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!