So, all 800 flyers wriiten with my new and very impressive Sharpie pen and I'm ready to start selling the PSR final week out!
A month tomorrow and it will be the beginning of the week that we've all been looking forward to so much and really give back the show to the people that it truly belongs to. It's been quite weird since August, after finishing a hectic yet awesome tour and then diving straight into school work, back into the 'busy' life there, you begin to feel that 'empty/dead' feeling of PSR and wonder where the show and people have gone? I can't wait until the show week in October but at the same time, don't want it to come, whatsoever.. sob sob.
Let the selling commence!!
PSR is on the brain.
Abbie Posted 30.08.10
Production Assistant/Filmmaker
Hello PSR Fans!
It's been a good few weeks since I've blogged so It's definitely time for a little update from the land of Play.Stop.Rewind.
The business end is here again as we write hundreds of fliers, pin up loads of posters and spread the word in preperation for our final shows in Buckhaven in 5 weeks time. I can't wait to bring the show back to its hometown of buckhaven where the journey first began and show all of our loyal fans the show for the very last time. It'll be great to catch up with everyone in the team again and give the show the good send off it deserves.
This really wasn't a long blog at all but I'm sure you'll hear from us all very soon.
Ciao!
Andrew Posted 30.08.10
Writer/Director
Music Monday Vol. 12
It's official - Autumn's upon us. The tell tale signs are creeping in; long shadows by six o'clock at night, cold mornings and the flashes of yellowing leaves blowing in the wind. It's also officially five weeks until the farewell shows at Buckhaven Theatre, when Play.Stop.Rewind. will take a final bow and disappear, destined to be another 'past show on the scene dock door' for the rest of time. Still there's lots of promoting to do in the meantime if we want the big audiences the cast deserve. To celebrate the end of summer and the final push towards the PSR summit, here's a few choice picks from my iTunes.
Even though The xx came out last year, their Mercury Award nomination has got them a stack of positive attention over the last couple of months and this track is a great example of their stripped back, breathy, atmospheric style. They also have great taste in covers too.
Speaking of covers, I can't believe the MM blog is like four months old and I still haven't had a chance to pay homage to the awesome Aeroplane. Their cover of Friendly Fire's Paris is like the best cover ever. Ever. I mean the original is pretty great, but I love the fact that the Belgian producers completely flipped the track, dropped the tempo and created a modern disco floor filler.
Those backing vocals are by Au Revoir Simone, who despite the European sounding name are actually from Brooklyn. During the PSR tour I made a couple of travel CDs featuring an A-Z of artists and cool driving songs, of which this Simone track was the first one. It's at this point I should mention that I was the only person who made a mix CD for the whole tour... besides Kim, who managed to scrape six tracks onto a disc before her PC broke. Still, it's the thought that counts.
Andrew Posted 27.08.10
Writer/Director
Shameless Self PROmotion
It's Friday, I'm lethargic, I'm drawing picture after picture of Sam for Abbie's short film and inevitably I'm daydreaming. So I thought I'd post up an interview I did last November for PromoteYT's monthly newsletter 'PROmotion.'
Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Kinetic
I graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in 2003 with a first class degree in animation, but because I was bored with the amount of time it took to draw stories out, I thought it’d be more fun to film them instead. Without a camera or any actors to play with, I met former Kinetic head honcho Ally Hunter who encouraged me to make a short film with the youth theatre he ran in Buckhaven. Five years and a stint at the National Film & Television School later I am a creative director with Kinetic Media. We make commercial films, websites and loads of cool design stuff for charity organisations and businesses stretching from Aberdeen to London. It beats having a real job.
How did you get the idea for Play.Stop.Rewind?
In 2008 I collaborated with our theatre director Claire Bloomfield and over a dozen young people on a devised mixed media performance called ‘KY8.’ Although the show was well received overall, I was particularly interested with one small scene from the play featuring an articulate, bright young boy giving a talk at primary school. The play then leaps six years into the future to find the same boy hanging around street corners at sixteen. It occurred to me that the six years we spend in secondary education are arguably the most important of our lives, as the events that take place in these formative years ultimately shape the people we become. This time frame is ripe with drama, and I thought it might be interesting to examine what factors create the people we pass on the street everyday?
The time structure in Harold Pinter’s ‘The Betrayal’ was a huge influence. The reverse chronology allowed the audience to uncover the lies and deceit of an adulterous affair, revealing pure love. Similarly, Gaspar Noe’s film ‘Irreversible,’ although shockingly violent in places, is an uncompromising cinematic experience, and the backwards storyline is a powerful way to show innocence lost.
What were the challenges in integrating a story which was both filmed and performed live?
