Unboxed - Green Spaces Dark Skies: BBC 1
Featured On: BBC1 / BBC Countryfile
Produced By: Walk the Plank / Unboxed / BBC Countryfile
For Green Space Dark Skies, thousands of people from all paths in life became Lumenators, each carried a low impact light into the landscape. Together, we experienced beautiful green spaces across the UK. Thousands of lights made patterns on mountains, lakes and moorland across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These lights were sensitive to the night-time environment.
Led by outdoor arts experts Walk the Plank, 20 events took place from April to September 2022. We took the nation on a journey through our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), to a climactic closing moment across the UK that was broadcast to millions. These are places that anyone can visit, any time, for free. But we know not everybody feels welcome there. Walk the Plank invited people who don’t usually experience the countryside to take part and to share their stories – before, during and after.
The 15-minute long Finale film, written, directed and edited by Mark Murphy with music by Nainita Desai, was the first ever piece of externally produced footage to be shown on BBC Countryfile. The hour-long special episode, broadcast on BBC One, focused on all four of the Finale locations and closed with our Finale film, watched by 5.5 million people.
The film can be watched here: https://youtu.be/R_UpPxW6gyk
THE MAKING OF THE MUSIC
Each mountain had its own theme and the music had to be composed before the performance took place, in order to allow the director to choreograph, structure and edit the whole performance around the music.
Inspiration came from the land, and the volcanic origins of the mountains, so the score had to take you on an dramatic and emotional journey throughout time illustrating the epic landscape. It portrays human endeavour, it’s about the heartlands and the joy of nature and sharing the experience of connecting with the land.
Matt Kelly performed the strings with a neo-folk approach which resonated with the earthiness of humans and land coming together. Imagine thousands of lights making patterns on mountains, lakes and moorland across the UK ! It was a very uplifting and emotional experience.
MUSIC CREDITS:
Strings: Matt Kelly
FILM CREDITS:
Music originally commissioned by Walk The Plank for Unboxed ‘Green Space Dark Skies Finale'.
Writer, Director and Film Editor - Mark Murphy
Executive Producers - John Wassell, Madeleine Knight, Gareth Hughes
Senior Creative Advisor and SFX Director - Richard Babington
Music supervisor - Julie Blake, AURA
Additional production team at CC-Lab:
Producers - Olly Pollard, Mark Thorne
Executive Producer - Jason Hocking
Director - Rupert Shanks
Soundtrack Cover image: Phil Smyth