The NFTS Graduate Showcase 2026, supported by BBC Studios, celebrates the culmination of over 500 students’ work towards over 80 inspiring and original short films, TV shows, commercials and games.
The showcase is an opportunity for members of the screen industries to see firsthand the work of NFTS’ graduating students and to meet the next generation of film, television and games makers that will be shaping the industry for years to come.
British Cinematographer takes you behind the scenes to explore the 10 films screened at the Fiction Graduate Showcase, including interviews with the cinematographers, stills and shots taken during filming for each incredible production.
Here, Ravi Doubleday runs through his cinematography for Small One – which involved international travel, underwater filming and more.
Please can you share an overview of your film?
Small One is a magical realist drama which follows Mia and her sister June; two woman grappling with opposing experiences of pregnancy — one dealing with an unexpected conception while the other faces struggles with IVF. The film takes place in a Danish summer cabin as the pair attempt to reconcile the tension this painful irony has brought between them. As the tension grows unbearable, a magical vision guides Mia through the chaos.
What were your initial discussions about the visual approach for the film? What look and mood were you trying to achieve?
Director Anne-Sofie Lindgaard and I worked together on our first-year film, so I came into this project with a good understanding of her process without us needing to articulate it at length. She is a really skilled writer whose characters have real depth even on the page, whilst also bringing a beautifully classicist sensibility to her filmmaking, favouring elegant, character-driven cinematography that doesn’t draw attention to itself.
When we first discussed the script Anne-Sofie echoed this sentiments, explaining how the film’s look needed to personify patience, allowing the audience to empathise with the pain of the subject matter. We also talked about how to elevate the tone by incorporating the sensorial/magical elements of the script. The world needed to evoke a kind of romantic realism where everything in the natural world feels heightened, preparing the audience for the magical realist inflected sequence at the end of the film, suggesting from the outset that this world is capable of such moments.
The fallibility of the human body is also central to the story, so there was a long conversation about how we could make Mia’s body feel beautiful but also intensely human at the same time.
What were your creative references and inspirations? Which films, still photography or paintings were you influenced by?
One of our earliest references was Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island and the kind of patient, character-focused camera work which gives the film such a settled tone; we loved the way she framed multiple characters within one frame and how the camera’s movement was always tied to that of the characters, without it feeling too slick or cynical.
In terms of the film’s romantic realist inflection, May el-Toukhy’s film Queen of Hearts rendered the Danish countryside with a feeling for saturated colour and heightened texture that we really liked. More generally, I’ve been a fan of John Singer Sargent’s paintings for a long time, and I often feel that I’m striving for images with that same sense of richness and poise.
With Small One in particular, I found his luminous use of colour especially interesting; the richness of pinks and greens in his painting Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose shaping the look of many of the evening scenes. Lucrecia Martel’s La Ciénaga also served as key reference, in particular her constant use of moister as a way helping us feel the texture of skin, making the human body look so naturally healthy and full of life.
What filming locations were used? Were any sets constructed? Did any of the locations present any challenges?
The biggest challenge was committing to shoot on location in Denmark; finding all three major locations as a production based in the UK was certainly a challenge. The most demanding of these to find was the summer cabin; not only did it need the correct look, but also the appropriate architectural layout to support specific sight lines laid out in the script. For example, the dancing scene at the end of the film required expansive bay windows that faced out onto a garden, which also functioned as the approach to the front of the house.
The other major location challenge was designing the space for our twilight underwater sequence. After exploring various options, we chose to work with a fantastic Danish cine-diving team called Dykkerservices, who helped us secure the camera and black out the base and sides of a small domestic swimming pool. We scheduled the shoot at night, which allowed me complete control of the ambient light hitting the pool. When I watch the sequence back now, I’m always satisfied by the cut between exterior lake and interior pool. It really sells the illusion of feeling like one space, especially considering how manfuctured the reality was.
Can you explain your choice of camera and lenses and what made them suitable for this production and the look you were trying to achieve?
As soon as Anne-Sofie and I had that initial conversation about the supple, natural beauty we wanted to feel in our characters’ skin, I immediately thought of Panavision’s Primos. I’ve felt for a long time there is something about the way the Primos render skin which is unlike any other lens; the high contrast and resolution gives the feeling of suppleness which I think is beautiful. When you look at the finished images, you can really see how those optics contributed to building one of the film’s central visual ideas. Camera-wise, given the restrained aesthetic, I knew from the beginning this was a Super 35 film. With 90% of the story unfolding in daylight, the Alexa Mini felt like the obvious choice as low light performance wasn’t a factor and its colour rendition was best available to us.
What role did camera movement, composition and framing, and colour play in the visual storytelling?
