Marie Cooper performing in the short film ‘Syncopated’ with NUA production team at The Owl Sanctuary in Norwich.
On the rainy afternoon of 4th November 2017, I met with the Norwich University of the Arts production team at the Owl Sanctuary in Norwich to film some scenes from their short movie, ‘Syncopated’, directed by Edward Heredia.
I was playing a rather nasty piece of work. A boss of a strip club who dominated her girls, who was so tied into her own seedy existence that she had a seething jealousy, and bullied any of her girls looking to escape the business. She was prone to getting drunk and out of control if she felt she was losing control.
It was an exciting day of firsts. The first time I had performed in a film other than as an extra, the first time I had had somebody else do my make-up and the first time I have had to enact on-screen violence. It was challenging. I almost caught our other lovely actor on the first slap attempt.
The character was great fun to play and sometimes challenging to snap instantly from team giggles, because I’d almost just squashed one of the team behind a slammed door, and then trying to get back my composure (probably not the right word for anger) and focused with my character’s intent. I can not wait to see how it all came out. The photos below were taken by the production team, before and during filming.
Film and photographs courtesy of Edward Heredia, Director.
Directed by Edward Heredia
Produced by Georgia Diane Pett
Edited by Sam Papidas
Cinematography by Sam Bywater
Script by Jessica Hulusi
Sound Design by Mason Wilson
Production Design by Gracie Slatter
