Common makes research-led and collections-based film and video.
We develop work through new and existing research projects, often with practitioners in universities, research centres, museums, archives and clinical settings.
We are the UK’s only production house run by active researchers.
Our work foregrounds the reach, significance, impact and value of research, and we craft evidence of impact consistent with REF and other research assessment frameworks.
About
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Dr. Paul Craddock | Co-founder, producer
Paul has fifteen years’ experience making films for research-led institutions across science, medicine, humanities and the arts. His clients have included Nature, the Science Museum, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Oxford University, and Imperial College London. He’s also an award-winning writer and medical historian.
Paul is Honorary Professor of the History of Surgery & Society at University College, London, and a Science Museum Group Senior Research Associate.
Cal Murphy Barton | Co-founder, director
Cal works in research-led and collections-based contexts. He’s developed and directed film projects at research institutes and archives including the Science Museum, Imperial College, King’s College, UKDRI, the Hamilton Kerr Institute, the Alan Turing Institute and the War Graves Commission. His independent work has screened internationally.
His working background is varied, taking in political consultancy, cultural policy and mental health law in the context of forensic psychiatry.
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We work with some of the UK’s leading research institutions, including the University of Cambridge, King’s College London, Imperial College London, Oxford University, Durham University, University College London and the Science Museum Group. See below for a more detailed breakdown of the research centres and funding bodies we work with.
EDIFY (2026, 20 minutes)
Documentary profiles. Made in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), the Medical Research Council (MRC), South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM), King’s College London, the University of Edinburgh.
Artists’ Colourmen (2026, multiple films)
Collections films. Made in partnership with the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Hamilton Kerr Institute, the Tavolozza Foundation and the University of Cambridge.
Solitude Lab (2025, multiple films)
E-learning series. Made in partnership with Durham University and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Ophthalmic Instruments (2025, 6 minutes)
Educational film. Made in partnership with Imperial College London and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth).
Bradford Forwards and Backwards (2025, 29 mins)
Documentary film. Made in partnership with AHRC, Towards a National Collection.
Dylan’s Dear Diaries (2025, Postproduction)
Documentary film. Made in partnership King’s College London Libraries and Collections.
Towards a Filmic Humanities (2024, 3 Mins)
Video essay. Made in partnership with the Science Museum Journal.
Workshop Mechanics (2025, 7 mins)
Research film. Made in partnership with Imperial College London.
The Congruence Engine (2023, 2 mins)
Promo film. Made in partnership with the Science Museum.
Visit the Past (2023, 2 mins)
Exhibit film. Made in partnership with the Science Museum and Discovery Museum.
Listen to the Past (2023, 2 mins)
Exhibit film. Made in partnership with the Science Museum and Discovery Museum.
Mapping the Past (2023, 2 mins)
Exhibit film. Made in partnership with the Science Museum and Discovery Museum.
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Our published research positions Common’s filmmaking in relation to: multimodality; sensory ethnography; artisanal and industrial epistemology; re-enactment methods; practice-as-research; and arts research:
Craddock, Paul. (2025). ‘Implicating the Knowledge of the Maker in Practices of Research’ in Marta Ajmar (ed.), Encounters on the Shop Floor. London: UCL Press (forthcoming 2025).
Craddock, Paul and Harris, Anna. (2024). ‘Tracing Embodied Knowledge in the History of Science and Medicine: Expanding the Role of Film in Historical Research’. Science Museum Group Journal. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15180/242203.
Craddock, Paul. (2023). ‘Connecting with industrial heritage collections using video production methods: Greg Kotovs and the can-gill machine’, Science Museum Group Journal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15180/221808.
Craddock, Paul. (2022). ‘Fabric Bodies: The Craft of Vascular Anastomosis’, Configurations 30 (2): pp.141-169. DOI: 10.1353/con.2022.0009
Craddock, Paul. (2022). ‘The Cigarette Paper’ in Anna Harris and John Nott (eds.) Making Sense of Medicine. Bristol: Intellect.
Craddock, Paul and Harris, Anna. (2020). ‘Workshopping: Exploring the Entanglement of Sites, Tools and Bodily Possibilities in an Academic Gathering’, Journal of Embodied Research, 3 (1), 2 (16:17), DOI: http://doi.org/10.16995/jer.30
Throughout all publications, we suggest that research can and should be conducted in multiple modes, and that we should embrace even non-discursive modes. Accordingly, our film-making practice often involves attempting to render subjective experience on film (our own and others’), emphasising the sensory dimension of anything from a historically re-enacted making practice to handling paper archives and rare materials.
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Drop us an email at info@commonfilms.co
