The Pitch Film competition and Aldeburgh Young Musicians (AYM) have announced that they are collaborating to create a score for 2011 Pitch winner Tim Bassford and his short film, Samson.
For many years now, both organisations have worked hard to nurture young talent. Since 1948 AYM have strived, through a yearlong programme, to help young people fulfil their potential and to provide a place for musicians to gather. However, this is the first time they have run a course that’s focused on building a score for the screen. It’s clearly been a success because 26 lucky musicians, all under the age of 18, will be working on Samson at Britten Studios with Harry Escott (composer for Steve McQueen’s Shame) and Laura Rossi (London to Brighton and The Cottage).
Pitch has also put a lot of effort towards creating roads into the film industry for their participants. The success of latest winner, Tim Bassford, should encourage many. He was given £25,000 to shoot his film on location in London’s Canary Wharf, which he did in June of this year. Once the score is complete, Pitch have arranged Samson to be taken to Hollywood and shown to industry professionals before going on a film festival tour, so it’s easy to see what an opportunity this is for those 26 young people.
They seem to be enjoying it, too. Colin Virr, Head of Aldeburgh Young Musicians had this to say: “The young people are fascinated by the process. Samson is a film with high production values, great performances and offers a really rich variety of scenes to stretch the talent of our musicians.”
Luke Walton, producer for Reel Issues Films and director of Pitch, seems equally pleased saying “The talent we are seeing here is fantastic and I have no doubt that some of these young people will soon be shaping the sounds of the film industry here and abroad. Tim is a talented director and we are thrilled that he has the opportunity of developing his project in this unique environment.”
To be a part of future AYM endeavours go to ww.aldeburgh.co.uk/aym and to enter Pitch’s next film competition go to: www.enterthepitch.com..
