Hi Latifah! Why did you apply to Future Formed?
I’m front of house at Rich Mix and I’ve made friends with all the tech team there – I’m always spying on what they’re doing/jealous wondering what they’re up to! I’ve always wanted to try it. But it isn’t easy to just hop into doing tech. Everyone wants some kind of experience. So I was trying to find something where I could get that experience and see if I wanted to do it.
Tell us about your love of the arts
Ever since I was little I’ve always been interested in films. Like – criminally obsessed with films. Just watching them all day. Getting in trouble for watching them all day…That was my initial way into it. Then because I appreciated that art form, I wanted to appreciate other art forms. When Uni came about, I was just scrolling through UCAS and I saw the course I’m now doing my final year in, which is creative computing at Goldsmiths. I’ve always been a technical nerd, but also super creative. I really enjoyed it, so I took to it quite naturally. I’ve being doing all sorts; I’ve been coding graphics in interactive film, working with music students to code sound in music…It’s great because there’s a lot of programming in it!
Did you have any lightbulb moments this week where you felt like ‘this is really tasty, I want to explore this more’?
I think probably being creative with the lights, using different things within software to talk to directors and bring their vision alive. Today we were working with this graph you can use to programme the lights to achieve certain effects you want, which let me programme water on the floor with lights. Last week we did the training but this time it’s nice to see everything in action – we had Reuben Kaye’s drag show, which was AMAZING. It’s so good to work with people and see the outcome of it, and see the audience like – WOW.
Favourite moment?
My English Persian Kitchen on the first night blew my mind. She’s literally cooking live during the play and you can smell all the food and see the way they did the effects for the lighting. The actress had to move into a position where the lighting was so thin that it hit her eyes perfectly. The audience was just stunned. It was amazing.
What would you say to people in Waltham Forest thinking of taking part in Future Formed?
I think they definitely should! Even if you’re not necessarily sure if this is something you want to do, it can give you ideas into what you might want to try and how things work. It gave me ideas of what I can do in the creative industry. I’ve always been kind of loving everything and it’s just – It’s nice, instead of rather than creating something in your bedroom, you get this opportunity to go out and see how it works in the industry.