Northern Soul: Turning My Heartbeat Up
Sundae HQ has been a flurry of spins, twirls, karate kicks and fancy footwork, as we work hard to keep up with the whirlwind that is Northern Soul!
Initially expected to be shown in just a handful of cinemas, the film is now being screened at 160 locations across the UK – making it the largest ever short-window feature film release to date. I know, we’re still pinching ourselves too.
The nation is clearly embracing Northern Soul with open arms, as proven by the endless praise storming its way through social media from longstanding fans of the scene and film lovers alike. Most notably, everyone has flagged director Elaine Constantine for her authenticity and ability to respectfully depict such an iconic slice of music culture, as well as the film’s strong, punchy soundtrack.
The response from the press has also been brilliant so far, with 4-star reviews from The Times and Mark Kermode over at The Observer. Key film and culture publications including Empire and Time Out have had great things to say, with music press also speaking highly of Constantine’s work. Clash magazine, for example, noted “Elaine Constantine’s labour of love manages to both capture the spirit of the times and present it in a way that is both fresh and vital.”
We’ve also had the pleasure of meeting some incredible journalists with a love for the Northern Soul scene, who have championed the project in the lead up to its release and whose support is becoming integral to the campaign – I’ve particularly enjoyed reading Paul Mason’s musings for the Channel 4 blog.
Producing the film’s gala screening and after party in London was another highlight, which involved me getting on a train with a case full of Northern Soul branded miniature talcum powder bottles. No easy feat, but it was the smaller details like this that added lovely touches to the event.
The premiere saw stars from the film, including Steve Coogan, John Thomson, Lisa Stansfield and the two leads, Elliot James Langridge and Joshua Whitehouse, take to the red carpet along with director Elaine Constantine, who understandably described the evening as the best of her life.
At the after party, held at Madame Jojo’s in Soho, we had 20 of the amazing young dancers from the film in full costume showing us a thing or two on the dance floor. They travelled from all over the UK to be with us and really gave the party an amazing energy befitting of both the film itself and the legacy of the Northern Soul; it’s great to see that the faith is being kept alive by Britain’s younger ‘soulies’.
We have loved working on the film campaign since day one, and as it has grown in scale and momentum, it has truly is proved itself as one of those unforgettable projects – but if we ever do, it will only take the first five seconds of Shirley Ellis’ Soul Time to remind us.
Jess x
Northern Soul: If you were there, you’ll know. If you weren’t there, you’ll wish you had been.
This week we’re delighted to finally reveal the hugely anticipated trailer for Northern Soul, a film 17 years in the making and the first feature from respected photographer Elaine Constantine.
A faithful depiction of its namesake music scene in its 70s heyday, Northern Soul is not only a labour of love, but also a fitting tribute to the still thriving subculture.
The Northern Soul scene is defined by its dedicated music fans and DJs so protective of their rare 45s sourced from hours of crate digging in dusty cellars from the States that they used to cover up the label to ensure nobody found out the artist and title. That soul lives on through both the longstanding soulies and now the younger generations that have also begun to talc up the dance floor on a regular basis.
The film features some heavyweight names including Steve Coogan, John Thomson, Lisa Stansfield and Ricky Tomlinson, along with standout performances from newcomers Joshua Whitehouse and Elliot James Langridge.
The coming of age tale follows the friendship between two lads, John and Matt (played by Langridge and Whitehouse, respectively), whose bond gains momentum as they open themselves up to the dance scene that etched out a strong underground presence throughout the 1970s. Along the way they are taught harsh lessons about the realities of life and growing up, but among the struggles with responsibility, violence and rivalry, it’s the sense of community – and the music – of the Northern Soul scene that keeps them both just about afloat.
The Telegraph ran an exclusive first look featuring images from the film and now you can see the trailer exclusively via Guardian Film. Soon Northern Soul fever could be sweeping the nation! Believe it or not we’ve also had a bash at some of the moves ourselves, and let’s just say it’s harder than it looks. We might have to get some practicing in ahead of the premiere…
Jess x
Create Salford 2014: Grabbing A Piazza The Action
This June, Create Salford 2014 hit MediaCityUK for a three day arts inspired bash. A groundbreaking creative festival curated by the University of Salford saw the School of Arts and Media students showcase their best work and collaborate with industry. We were delighted to be working on the PR and social campaign from start to end and see the talent of the stars of tomorrow! From theatre, dance and comedy to graphic design, illustrations and photography, we saw it all, and we loved every second of it.
