Collaborations
Solène Weinachter - After All
Working with dance artist Solène Weinachter I filmed and edited a Super 8mm film for projection within Solène’s one woman show ‘After All‘. The film was shot through all seasons, touching on each of the 4 elements earth, wind, fire and water whilst highlighting moments of connection and joy.
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It is 8am the 26th of May 2018. I am sitting behind my father at the crematorium. The undertaker comes in and asks if anyone has brought any music to commemorate my uncle Bob. After a few uneasy glances and stuttered excuses, we understand that no one has brought anything to celebrate my uncle’s life. The undertaker intervenes with a pan pipe version of ‘My Way‘. It is then that my father turns towards me, tears running down his face, and asks: ‘ Solène, can you dance… Please?’
After All is a one woman show about our rituals of death – the ones we have, the ones we have lost, the ones we crave and the ones to be invented. It is a collective celebration of our own mortality and an ode to life.
Creative Team
Matthias Strahm: Set and Costume Designer
Emma Jones: Lighting Designer
Chris Thorpe: Dramaturg
Rachel Bunce: Filmmaker
Neil Callaghan and Lisa Fannen: Studio pals and outside eyes
Tappin' In - Film Director
I was asked to put together a team of filmmakers to document the process of the project over 6 months. I then worked alongside Artistic Director Stephanie Ridings and Music Director Amy Kakoura to edit a series of short creative films which were screened as part of the large-scale outdoor performance in Brindley Place, Birmingham. I then spent a couple of months editing the huge amount of footage we had collated into a 1-hour documentary which was screened at The Crescent Theatre, Birmingham.
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Tappin’ In is a mass participation tap dancing and storytelling extravaganza. Celebrating the stories of the West Midlands and the people who call it home, Tappin’ In is bringing people together to get the region tap dancing and chatting about themselves whilst having a good time.
We are proud to be part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival and Birmingham International Dance Festival.
130 people from Birmingham, Coventry, Stoke, Rugby, Cannock, Chelmsley Wood, Tamworth and Telford came together during spring 2022 to learn to tap dance, whilst also listening to each other’s stories and experiences.
Every week, each group spent an hour tap-dancing with their dance captain, before settling down for an hour of creative activity along with a good chat over tea and biscuits.
On 18 June we all came together in Brindleyplace, Birmingham, for a live extravaganza of tap dance, including a mass ‘shim sham’, the dance known as the national anthem of tap. Everyone was invited to join us for this joyful day of performance and dance!
Tappin’ In is produced by Stephanie Ridings in association with Lou Lomas, helped along by an experienced creative team of dance artists.
Greg Homann - In Our Skin R&D
I was brought on to the project by Greg Homann initially in 2020 to film and edit a short film as part of Shout Festival.
As Greg took the work into exploratory R&D to begin to stage this verbatim theatre piece, I was welcomed back to capture and edit short film sequences for projection within the sharing. See Greg’s words below:
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The work went into a final phase of research and development (R&D) with MAC in Oct-Nov 2021. The aim was to experiment with the integration of text, music, design, & video to create a performance that captured the energy, diversity, resilience, complexity, & vibrancy of the stories shared by participants from across the two cities. The workshop explored staging ideas, allowed an opportunity for bits of interviews to be integrated into music, and helped refine a visual language for the text. This open-to-the-public exploratory R&D culminated in a public sharing at MAC, and a conversation as part of SHOUT Festival 2021.
R&D CREATIVE TEAM
Director – Greg Homann
Assistant Director – Frazer Meakin
Composer – Oliver Farrow
Designer – María Sánchez
Videographer – Rachel Bunce
Stephanie Ridings - The Fear of Fear
As Film Designer on ‘The Fear of Fear’ I was asked to face some of my own fears and document adventures including a 6 hour trip caving, squeezing through small gaps with a camera attached to my body. I then edited films to be part of the show.
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Fear is inherent within us as a survival instinct, but in today’s world as our needs have changed are our fears justified or are they the result of manipulation to keep us oppressed by those who seek power and personal gain?
Fear of Fear will explore personal and universal fears to see if we have every reason to be constantly shit scared or if like an illusion we’re seeing what the magicians want us to.
The Fear of Fear was be pitched at China Plate’s Bite Size Festival, Saturday 7 October 2017. It underwent an R+D period in January 2018, and will open at Warwick Arts Centre in autumn 2018.
More info at: thefearoffear.com
Creative Team
Lead Artist: Stephanie Ridings
Director: Sarah Meadows
Film Maker: Rachel Bunce
Design & Lighting Design: Ben Pacey
Sound Design: Iain Armstrong
Magical Consultant: Tim Bromage
Production Management: Tom Langford
Imber: You Walk Through
Working closely with writer Francesca Millican Slater I was commissioned to capture footage of the lost village ‘Imber’ and edit the film element as part of immersive site-specific binaural audio and film experience.
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Salisbury International Arts Festival 2019
Imber. 7 miles from any town. From dusty roads to floods and fires. From medieval church graffiti to a curlew’s eye view of tanks crossing. Slip on your headphones and listen. You walk on bones and earth, flint and chalk. You hear a little girl playing, a conversation in the pub; a soldier waiting in old walls for an exercise to begin.
Once open land, now a close combat fighting training ground, Imber is open to the public for a limited number of days each year. This immersive experience offers a unique opportunity to encounter Salisbury Plain’s most intriguing site.
Imber: You Walk Through binaural audio and film experience premiered at Salisbury International Arts Festival 2019.
Creative Team
Director Jo Newman
Writer and Performer Francesca Millican-Slater
Composer and Sound Designer Helen Skiera
Film Designer Rachel Bunce
3D Visualiser Chris Bayly
Producer Lydia Scott
Production Image Rachel Bunce and Chris Bayly
This experience was commissioned and produced by Wiltshire Creative with support from The Friends of St Giles and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Neil Skelton, Peter Lankester, Imber St Giles Volunteer Team, the Ministry of Defence and the Churches Conservation Trust.
Stephanie Ridings - The Road to Huntsville
Commissioned by theatre maker Stephanie Ridings, I flew to Huntsville, Texas to capture documentary film to edit to be part of her show ‘The Road to Huntsville’.
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The Road to Huntsville created by Stephanie Ridings won a Bite Size commission in May 2015 and has been commissioned for full production by China Plate, mac birmingham and Warwick Arts Centre. It is supported by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Arts Council England, The Sir Barry Jackson Trust and the Peggy Ramsay Foundation. Visit the project website here
The work was developed during summer 2016, and will be running at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016 (Summerhall), after a handful of UK previews. Since then it has been touring nationally, and has been selected for a British Council Pitch at the Edinburgh Showcase 2017.
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“I’m trying to understand women who marry men on death row. I’m trying not to be judgemental.”
The Road to Huntsville is an exploration into unconventional love, state homicide and challenging preconceptions.
Stephanie Ridings is a writer / performer. Her most recent work, Unknown Male, opened at Birmingham REP to critical acclaim and was awarded the 2014 Peter Brook / Mark Marvin Award.
WINNER: Arts Award Voice Pick of the Fringe 2016
★★★★ “Ridings captures the audience using a unique style that’ll make you feel like you’re at home watching a Netflix documentary.” Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
★★★★ “Equal parts shocking and straightforward, this carefully crafted and beautifully told story makes you both sympathise with the decisions made and question what you might do in the circumstances.” Across the Arts
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Creative Team
Director: Jonathan V McGrath
Film Maker: Rachel Bunce
Set Design: Janet Vaughan
Sound Design: Duncan Grimley
Production Management: Thomas Langford
Stage Management: Kirsty Smith