreal experience to walk into crew catering on the second afternoon of the festival during stage sound check to see Jessie J sitting at a table talking to her back-up singers! Yes! - I kid you not!  I was told that artists rarely fraternise with the crew backstage and often keep themselves to themselves in the comfort of their own tour bus - so you can understand my disbelief to see Jessie J chatting to her band members so casually. In any other situation, I would have approached her and asked for a photograph just like any another fan would - but considering the circumstances, I thought it would be best to act professional (Blah!!). Besides, I found it amazing how everyone was just getting on with what they were doing, completely oblivious to the fact that there was a world famous, multi-million selling recording artist in the crew marquee. You can imagine how embarrassing it would've been to the be the one guy to break that professional working conduct. On the bright side, since I was sat on the table next to hers, she did glance and smile at me! Even more so, during her performances on that night - she was particularly attentive towards my camera and was totally helping me get some excellent shots!! I knew she recognised me from crew catering! Haha! Thank god for members in the crowd taking photos and sharing them on instagram and twitter! Best event of the summer so far!! Was inches away from some of the hottest music artists in the industry right now and nearly even managed to get a picture with Jessie J!

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Madness Concert (19th - 21st July 2013)

I was quite pleased when I was first told I’d be camera operating for a Madness concert. I was not all too familiar with the band at first, aside from their most obviously popular song ‘Our House’ but nevertheless, I was really excited to have my first experience at broadcast camera operating at a live music event. We worked on the concert for two nights; the first one being at Newmarket Racecourse in Suffolk on the Friday 19th July and the second being at Haydock Park located in Ashton-in-Makerfield which took place the day after (Saturday 20th July). This left us the following Sunday to de-rigg and head back to Bournemouth.

I was given the position of front of house camera operator on both days of the concert and I’ve found that whilst working on the live music event, the experience felt very much like working on a broadcast studio programme (similar to the ones we make on our Television Production course at uni) in the sense that the director/vision mixer communicates with you via the talk-back headset. Having said this however, the major difference with this live event was of course that it was after all, a LIVE event and so we were not given the privilege of having a rehearsal. If anything, it attributed to the thrill of camera operating at a live event for a music artist - something I particularly enjoyed. Working on the event also clarified my understanding of setting up the camera in relation to the vision mixer - particularly looking at how BNC, XLR and fiber optic cables work. Needless to say, working on the event was a brilliant experience - hopefully the first of many more to come.

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Review: Summer so far and Sound Island Festival!

Working with Fonix over the past fast five weeks have been nothing short of an amazing experience! It has been quite a while since my last blog post! This was heavily due to having been preoccupied with working on a number of exciting events following my first location job at Buckingham Palace for the Royal Coronation Festival. Now that I'm back home in Birmingham, my summer break begins now! Well actually, that's not entirely true, as I will be returning to Bournemouth prematurely to complete my 6th and final week of my placement at Fonix by working on the Bournemouth Air Festival - something I am really looking forward to! Until then however, goodbye early 7am starts and hello late nights and waking-up-at-anytime-after-12-midday! I plan to really make the most of my time off in order to "recharge my batteries" as it were, given that it's been a pretty tiring past few weeks. It is also, of course, a great opportunity to update the blog and reflect back on the events I've been lucky enough to work on. So....where to begin?

Madness Concert (19th - 21st July 2013)

I was quite pleased when I was first told I'd be camera operating for a Madness concert. I was not all too familiar with the band at first, aside from their most obviously popular song 'Our House' but nevertheless, I was really excited to have my first experience at broadcast camera operating at a live music event. We worked on the concert for two nights; the first one being at Newmarket Racecourse in Suffolk on the Friday 19th July and the second being at Haydock Park located in Ashton-in-Makerfield which took place the day after (Saturday 20th July). This left us the following Sunday to de-rigg and head back to Bournemouth.

I was given the position of front of house camera operator on both days of the concert and I've found that whilst working on the live music event, the experience felt very much like working on a broadcast studio programme (similar to the ones we make on our Television Production course at uni) in the sense that the director/vision mixer communicates with you via the talk-back headset. Having said this however, the major difference with this live event was of course that it was after all, a LIVE event and so we were not given the privilege of having a rehearsal. If anything, it attributed to the thrill of camera operating at a live event for a music artist - something I particularly enjoyed. Working on the event also clarified my understanding of setting up the camera in relation to the vision mixer - particularly looking at how BNC, XLR and fiber optic cables work. Needless to say, working on the event was a brilliant experience - hopefully the first of many more to come.

Sound Island Festival 2013 (26th - 29th July 2013)

I was overjoyed to discover that I was lucky enough to be chosen to work at the Sound Island Festival this year at Quex Park in South East Kent. Even more so to see the WONDERFUL line up of music artists this year. Amongst the many; Rita Ora, James Arthur, Plan B and the brilliant Jessie J!

