Recorder

Scripted for music. Animated in oils.

Recorder, a paint-on-glass animation, tells the story of an unknown person in a nearby future observing the natural world through the lens of their urban detachment. Touching on themes of nature, surveillance and objectivity, the film explores ideas of seeing and interpreting, as well as communication, where music serves as both a doorway to belonging and a linguistic barrier.

Recorder is being produced by a multi-award-winning team, including producer Leo Crane, writer Roy Joseph Butler, composer Alex Mills and BAFTA-nominated animator Oscar Wyndham Lewis.

Concept

What would happen if a screenplay was written first for musical improv before being interpreted into animation?

Recorder began as an exploration of a script’s potential as a facilitator of musical experimentation and subsequent creative collaboration. By integrating principles of instrumental improv with traditional moving-image scriptwriting, dialogue traditionally reserved for actors became the arena for sonic interpretations of instrumentalists - recorder players and a pianist, in this case. This approach engineered a creative unknown for the cast, facilitating a process of filmmaking leading with the audio and from which visual assets are created in response.

CAST

Emily Bannister - bass and sopranino recorders

Seb Marshall - alto and soprano recorders

Hannah Parry - tenor recorder

Julie Dean - Garklein recorder

Iain Hall - alto recorder

Ellen Falconer - piano

CREW

Anthony George - Sound Engineer, Sound Designer

Oscar Wyndham Lewis - Director, Lead Animator

Roy Joseph Butler - Screenwriter, Producer

Christopher Braime - Sound Engineer

Alex Mills - Composer, Sound Editor

Leo Crane - Producer

Production

How might the medium and process of animating best reflect the creative concept?

BAFTA-nominated animator Oscar Wyndham Lewis fuses fine art with moving image, specialising in oil-on-glass animation. This process that echoes and complements the fluidity of the sonic dialogue; diverse, vibrant ways of seeing; and swift, flowing actions intrinsic to the screenplay. It also resonates strongly with Packed Lunch’s mission of advancing visual storytelling.

And, like the realisation of the concept, this production process opens the door to substantive levels of collaboration. We plan to host a series of community and schools-based workshops in oil-on-glass animation, generating visual assets for the project as well as engaging the public with a unique, exciting animation technique. Supporting this initiative and animating alongside the Oscar will be a team fine-art moving-image specialists with a real passion for the oil-on-glass process.

Production Support

Thanks to a generous grant from the Cathy Wills Charitable Trust, production has now begun on both the animation and the community workshops that will not only engage the public with the oil-on-glass process but generate content for and a deeper, more diverse collaboration with the project.

And, as always, massive thank yous to our existing partners for their technical, financial and casting support. Courtesy of Arts Council England (Developing Your Creative Practice 2021 | Roy Joseph Butler - Scripting for Music), we were able to finalise the script and complete a first-draft soundtrack. London’s Royal College of Music was integral in casting for all players through their alumni network, and both the Rathbone Society and Studio Falkland Lodge provided our recording and sound editing needs.

As Recorder moves into full production, we’re keen to engage individuals with expertise and interests in Executive Producing, fundraising support and community engagement. If this is you, please get in touch!