A collaborative event devised by high profile creatives and the University’s final year students saw industry greats and the artists of the future come together to produce a spectacular array of exhibitions, performances and installations. It was definitely one for all the family, with productions by Billy, The Monster and ME!, Massive Owl, Coraline, and a flag-flying finale by Walk The Plank. And it was all FREE!
A central element to the family-friendly festival (and a personal favourite!) was the ‘Create Cube’, a giant Perspex box built in the centre of MediaCityUK’s Piazza. A stage featuring ever-changing creative performances and exhibitions throughout the festival became a destination installation for the event. We saw musical delights, a Jokeathon, balls flying everywhere with free-for-all Ping-Pong from End of Play, and the incredibly colourful act, Rabble Dance. It was non-stop action throughout the festival and every act was sensational, keeping the masses entertained throughout!
On launch night, we were very excited to have internationally renowned designer and maker, Liam Hopkins (Lazerian) showcase his interactive artwork commissioned by Sundae exclusively for Create Salford. His masterpieces were created using sage advice from famous Salford alumni including; Sir Ben Kingsley, Chris Bisson, Jo Good (Xfm), James Cook (Delphic) and many more.
We got the press excited about this jam-packed festival, with great pieces by MEN, Metro, Creative Review, Manchester Wire and many more! The National Student even came down on the Saturday to check it out for themselves and wrote a great review on Coraline.
Create Salford 2014 was incredibly exciting, displaying the huge spectrum of subjects taught at the University, and giving students the chance to showcase their work and inspire others. We had a lot of fun being a part of it and have our fingers crossed that Create Salford is here to stay!
Hannah x
Hanging out with Haim at the BBC 6 Music Festival
Some days going to work is an absolute treat and spending the weekend working with our client Victoria Warehouse on the BBC 6 Music Festival was exactly that.
An absolute extravaganza of our favourite artists including Damon Albarn, Franz Ferdinand, Haim, Bombay Bicycle Club, Metronomy and Kelis, the only difficult thing was being torn between two performances on at the same time.
The Festival Fringe, held in the Victoria Warehouse Hotel was a lovely addition to the main stage acts and a great use of the space incorporating two stages, a cinema and a record fair. I managed to find a spare 20 mins to catch John Bramwell’s (I am Kloot) beautiful acoustic set and was introduced to the utterly incredible The Part Time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club: A Sun Ra Tribute. One of the best things I have seen. Ever.
BBC 6 Music was live broadcasting from the Victoria Warehouse Hotel, utilising the Yoga Studio for live sessions and interviews with all the presenters on site all weekend really taking part in the festival and meeting the viewers.
It was a very special event, with an incredible atmosphere and I have my fingers firmly crossed that they repeat it for 2015. I’ll be first in the queue.
If you didn’t get the chance to attend, take a look at the brilliant live blog from the Manchester Evening News, Gigwise’s Ten Best Things (with the venue at No 2) and NME’s review of Damon Albarn’s headline performance.
You can also catch up on the content via the BBC 6 Music website.
Fiona x
Design Manchester 13
Last week we held the inaugural Design Manchester, a new week-long creative festival featuring a series of inspirational talks, interactive workshops and evening events, on the theme of longevity.
There were nine events across the week, including Intellectual Property workshops, OWT Creative’s Discourse event at Band on the Wall and a D&AD Creative Brief-in.
The jewel in the crown was the core festival day at Manchester Town Hall curated by our ambassador Malcolm Garrett RDI, at which were honoured to have Mark Farrow RDI in conversation with Design Week’s Angus Mongomery, the inspirational Kate Moross (STUDIO MOROSS), Nat Hunter and Mark Shayler talking about the Great Recovery plus Colophon Foundry.
