ABOUT
Positive Note is a film production company born of a collaboration between producer Daniel Norman and director Jeremy Hamway-Bidgood in 2019 to make a film to be shown during live performances of Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge.
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For this film they developed a ground-breaking system so that the film could be edited live during the performances, allowing the musicians to follow their instincts during each show, rather than being tied to a click track. The next film using this system is now in development continuing their partnership with Oxford Lieder.
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The current crisis has lead to a change of focus and current projects are dedicated to keeping performers and audiences engaged, producing lockdown performances - where everyone performs from home - and an exciting new series of enhanced live concert films.
DANIEL NORMAN
Photo by Fran Monks
An engineer by education, an opera singer by training and a film producer as a result of his quest for finding ways to make classical music appealing to a twenty first century audience.
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His first film as producer was On Wenlock Edge, a shadow play animation directed by Jeremy Hamway-Bidgood for live performances of Vaughan Williams's masterpiece song cycle.
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From the onset of the Covid 19 crisis, he was one of the first innovators in home-recorded isolation performances, and masterminded the epic St John Passion (from isolation), a co-production between the newly formed Positive Note and Oxford Bach Soloists.
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Upcoming plans include more isolation films for New College Choir and the Cheltenham Bach Choir, a series of mixed genre filmed concerts over the summer, and an ambitious guerilla filmed project with Oxford-based chamber choir, Opus 48
FILMOGRAPHY
St John Passion (from isolation)
March - May 2020
Over 100 performers recorded in their own homes, combining forces in this 9 episode performance comprising a complete performance of Bach's St John Passion. As the tragic story of Jesus's death unfolds we see the creation of Paolo Troilo's painting, "Saviours".
On Wenlock Edge
April 2019
A story of love, loss, and learning to let go before it is too late. Based on Ralph Vaughan Williams’ song cycle from 1909 and the poetry of A. E. Housman and told through a visually striking blend of traditional shadow puppetry and contemporary animation.
apart/together
July 2020
The Choristers of New College Choir with Oxford Bach Soloists in a poignant isolation film, singing Bach's beautiful aria Letzte Stunde, with footage of an empty college, chapel and rehearsal room.
Farage Saucepan Music
May 2020
A little bit of fun made to experiment with manipulating the timing of sound and video.
Old Abram Brown
March 2020
Where it all started. Our first isolation production and test of concept. Britten's Old Abram Brown. You can see him behind me, and he stayed there throughout the St John Passion as a reminder of our mortality.
Cuckoo
March 2020
Our second isolation production. Released on the day of UK lockdown, this is a beautiful performance of Britten's song from his Friday Afternoons. Marta Fontanals Simmons, Carolyn Sampson and Christopher Gould perform from home.