Couple Goals

With ‘Couple Goals’, our intention was to explore the effects of influencer culture - specifically, our heightened awareness of what idea of ourselves we are projecting, how inflexible these ideas can become, and the pain some will endure to constantly align themselves with them, embodied here by Carol and Dean.

The mockumentary format feeds directly into this theme, with a significant difference being the host character, Alayla. Through her, we hoped to interrogate the complicity of audiences who may consider themselves above those they watch (and arguably, exploit) on social media feeds and reality shows. Having Alayla as an active participant was also an opportunity to bring something fresh to the format, in contrast to the ‘passive observer’ camera crews in other mockumentaries.

As two people who have lived in Lincoln for a long time, an important aspect of the production for us was supporting talent from the local area - Assistant Director Elliot Fox, Sound Engineer Leo Culley and makeup artist Oliver Helm are all based in the area, with Director of Photography Liam Gilroy hailing from South Yorkshire. In addition to this, we shot on location in Lincoln.