From Melbourne to the top of the Shard in London, it’s been a great 2021 for Other Brother Studios! Here are a few of the highlights…

2021 started with Other Brother Studios 5th year as a production company, and our birthday present (thanks to Stingray C Music) was seeing our live sessions with Azerbaijani opera star Seljan Nasibli premiere on Stingray C Music’s TV channel. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year!

Long time collaborator, musician and all round lovely chap Rich Webb contacted us in March to shoot a video in Melbourne, Australia. As if dealing with one countries COVID restrictions was tricky enough, we had to balance two! Locked down for a world record holding 262 days Melbourne was far from an ideal place to shoot, but patience persevered and when their was a sliver of an opening between Melbourne and Sydney borders we deployed the amazing cinematographer Louis C Brandt to fly in from Sydney to shoot Rich, his family and friends and his recording process. The footage was sent back to our post-production studio in the UK where everything was edited, then sent to London to be graded at Cheat HQ.

Other Brother Studios Film Fund winning film Slice Right went into production, an excellent script from Georgia Clarke-Day & Ruby Bentall, with production from Myriad Entertainment was shot just outside London. The short looks fantastic and we can’t wait to help spread the word when it’s finished.

One of the best shoots of the year was again with Stingray C Music, this time with the Tom Donald Trio, and we were presently surprised to find out that it would be taking place at the top of The Shard! An incredible experience for Matt, Joe and Louis who crewed up for this one. A huge thanks to Matt Clifford at the Shard for being so accommodating!

Next up our biggest campaign shoot of the year, #openforcelebration with Ridgeview Wine and YesMore agency. The campaign focussed on four different styles of bottle openers; The Perfectionist, The Magician, The Squealy Popper, The First Timer. Other Brother Studios worked with an amazing crew on this one, linking up with Director Guy Larsen, Producer Cambria Bailey-Jones and DOP Ciaran O’Brien. We are incredibly proud of these adverts, working with a great crew across all levels of production. Thank you Ridgeview and YesMore, cheers!

The end of summer saw the release of short film Sew, the winner of the Other Brother Studios Film Fund 2019. Sew is a documentary about a mail-order bride victim called Nunette Perez-Lonoy who moved from the Philippines to England in the 1980s, only to wind up running her own mail-order bride agency. Directed by Xenia Glen, who has since been selected for BFI Network x BAFTA Crew, the Widening the Lens scheme for Encounters Film Festival, the John Brabourne Award and Ex-Animo Fund.

We shot a campaign with the World Cancer Research Fund, shooting recipes from their ‘Flavour & Nutrition’ recipe booklet, which has been created for those experiencing taste change as a result of cancer.

We were thrilled to then be asked to shoot the World Cancer Research Fund’s Christmas campaign, focussing on cancer survivor Jodie Burdett, focussing on her story and the importance of nutrition when she was receiving treatment and during recovery. Thank you Jodie for letting us film in your beautiful home.

This year was also a big one for change; Other Brother Studios moved from London to Suffolk, into a new studio space at The Art Station. The Art Station is a non-profit arts organisation, developing a new workspace for the creative industries in Saxmundham and as a base for an arts programme for the local community and coastal Suffolk. It’s been a fantastic, creative, nurturing place to be. We were thrilled when they asked us to create a time-lapse film for ‘Connection Points’, a large scale public facing installation by artist Fiona Grady of coloured vinyl on the windows of The Art Station building.

In December we announced two winners of the Other Brother Studios Film Fund. Now in it’s 5th year we have had very generous additional sponsorship from Marlena Hellebø, which allowed Other Brother Studios the opportunity to grant 2x filmmakers both £750, equipment, mentoring and advice for their short films. The winners were Mojola Akinyemi and Josh Rose.

Mojola’s short film ‘Ferret’ is a psychological thriller focusing on fracturing of interpersonal relationships between young women. A first year student starting at an elite university is drawn into an exclusive clique, and begins to form an unhealthy attachment to the leader. With rising tensions, stark revelations and a sudden suicide, questions are raised on how far one is willing to go after rejection. Mojola has been teamed up with mentor Ashleigh Ashley.

Josh’s short film ’Sinnerman’ covers the important topic of sexuality and religion. It speaks to a so far unspoken part of the community and shines a light on the lonely struggles that some religious people are going through. Outside the context of religion this is a film about power; the power someone can have over another, the power of shame, the power of reputation within a community. Josh has been teamed up with mentor Tom Nicoll.