One talk I loved was Andrew Shoben’s (greyworld). I’m a huge fan of public art and interactive or collaborative pieces and his are beautiful. Do take a look at his site, it’s well worth the visit. My personal favourite piece was Flowerbox (2012) which was displayed in Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square to mark the Queen’s Jubilee. I also completely love the fact that they were so taken with their own piece that they bought in the ChildLine charity auction only to realise they had nowhere to put it.
Another highlight was the Q and A, hosted Professor David Crow, Dean of the Manchester School of Art, who were headline sponsor for the event. Featuring a surprise appearance from Creative Director for Manchester Peter Saville, the session was a dynamic debate about the future of design among different generations of the design community.
The festival generated a huge buzz, with coverage on Design Week, Creative Review, Emerald Street and Manchester Wire among many more.
All in all an inspiring and motiving week that it was an a pleasure to be part of.
It’s all about the Monet
During October I got to work on an amazing project where I learnt more about art, galleries, and schools for that matter! The Your Paintings: Masterpieces in Schools project loaned original oil paintings to schools across the UK and they got the opportunity to see an original Monet, Lowry, Turner and more, outside their gallery shackles.
Your Paintings: Masterpieces in Schools is an exciting project from BBC Learning and the Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF), led by contemporary British artists Bob and Roberta Smith and John Byrne.
If you’ve not come across it yet, Your Paintings is an initiative to increase access to the UK’s national art collection by photographing and cataloguing original oil paintings. We were delighted to be involved in something that makes our art more accessible to everyone.
Masterpieces in Schools saw £14 million worth of original works, from the likes of L.S. Lowry, Monet and Gainsborough, placed into 27 schools from Aberdeen to Plymouth, Cardiff to Newcastle, in a three-week period in October.
National and regional, broadcast, print and online press came along to the schools to see each painting and how the pupils responded to it.
An art class like no other, the pupils were fully immersed in the project, creating giant collages, taking part in Victorian themed art classes and creating their own mini- exhibitions in school for parents and teachers to visit. Turner would be proud!
It got everyone talking including The Scotsman, The Western Mail, The Edinburgh Evening Times and The Nottingham Post, with numerous cover stories and double page spreads. It was also featured on BBC Breakfast, Radio 4’s Front Row and dozens of regional BBC radio and TV stations across the country.
The project caught the attention of The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times, and even a New York Times correspondent who came along to see a Monet in a Shropshire School. Josie Gurney Read from The Telegraph was impressed by the project too, and she spoke to head teachers, the BBC, the PCF and all those involved to write a round-up feature on the project’s impact on education.
The project was a great success, giving children and the local press the opportunity to experience and interact with art close-up, and creating some brand new artists in the process!
Katy x
Spike Island: It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.
Taking me back to my youth, the film served as a reminder as to what it was like to be young, innocent and carefree. Reminiscing about being 16 again, when friends were the most important things in the world, and music occupied every spare hour in the day, Spike Island captures the imagination of its audience.
Starring Elliott Tittensor, Nico Mirallegro and Emilia Clarke, the release of the film to DVD and Blu-ray attracted coverage from The London Evening Standard, The Times, Metro, The Scottish Sunday Mail and many more!
Spike Island has a fierce social fan base, with 34,000 strong Facebook and Twitter following and their enthusiasm that meant our social campaign had a reach of 10 million in launch week alone. We drew more attention, with the intention of reaching a wider target demographic, with a four week Xfm campaign across AV and promotional airtime.
The film has attracted both younger fans, who may not have been around at the time of the legendary Spike Island gig but are all about their music, plus those who were there, reminiscing about their love for the 90’s and the Stone Roses.
To celebrate the launch we created an experiential event for 400 VIP guests at the iconic Band on the Wall, hosted by Xfm’s Jo Good and a DJ set from Dots and Loops. Joined by the film’s biggest fans, featuring music from hot Manchester bands, The Quangos, The Marivaux and The Minx, the night was non-stop music galore.
An hilarious Q&A hosted by Xfm’s Tim & Jim, with the film’s writer, Chris Coghill (Uncle Hairy) and cast member Adam Long (Little Gaz) saw behind the scenes secrets revealed. They had the crowd in stitches sharing their favourite moments from filming and a personal favourite of mine, Coghill reliving the moment his dream man, Eric Cantona, admitted he was a fan of the film!
