The Cowan: a short documentary on Freemasonry

While at university I pitched, researched and co-hosted a short documentary investigating the Freemasons, and this cut has been edited entirely by me. I created the graphics using Photoshop, and conducted the whole post-production in Premiere Pro myself. The production crew I gathered became very committed to the project and we secured and conducted several interviews with members and employees of the Freemasons' Grand Lodge. This included interviewing individual masons. We also managed to capture the Freemasons’ alleged secret handshake on camera. Our interviews at the Grand Lodge included a deep dive into the history of the organisation, a tour of private rooms, and a few unexpected moments which became highlights of the final cut. Myself and my production crew spent two weeks in the square where the Grand Lodge stands in Covent Garden. We recruited bartenders who served the masons to privately let us know whenever they entered their pubs so we could identify them, observe and approach them with surprise interviews. During this time, I made contacts with multiple local businesses and sustained relationships with individual masons and Grand Lodge employees that allowed us filming permissions, despite the differing political views and occasional tense moments during interviews. This was combined into a fascinating 25 minute documentary. I still consider this my most exciting project.