The biggest concern I had was how to keep the story flowing from stage to screen, without confusing the audience. The key to this was using the films to keep telling story and fill in any gaps in the narrative, not just for the sake of it. Therefore the script had to be clear from the outset, and the writing process was a headache at times because I was trying to make sense of a chronological story treatment I was writing backwards! This confusion carried on into the filming. We had to ensure that everyone, from the actors to the crew knew exactly what was happening in any scene, and I think the good communication we had on set is the reason the films work in tandem with the drama on stage – the script served as a good road map for everyone involved.
Does theatre complement film or does film complement theatre?
Within ‘Play.Stop.Rewind’ I firmly believe the films complement the performances on stage. I think the films set the tone through music and pace, feed additional story to the audience and give them time to reflect, but all of this is in anticipation of the Big Moments; Chloe taking a pregnancy test, Shaun kissing Callum, Laura facing up to her parent’s abusive relationship. The scenes on stage are the tipping points in these characters’ lives, the films just show how they got there.
In a wider context, and at the risk of sounding overly diplomatic, I believe that a good story is a good story, regardless of whether it is performed on stage or on camera. Although I personally favour film as a storytelling medium there are few things better than seeing an actor deliver a knockout performance on stage, I just wish I could get a close up as oppose to watching from the back row!
Who or what influences your work?
Creatively speaking, I’m inspired by directors like Steven Soderbergh, Michael Winterbottom and Danny Boyle. They are constantly working, inventing and changing lanes at will. I don’t think there is a genre that Soderbergh hasn’t attempted, and it’s hard to believe that Boyle crafted ‘Trainspotting’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, two totally different films that still retain an energy that is inherently his.
The HBO series ‘The Wire’ had a huge influence on me. David Simon is very skilled at taking the lid of a particular culture or part of society and exposing it to the world in a really authentic, objective manner, which is something I tried to do with ‘Play.Stop.Rewind.’ The way he took something as familiar as the police procedural drama and injected it with classic Greek storytelling to identify the failings of The American Dream is nothing short of brilliant.
I’m also hugely influenced by what goes on around me, from news stories to personal experiences to conversations I have with the young people I work with at Kinetic. There’s always a story or a character somewhere, the challenge is capturing it and then seeing it through to completion.
What is next for you and Kinetic?
I’m already dubbing next year, ‘The year of ‘Play.Stop.Rewind!’ We’re planning to tour throughout Scotland, which is going to be great fun. I’m also developing a short film with an up and coming production company in Glasgow which will be a co-production with Kinetic. In the meantime my colleagues and I are working very hard to keep producing quality film, media and cutting edge theatre.
...
Cutting edge is right... just wait 'til you see what we've got planned for next year.
Andrew Posted 18.08.10
Writer/Director
Music Mondays Vol. 11
I missed Music Mondays, sorry. I swear it will never happen again, but in my defence I have been incredibly busy. Well, that's not exactly true either, but now that the PSR tour is over I do have a filmmaking empire to run, so you'll just have to be patient.
As an apology, here's a few choons I've been spinning lately. And yes, I am aware they have nothing to do with Play.Stop.Rewind. That's because PSR is officially on holiday until October... even shows need holidays!!
This is a great summer BBQ song... remember summer? Sunshine, topless chavs and the juice at the bottom of a Calipo iced pole. I think we had a few hot days in May, but it was so long ago I think I dreamed the whole thing up. Anyways, you may have heard a Pilooski re-edit of this track at David Beckham's house party. Oh... you weren't invited? Well, there's always next year...
Yay!! Friendly Fires are back with a mix CD for Bugged Out! And if it's anything like this radio rip from Annie Mac it will be awesome - fact. I love that FF clearly appreciate their disco as much as I do, and Azari & III are killing it right now.
Did someone say disco? This one's for Claire - go yourself girl!
If you don't feel the need to dance and wave your hands in the air at 3:25, you're dead from the neck down.
Chris Posted 15.08.10
Shaun in PSR
Summer 2010
I think this dream pretty much sums up my whole summer, tour and the rest of it.
The Macrobert bridge to the halls, there is a lot of people, and me and rachael are walking to the atrium. To the right there is the FRIZBEE from T in the Park (dont ask whyy?) and the rest of the PSR crew are on it, and a few from the other groups. One person in particular sticks out, but I cant quite place the face. His seatbelt is loose, and he can slip out of it easily. No one notices and he continues to show off.
The ride pauses upside down for around 10 seconds (this doesn't happen in reality) and during this time this person escapes from their seat and hangs on to the seat belt bit that hangs between your legs. They then fall, plumiting around 70 ft to the floor, and splating on the pavement in front of Rahael and I.
Thats the dream. You can take from it what you want. But it definately sums up my summer.
I would like to thank everyone for the support, and Claire and Andrew for the opportunity. It will be sad to see Andrew go, but Im sure its not the last of him we will be seeing.
