Former Student Returns to Work on Friend’s Final Media Project

Jinesh Patel graduated from his Creative Media Production Level 3 course last year and was back at Ealing Green College from March to May helping out a final-year friend. Jinesh worked as Assistant Director on Daniel Staszak’s film, ‘On The Line’, an action thriller about a kidnapping set mainly in a police dispatch office, which was also Daniel’s Final Major Project.

Daniel, a Creative Media Production Level 3 student too, chose the title because the action takes place through phone conversations as a young female seeks urgent help. Daniel says: “The film’s title has a double meaning as it refers to the woman talking on the line, and the danger she is in. Her life could be on the line too.”

Daniel, 19, says he struggled at first to come up with the idea for his project and watched a series of movies in the genre he wanted to work in. He says: “The plot for my film was inspired by watching films like The Guilty, The Night Hunter and Prisoners.”

Daniel continued: “A demoted detective, Harry, is assigned to dispatching officers to crime scenes. An emergency call comes in and the scenario is a repeat of one where he failed previously. Devastated by the experience, the story is about whether or not Harry can succeed this time.”

Daniel is grateful to his tutor David Kline who advised him on script editing.

Since leaving college, Jinesh, 21, has been working freelance, principally in live production settings, filming music videos. Working for Shepherd Production Services, Jinesh films up-and-coming artists, as well as some more established ones such as British rapper Ty. Jinesh operates high-end Panasonic DSLR cameras, and gets to vision mix the productions.

Daniel explained: “Jinesh is very good at networking so he was able to help me find actors and crew for my film.”

There are just two actors in ‘On The Line’, which is told mainly in flashback with the main action via a telephone line in the dispatch office. The indoor locations were filmed inside Ealing Green College and the outdoor shots were on Ealing Green. With the use of a camera on a motorbike, a passing motorist, and use of sound effects in editing, Daniel and Jinesh were able to create an exciting car chase. The pair even created a fake newspaper carrying a headline about the kidnapping to add a sense of reality to the dramatisation.

Once Daniel graduates from West London College, he plans to go to Oxford Brookes University to study Digital Media Production. For the future Jinesh plans to move into directing.

The Final Major Project is a showcase of all the skills and knowledge that Creative Media Production students have learned throughout their courses. They identify an area of study and a concept that they are passionate about and have the freedom to create something new of their choice.