KU student designs props for Netflix show
A KU student participated in the making of a Netflix show this summer as part of her internship.
Connie Collins, a third-year graphic design student at the university of Kingston, worked on set with Mammoth Screen, a UK-based production company, on their newest series production called; The Serpent.
The series is a bio-pic of serial killer Charles Sobhraj aka The Bikini Killer, who operated in South-East Asia in the 1970s. The eight-part series will document the story of this man who was the main suspect in the unsolved murders of up to twenty young Western travellers.
Connie was looking for her first internship opportunity in her home country when she received a call from her mom asking her if she would like to work alongside her cousin’s friend behind the scenes of a Netflix series.
Connie said: “It was the first time I would ever be on a real-life movie set and It was something I’ve always wanted to do. I had no idea I was going to create props for a BBC and Netflix production though.”
Her passion for movies stemmed from a young age but it was only last year that Connie received the opportunity to show of her skills in movie making. Her teacher from last year, May Safwat, was quite impressed with what she had seen.
She said: “Connie has a passion and understanding about film. I remember thinking, this lady is not afraid of making something completely new. She produced two completely different short films, which clearly reflected her passion for experimenting and testing new ideas.”
Connie’s job at her internship involved working in the pre-productions sector with the art department. Her role was to design props for the art department that would eventually be featured in the show.
Her only moment of panic came when she was asked to design business cards that would be featured in the series.
She said: “They weren’t utterly convinced with what I had created until they saw what the real business card used to look like. I ended up designing an exact replica of it. That is when they started using me more for other projects.”
During her month-long internship, Connie got to see how the set designers changed what looked like a typical Thai slum to a 70s-themed set.
She said: “It was really funny to see how they changed a really ugly place into a proper 70s themed set.”
The KU student enjoyed her first intern experience and said that she saw herself working in the film industry later with a crew who enjoy making the same content as her.
She said: “This the first of the many series of internships that I’ll do later on. I would like to do an internship in production and post production. Just to see where I fit in in the film spectrum.”
Connie is now back in the UK to finish her degree and cannot wait to start making movies as a career.
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