Having started the process thinking about patience and the camera language of filmmakers like Éric Rohmer and Mia Hansen-Løve, Anne-Sofie and I naturally arrived toward something character-centred — almost a postcard aesthetic. I really wanted the frames to hold the line between being observational and empathetic, the stillness and camera squareness of the camera giving the characters space without making the film feel too cold or removed. I think this was achieved by using a slightly squarer aspect ratio (1.66:1), mid-length lenses (mainly 35mm, 50mm, 75mm), and placing the camera at a distance which feels neither subjectively close or impartially wide. Aside from the large zoom at the end of the film, the camera movement was designed in much the same way; allowing the characters to move smoothly through the spaces, without it feeling overly blocked or staged.
What was your approach to lighting the film? Which was the most difficult scene to light?
I wanted the lighting to evoke that feeling of romantic naturalism. To keep the spaces feeling natural, we used ultra-soft bounce and diffusion for the ambient base, with a 4×4 mirror rig to introduce hard, directional sunlight – building a look that heightened the sensation of specific times of day. For example, during the morning scenes we broke up the directional light from the mirror with pieces of dingle that we could move slightly, so it felt like wind was passing through the surrounding trees. It helped the sorrounding environment feel more alive, without feeling stylised.
The hardest scene to light? Probably the underwater sequence I mentioned earlier. Because we were so limited in terms of rigging equipment, it was difficult to create the large-scale soft light positioned above the pool that the scene required in order to feel natural. It’s in situations like this that I’m especially thankful for my wonderful gaffer, Jacob Bacon. He has an uncanny ability to find creative solutions in these scenarios, shaping and positioning the light exactly as we need it.
What were you trying to achieve in the grade?
Having seriously considered shooting film during pre-production, Anne-Sofie and I began from a desire to draw out that same intensity of colour and texture from our digital rushes. I’m incredibly grateful for the collaboration with my colourist, Will Glass, who was instrumental in figuring out how to execute this technically. After some initial tests and suggestions from Will, we quickly discovered how much we enjoyed combining different emulation LUTs – using Fuji for contrast, for example, and Kodak Vision for warmth, blending them together to build a single look. It allowed us to lean into that romantic naturalism: deep, filmic greens set against the characters’ cooler, richer skin.
Having essentially finished the grade, we decided to revisit it and mix that single look back toward the Rec.709 source. I think this rebalancing helped the aesthetic feel lighter and more natural — avoiding anything overly stylised while still retaining the density we were drawn to in the first place.
Which elements of the film were most challenging to shoot and how did you overcome those obstacles?
Shooting internationally was by far the most challenging part of the shoot. Because of our very limited budget we couldn’t afford to hire equipment in Denmark and had to Carnet both our camera and lighting equipment in a single Luton van, leaving us with an equipment payload of around one tonne. Jacob and I spent days standing next to the weigh scale at the NFTS, adding and removing stands and lights – rethinking our lighting plans to suit. Thinking back on the shoot, I’m pretty sure we used everything we took; every light, every sandbag.
What was your proudest moment throughout the production process or which scene/shot are you most proud of?
There is a scene at the end of the film in which Mia returns to the house at twilight, having experienced this magical moment of consolation in the lake. As she approaches, she sees June’s husband, Jens, drunkenly dancing in the living room. He is then joined by June, who begins to dance with him before breaking down in his arms. The scene is ultimately an expression of the strain IVF has placed on their relationship. We wanted to approach the scene in a fluid way that would take us from Mia’s perspective into the drama of the moment itself. We ultimately decided to shoot it in one long take, combining a 24-275mm forward zoom and 30ft of dolly movement.
Because the scene takes place at the height of twilight, there was an intense period of preparation and rehearsal in the lead-up to shooting. I remember standing next to the dolly with my grip, Alex Persson, as the evening pressed in, showing him a scene from Hlynur Pálmason’s A White, White Day on my laptop and discussing how we might match the effect of the super-slow dolly and zoom over such an extended period of time. Once we started shooting, everything was in action: I was operating, my 2nd AC Seb was controlling the zoom, Alex was timing the dolly, and Jacob was at the monitor checking light levels and updating me on how much time we had left before complete darkness. What makes me most proud is how well the shot works within the context of the film as a whole — it heightens the moment in a way that only considered cinematography can.
What lessons did you learn from this production that you will take with you onto future productions?
I will certainly approach working on international productions with a very different outlook in the future. Having had little prior experience of them, it became a process of learning on the job and doing our best to adjust to a situation that could sometimes feel frustratingly distant. Ultimately, the experience made me reflect more and more on what vast collaborative effort any film represents.
During what was, at many times, a stressful and complex pre-production period, I’m incredibly grateful to have had Stuart Harris BSC and Oliver Stapleton BSC, as well as our course coordinator Duncan Bruce, around me. I would like to thank each of them for their advice and support. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank those on the rental side who helped us throughout the process: Kate Priestman and Panavision London for their unwavering support and generosity with both the lenses and the underwater housing, and Pat McEnallay and Greenkit for their crucial contribution to the lighting side of the production.
