Year: 2021
Director, Researcher & Editor: Shona Thomson
Music Composers & Performers: John Ellis, Arun Ghosh, Jason Singh, Jenny Sturgeon
Soundtrack Production & Mixing: David McEwan
Colour Grade / Online: Minttu Mäntynen
Producers: Jen Skinner, Jack Lockhart, Shona Thomson
Archival Sources: RNLI, National Library of Scotland, The Lifeboat Station Project
Synopsis
Launch! On The Sea With Scotland’s Lifeboats dives into archive footage of Scotland’s RNLI lifeboat crews, with an immersive soundtrack from some of the UK’s most exciting contemporary musicians.
Directed, researched and edited byaward-winning curator Shona Thomson in a co-production with Screen Argyll, the 44-minute film has been two years in the making with unprecedented access to the RNLI’s own archives. 1920s film footage of lifeboats sourced from the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive is woven with 1960s colour promotional films and breath-taking digital video captured by RNLI crews’ 21st century helmet cameras whilst out on the wild sea.
Launch! features a brand new immersive 5.1 surround soundtrack – designed specifically to be experienced in the cinema – composed and recorded by John Ellis (who has played and recorded with Tom Jones, Lily Allen, James Yorkston, John Squire and The Cinematic Orchestra), Arun Ghosh (APPJA Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year), Jason Singh (sound artist and nature beatboxer known for regular appearances on Springwatch, Countryfile and BBC 6 Music), and Jenny Sturgeon (acclaimed singer-songwriter whose recent project The Living Mountain is a collection of songs and films inspired by Nan Shepherd). Bringing the musicians together whilst in lockdown through pioneering online mixing software was the soundtrack’s producer David McEwan (who has collaborated with Nitin Sawhney, Jeff Beck, and Sting).
More information
Launch! On the Sea with Scotland’s Lifeboats is screening in Scottish cinemas throughout Autumn and Winter 2021: https://launchonthesea.com.
Header image: Courtesy of Jack Lowe and NLS Moving Image Archive.