"Bravo! Love it." - Audience comment

"Fantastic and unusual" - Artist feedback

Role: Director

Performances: Available for free online since 2016.

Collaborators: Patricia Auchterlonie, Benson Wilson, Betty Makharinsky, Christian Valle, Karen Schriesheim, Mairi Grewar, Joanne Tan, Crystal Tunnicliffe

After a few ‘live storyboards’, where I laboriously drew ways I might film opera arias, I went to Guildhall. And some of the singers I met seemed genuinely interested in this project. So, at last, I was able to start answering a question I’d had since about 2014: why can’t I film opera like a movie musical?

I learnt a lot. 

The value of planning, as we consistently needed more time to film, and I never quite had all the shots I’d wanted to shoot.

The difficulty of lipsynching without decent speakers on-set.

The eternal challenge of working out why these characters are singing (or if they’re singing at all).

I developed some sort of style, mostly cutting with the musical phrases, and trying to frame every shot so it told a story. Some of them were well-received, and they’re mostly the ones I myself am most proud of.

Of course, there was more work to do.