The guys from Manchester’s Finest, The Skinny, Manchester Evening News and Viva Magazine came down to the gig and we also got I love MCR and Mancunian Matters excited about Spike Island!
With event sponsors Bulldog Gin and Jameson Irish Whisky pouring the drinks and an array of Spike Island goodies, (I’m talking t-shirts, hats, badges – the lot), I think its fair to say Spike Island lovers went home with a ten mile smile, and so did we! Success!
Hannah x
Design Manchester’s 10 x 10
Last night was the launch of Design Manchester’s 10 x 10 at the Bench Self Made Gallery, which will be on show from today until the 28th August 2013.
We invited 17 creatives to collaborate to produce a piece of work outside of their usual comfort zone with some impressive and beautiful results. The exhibition features work from Mark Kennedy, John Cooper Clarke, Helen Musselwhite, Matt Booth, Liam Hopkins (Lazerian) amongst many other talented creatives. You can find more detail on the Design Manchester website.
We produced the exhibition and the launch event to introduce Design Manchester, the inaugural week-long creative festival, sponsored by the Manchester School of Art and the collection is a platform to showcase Manchester’s homegrown talent and personality on a national and international scale. You can find out more about the festival via Twitter and Facebook – there’s some big news to be announced in the coming weeks so watch this space.
I personally am a huge fan of Dave Sedgwick and Tim Denton’s piece, ‘Don’t sit still. Keep going.’ which asks the question, ‘What is the secret to a long and happy life?’ and on which they collaborated with a community group of older Mancunians, called Chorlton Good Neighbours. Dave and Tim used their answers to produce a series of typographic rubber stamps and hand held wooden devices which people can use in the gallery to make their own postcards to be sent to those they think may benefit from the pearls of wisdom imparted to us by the older generation.
We’ve been completely overwhelmed by the amazing work produced and the media response which included the lead story in the Manchester Evening News’ Citylife, Design Week, The Drum, We Heart amongst many.
Do drop by and check it out, we’ve got the kettle on.
Fiona x
Bipolar Sunshine at the Bench Self Made Gallery
Ahead of their performance and the Bench International Conference, the frankly amazing Bipolar Sunshine treated us to a Lunch Time Live session in the Bench Self Made Gallery.
Tipped for the huge things, Bipolar Sunshine aka Adio Marchant is already getting the nod from leading Radio shows across the UK. including Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart and Alice Levine, plus Xfm’s John Kennedy, Jon Hillcock and Eddy Temple-Morris.
Our session captured the attention of the media with brilliant coverage on Manchester Wire, Viva, Northern Quarter, The Skinny, Don’t Panic and many more.
His debut EP, Aesthetics, is out now. And features popular tracks ‘Rivers’ and ‘Fire’, played here, which have both topped the HypeM charts and surpassed 120,000 plays on Soundcloud.
Check out our video with an exclusive interview and acoustic performance of Fire below.
For more information on the Bench Self Made Gallery visit the Facebook group.
Strange Hill High hopes…
Strange Hill High is the brand new animated series from CBBC, FME and Altrincham’s Factory Transmedia.
Using a brand new form of animation, invented specifically for the show by Kat Van Henderson, the show is a wonderful mix of Japanese vinyl puppetry, CGI and just a little stop motion, which essentially adds to produce something magical that neither kids nor their parents have never seen the like of before.
The incredible looking show launched last week at the spookily pristine Ordsall Hall, which we found lurking quietly in the middle of Salford, as if it knew it would be needed just for this.
Showrunner Josh Weinstein flew into Manchester especially for the occasion on a particularly dreary Wednesday in May. Fortunately it transpires that he absolutely loves bad weather, which I can only put down to it being a novelty when you live in L.A.
Reactions to the show have so far been exactly as we hoped. It’s a charming, witty, dual level comedy animation of the incredibly high standard you’d expect from the showrunner behind The Simpsons and Futurama. It’s fabulous that it’s commissioned out of Salford and made in Altrincham and I have everything crossed that from its launch on Wednesday 8th May it will fast become the hit show it deserves to be.
As big as The Simpsons? You just never know….