This project was directed by my old uni pal Kingsley Hoskins, and it was a really fun one to work on. It was by far the longest narrative film I’d edited to that point, and it was a nice challenge to work on scenes like the fight sequence near the end. I’d also never properly tried compositing onscreen elements before, placing text and graphics onto the photocopier display.
Copy That was screened at HOME’s Filmed Up showcase in early 2015; it was the first time I’d seen any of my work on an actual cinema screen, which was an amazing experience. And while I never met her or any of the other cast or crew, it’s been very cool to see Claudia Jessie popping up in bigger and bigger parts in shows like Line of Duty and Bridgerton since technically working with her.
I’d of course make a few different editing decisions if I were working on this today, but I still think Copy That is a really fun and charming little short. Also, in rewatching it recently I was struck by how accidentally prescient the film was about generative AI, and how ready some people would be to outsource all their critical thinking to technology as long as it seems to talk like a person.