Vol. 33
From rhubarb in Yorkshire to civic pride in Newcastle, this month’s Cut Culture is looking at how you take the provincial and make it premium. We’ll also take you behind the scenes of a very long walk up a very big hill, before closing things out with an intro to the man behind the camera for our most recent trip north of the border to Speyside.
Cut Culture
Forcing It.
Sometimes the best documentaries are about the big, earth-shaking, epoch-altering, seismic events that cause the very course of history to shift upon its axis. And sometimes they’re about rhubarb. After years of shooting a variety of documentary and photography projects and commissions for the likes of Oxfam, Save The Children and WaterAid, Elena Heatherwick turned her attention to a cause infinitely more worthwhile than any of those: The Rhubarb Triangle. For any ignoramus’ shamefully unaware, The Rhubarb Triangle is the area of land between Morley, Wakefield and Rothwell where farmers have been growing rhubarb since the mid 19th century. And it was precisely this hallowed land which provided the setting for a series of three short films that made up Ffern’s spring campaign, inspired by the main note of their latest scent: yep, you guessed it… custard. It’ll ignite the divine spirit of Eros in any passing Teletubby. Working alongside filmmakers Sam Finney and Lee Burnett, the end result is a beautifully shot, perfectly considered, community-first story spanning generations which manages to find that perfect balance between heartwarming and absurd. And apparently after wrapping the crew even helped connect the farmers to some swanky London restaurants they could flog their rhubarb to. Result. Everyone’s a winner. That’s what we call a virtuous triangle.
Howay the Lads.
What’s black and white and class all over? Don’t worry, this isn’t the start of a shit joke. We’re talking about the Newcastle 24/25 kit launch video. There’s a lot in a footy shirt. As Alan Shearer points out, it’s more than just a shirt. It’s an identity. It’s a second skin. It’s a uniform. All that considered, it’s no wonder they cost about 80 pissing quid these days. When it comes to a kit launch, there’s a fine line that must be carefully trod between atmospheric drama-building and over-the-top grandstanding. You want to be galvanising, but ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends’ might be a bit much. And these Geordies have indeed trod that line perfectly. From the VO to the grade, from Alexander Isak walking a dog to Shola Ameobi riding a bike, from archival footage to stylised photography, the result is a video with nods to nostalgia and heritage but framed in an inherently contemporary, affirmative manner. And with the current crop of the ‘Felling Male Voice’, a local choir that’s been around for 100 years, delivering the soundtrack in the form of a rousing rendition of the 1868 Geordie folk song ‘Blaydon Races’, it’s sure to get the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. Well, unless you can’t stand Newcastle… which is the case for pretty much all other fans… so come to think of it we actually take back every positive thing we just said and think the whole thing is crap.
BTS
Some people argue that true acts of altruism are the ones that you do not speak about. Fortunately none of those people work here. Kidding, obvs - but we’ll give ourselves a pass because in this instance our public self-congratulation serves the wholly justifiable purpose of getting as many eyes as possible on Strongmen, a charity supporting bereaved men who we’ve had the pleasure of working with for the past few years.
One of the core components of the charity’s offering is their weekend retreats, in which men get together and take to the great outdoors to enjoy beautiful remote surroundings whilst engaging in conversation and physical activities to create shared experiences. So for this campaign, we wanted to bring that to life. For real (ish). And we can confirm those “physical activities” are no joke, as this one took us up a Welsh mountain. Fortunately all the crew made it to the summit. Just. And nobody moaned once. Swear…
We went to Pen Y Fan (which is presumably Welsh for ‘great big bastard hill’), and because we don’t like to make life easy for ourselves, obviously we did it in peak winter. It was there where we linked up with the Strongmen crew.
There was a narrative structure in place but we wanted to let the real drama play out to create the authentic atmosphere and natural conversations true to a Strongmen retreat. So we simply accompanied them on the ascent, captured the whole thing, and the Strongmen did the rest. See for yourself. And, if you feel like it, we’d encourage you to support the important work this incredible charity continue to do on a daily basis. Legends.
Will Hartley. He’s someone we’d been wanting to work with for ages, mainly due to his inhuman ability to capture photos which are remarkably, well, human. He’s an absolute wizard with natural light and has an uncanny knack for finding pockets of warmth that nobody else sees. He’s kind of like the photographer equivalent of a crafty number 10 trekaurtista exploiting the space between the lines. If you don’t get that reference, it’s your fault. With a style that’s intimate, observed and hyper-considered, he was just the man we needed for our recent shoot for Aberlour up in Speyside. But you’ll just have to take our word for that. For now… (coming soon, watch this space).
If you want to see more of Will’s work, check out his website and Instagram.