As the curtain draws on 2021 we would like to give a big thanks to all of our collaborators; directors, producers, DOPs, crew, film fund winners and of course our clients and sponsors who allow it all to happen. Here is a 2021 highlight reel of our favourite commercial work:

2022 is shaping up to be our biggest year yet, with 6x short films on our slate and a flow of great commercial projects on the cards we can’t wait to get stuck in!

Happy holidays!

“I used Other Brother Studios for all our Post Production and they were superb! We did the whole edit with them as well as the online and grade. It was for my first feature documentary called DBE, which we made about CrossFit star Danielle Brandon. We wouldn't have reached the level of quality without them.”

Antony Green, Head of Production - R.A.D

“Art Station has used Other Brother Studios services for post production on a number of projects and they've been brilliant. Great communication and understanding of our needs and speedy turnaround of work so that we were able to get media out and up online. Highly recommended!”

Clare Palmier, Founder / Director - The Art Station

“A pleasure to work with Matthew on various projects over the past four years in London and Suffolk. He is professional, extremely knowledgable, flexible and all round, fantastic to work with. Highly recommend Matt and his production team!”

Robyn Woronka, PhD researcher studying Cinematic Geography

“We worked with Other Brother Studios in producing a short community-based video covering various Suffolk towns. We found them great to work with -flexible, easy going and professional. We were very pleased with the resulting video.”

Chris Wade, Director, the People & Places Partnership

“We've worked with Matthew & Other Brother Studios many many times over the past few years, and have always been happy with their attention to detail, their ability to make whatever our vision is come to life, and their 'nothing is a problem' attitude.

The next time we're producing any video content, Other Brother will be first on the list to work with. Big thumbs up, all of the stars, etc etc. See you soon.”

Curtis Stansfield, Some Voices

“We worked with Matt and his team at Other Brother Studios to produce videos remotely for our Ridgeview Wine client. The process was fast, with clear and regular communication and the end result was fantastic with everyone incredibly happy and some fantastic results from the campaign. Hope to work together for many years to come.”

Tom Harvey, Yesmore Beverage Marketing Agency

“Matt and his team are my first call when looking to collaborate on international productions for broadcast television. Matt goes to great lengths to understand the creative direction of our projects and brings with it, professionalism, artistry and a wealth of knowledge. They always deliver exceptional productions and it is a pleasure to work with Other Brother Studios.“

Alexandra Edwards, Stingray C-Music

“I’ve been working with Matt for several years and he always brings creativity and professionalism to every job we do. His combination of technical knowledge and artistic flair ensues every film we make is a thing of beauty that consistently wows clients. Wholeheartedly recommend.”

Andrew Mills, School Reel

“It was a pleasure to work with the creative minds at Other Brother Studios. They went to great lengths to ensure they understood the ethos of our work and our hopes for the film. They had a clear vision for the piece and captured the sensitive nature and the human side of our work which resulted in a beautiful, engaging and touching film. They were required to film in a challenging environment with many restrictions, however, they handled this with ease and care. We are very grateful to have such a high quality and professional film to share our work with the world.”

Bridie Coombes, Project Development Officer, Suffolk Artlink

"Other Brother Studios were super professional, down-to-earth and easy to work with. The final product was a beautiful, high-quality visual explanation of what we offer as a business, and we're grateful that they managed to capture the essence of our company in such a unique and memorable way."

Adele Barlow, Head of Content & Communications, Makers Academy

“It was an absolute pleasure working with Other Brother Studios. Their inquisitive nature, friendly approach and eye for detail helped us tell our story in an honest and engaging way. The end result is a beautiful short film that wonderfully encapsulates our ethos, leading to measurable and remarkable results. We cannot wait to bring them back to the distillery, to capture the next stage of our adventure.”

Abbie and Chris, Cooper King Distillery

“Having seen the body of work Matthew was capable of delivering when he was awarded the Film Fund bursary, co-founded by the Roundhouse and Ex-Animo Foundation, we were quick to approach him again to commission him to direct and produce another animated short film, which went on to win many awards. Matthew has established himself as a highly commended film director, and Other Brother Studios as a professional and respected entity in the film production industry.

We have known Matthew for over 6 years, working together, and have always found him a person of great integrity and a bona fide professional with a truly impressive showreel. We were also delighted to hear that Other Brother Studios started their own Film Fund to continue impact investing in young filmmakers.”

Marlena Hellebø, Ex Animo Foundation

“We were knocked out by the video we made with Matt and the team at Other Brother Studios. They made it really easy to get something positive together and delivered on everything they said they were going to do and more. The video concept Matt delivered was spot on, and the shoot and all that followed matched that. Brilliant! Great result. Thanks to you all."

Rich Webb