As expected, the actual event itself was a blast! Even more so since I was positioned as an onstage camera operator this time - which meant I was just inches away from all the artists on stage as they performed! It was difficult at first to concentrate on the camera shots and what your director is telling you to do (especially if it's one of your favourite artist playing) - but thank god for noise cancelling talk-back headsets! It was quite a surreal experience to walk into crew catering on the second afternoon of the festival during stage sound check to see Jessie J sitting at a table talking to her back-up singers! Yes! - I kid you not!  I was told that artists rarely fraternise with the crew backstage and often keep themselves to themselves in the comfort of their own tour bus - so you can understand my disbelief to see Jessie J chatting to her band members so casually. In any other situation, I would have approached her and asked for a photograph just like any another fan would - but considering the circumstances, I thought it would be best to act professional (Blah!!). Besides, I found it amazing how everyone was just getting on with what they were doing, completely oblivious to the fact that there was a world famous, multi-million selling recording artist in the crew marquee. You can imagine how embarrassing it would've been to the be the one guy to break that professional working conduct. On the bright side, since I was sat on the table next to hers, she did glance and smile at me! Even more so, during her performances on that night - she was particularly attentive towards my camera and was totally helping me get some excellent shots!! I knew she recognised me from crew catering! Haha! Thank god for members in the crowd taking photos and sharing them on instagram and twitter! Best event of the summer so far!! Was inches away from some of the hottest music artists in the industry right now and nearly even managed to get a picture with Jessie J!

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Photos from my amazing experience at Buckingham Palace to work on Her majesty's 60th Anniversary Royal Coronation Festival.

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Review: Royal Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace

Having returned back to Bournemouth from Buckingham Palace yesterday afternoon, I reflected back on the last six days and I'm utterly amazed at the experience I've had! From witnessing some amazing performances at the evening gala, to being just a couple of feet away from the likes of Katherine Jenkins and even the Queen herself, I can honestly say that this experience has been the high point of my professional career so far! The past six days have been packed with the excitement of being part of such a spectacular event and every single day has been a great learning curve for me.

In the two days prior to the event, I watched as the warrant holders worked to set up their exhibitions and stalls in the Buckingham gardens while the performers on the main stage were rehearsing. I was lucky enough to be shown how to set up the LED screen and how to link them together using the advanced technology of wireless zenith systems - during the process of which I formed excellent relationships with my colleagues. During the actual festival, I had alternating roles on different days throughout the duration of the event which meant I could try my hand at pretty much everything! At one point, I was vision mixing and controlling remote cameras at the food and drinks theater while at another, I was in charge of VT content management and playback! The evening gala itself was spectacular, the gardens at Buckingham Palace looked beautiful during the late evening with amazing performances from Katherine Jenkins, Katie Melua, The Feeling and one of my favorite west end stars; Scarlett Strallen amongst many other magnificent performances.

To conclude, an excellent, excellent week - I'm lost for words - just brilliant! And yes! I took plenty of photos, I will be putting them up shortly so watch this space! :)

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Royal Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace

I am over the moon to announce that for my first production job with Fonix, I have been selected to work on the 60th Anniversary Royal Coronation Festival at Buckingham Palace which is also set to be televised by the BBC!!

The festival will take place from the 11th to the 14th but I’m set to head out to London the day before on the 10th to meet the crew at Buckingham Palace gardens to spend the day setting up all the technical equipment and LED screens.

Words cannot describe how lucky and honored I feel to be part of such a historic and prestigious event – I am ecstatic to see what I’ll experience during this amazing opportunity!

For more information on this exciting event, take a look at the coronation festival website at www.coronationfestival.com

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Co Operative Film Festival at the National Media Musuem

I am thrilled to find out that two my recent short films ‘Reflection’ and ‘Blue Ball’ have been selected for an award and for a screening as part of the Co-Operative Film Festival at the National Media Museum in Bradford. The festival will take place in July and I am so excited and honoured that my work has been recognised! As a filmmaker, there really is no better feeling than having your work appreciated!

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Alas! I have reached the end of my first year at Bournemouth University…

I told myself that I wouldn’t go back home to Birmingham so early this summer. I was amazed at the speed of how quickly students rushed off home after the last day of term and to be quite honest, I don’t blame them! But as appealing as the prospect of going home early and just relaxing for the next three months sounds, I couldn’t bear the thought of knowing that I could potentially use that time to gain some really valuable experience to enhance my CV. I know myself well enough to know that I can either be a workaholic or just downright lazy - I can never find the perfect balance of both and I knew I’d hate myself if I didn’t use the time wisely. So while I still had my workaholic momentum going, I embarked on the grueling journey of spending what seemed like ages browsing all four corners of the internet to find vacancies for a summer placement.

After a couple of inquiries and sending out my CV here and there, I coincidentally received an email from Fonix, (a company I had previously done work for) informing me of some summer placements that were available. I was amazed at how perfect of an opportunity it was! Perfect timing and amazingly convenient as the placement was based in Bournemouth meaning I wouldn't have to worry too much about travel or accommodation! Also, having worked for Fonix before on the Bournemouth Rugby 7 Festival on which I really enjoyed working with the people I met and admiring their enthusiasm for what they do - without hesitation, I instantly applied!

Following an interview, I was thrilled that my application had been successful!

My job description ticked all the right boxes for me too! When I won't be assisting the directors and production managers on location at live events, I will be working in the office as a production assistant! How awesome is that?

My placement will be for six weeks, starting from July 1st to August 4th (5 weeks), with my 6th and final week on 26th August to the 1st September (to work on the Bournemouth Air Festival).

Such a load off my mind to have my placement in place and I'm really looking forward to diving in and start doing something productive this summer!

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Here it is! I present to you; 'Reflection' my end of first year independent film project! Without sounding too pretentious, I am particularly proud of how this short film amounts to everything I've learnt so far on my Television Production course. I LOVED making this film! I had such an amazing cast and crew at hand and again, I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single one who helped made a vision, a reality! It's amazing to be able to share it with the rest of the world so as always, I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it! Feel free to like, share, subscribe and comment! :D

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Managed to take a picture with Michael after the screening of our short film at the Birmingham mac on the final day of the film lab. Was lovely to have worked with Michael over the last three days, a truly wonderful man.