Blood Harmonies

The day the music crashed out a 3rd storey window

Apologies to all those who have been asking for an update on my cello-out-the-window project. The event itself took place a couple of weeks ago and since then life has rather got in the way of blogging. I had been waiting until I had a complete video montage to show you of the day, but as this now won’t be ready for a bit longer, I thought I might as well start dropping in a few teaser shots, which today come courtesy of Simon Harvey Williams (aka Eyebrows, and you can see more of his work here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonhw/).

This montage, entitled ‘Air on a G string’ was made by Simon using some his own images of the final drop itself (more on the team of photographers and the lengths they went to in gathering video and stills in a minute). Despite the various qualms and reservations I personally had about this project, and which have been raised with me extensively on Twitter, and through this blog (not least from Simon himself), the actual dropping the cello out the window was really rather exhilarating. For the others, who had only been given a vague indication of how this scene we were recreating happens in Blood Harmonies, but not really why, I suspect the tension in the air was much the same as the adrenalin hit of any photo which relies on split-second timing. But to me, it wasn’t this single moment of impact which sent shivers, so much as seeing the turning point of my novel brought to life in all its destructive glory.

As I stood staring at the pieces of my shattered cello lying in the dust, it struck me as a vivid image of the book itself. For by the time the priceless cello in Blood Harmonies crashes to earth and splinters to pieces, (albeit with more lethal consequences than seen here) each of the characters has colluded, knowingly or otherwise, in constructing this tragic moment.  And now, none of them will ever be the same again.

One of the most exciting things about collaborating with photographers to recreate a pivotal moment from Blood Harmonies has been to see how each of them have approached the task given the minimal detail they were each told about the novel.  Namely, while one of the characters is escaping across rooftops during a heist, a priceless cello crashes four storeys and is smashed to pieces.

In the early stages of the project in January, their main concerns focused on finding a suitable shooting location which would also be a fair representation of the lane in Holland Park where the scene in Blood Harmonies actually takes place.  But gradually more questions emerged, as one might expect given the medium, not about plot or or character, but setting and mood, and wider themes they might capture on film.  A separate, recce shoot was done of the key locations in the novel, (which will be included in the final video montage) and various test-drops of other objects, including a (broken) violin were also undertaken.

All of this paid off in unexpected ways.  On the day of the main shoot,  I was able to see some of the work appearing on the various computer monitors, or on the backs of cameras.  The image on the right, also taken by Simon, immediately resonated with me.  In it, the sheen of the cello has become a distorting mirror, reflecting the building from which it will ultimately fall to its end.  Is it just me, or is there a hint menace, a note of dischord in this reflection? It was taken on a glorious sunny day, and yet something about it just feels eerily wrong. Or is it just that I am seeing things I already know, like how intimately connected the cello and the building from which it plummets are in Blood Harmonies?

Ultimately, I am too close to the novel to be able to answer this question.  But what I do know, is that watching how the photographers approached this scene help narrow my focus on several aspects of the novel and put my finger on hidden currents.  So I just want to say a BIG thanks to all of them, and to my poor, ill-fated cello. I feel certain Blood Harmonies will be a much stronger novel for your input.

THE TEAM & TECHNIQUES BEHIND THE UNMAKING OF A CELLO

The photographers who agreed to take part are all members of the invitation-only, Monday Night Photo Club.  They are a group of commercial photographers who continue to win awards internationally and whose work appears regularly in the UK press and in galleries here and abroad.  Normally they’re behind the camera, but here are a few shots from the day (the out of focus ones, or those with people’s heads chopped off are courtesy of yours truly).  Clicking on their names in the paragraph below will take you to sites where you can see more of their work (some of which might be considered unsafe for viewing in a work environment).

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT:

Mark Pritchard is an award-winning photographer and was chosen by the group as the Creative Director of this project. Nick Mayer has also won awards for his work and, I’m told studied aeronautical engineering, came up with the idea of testing the cello’s flight path using a breakfast cereal box filled, naturally enough, with rocks.  Gordon Fraser is also an award winning art photographer, whose work has appeared internationally in books and galleries. He’s seen here holding up a highly technical device he and Mark rigged up to (broken) violin with a video camera to try and capture sound and vision in one of many test drops.   Lee Irvine (centre) is a sports’ and features’ photographer, with extensive international experience, and is seen here bringing in the big guns. Simon Harvey Williams (bottom left) took the opening shots on this post, is also an award-winning photographer. Andrew Tobin is also a sports’ photographer, and his work appears regularly in the Sunday papers.  Miko Mayer, who kindly allowed her and Nick’s home to be the venue for this shoot (despite the fact they were in the middle of moving to Qatar that day), is also an award-winning photographer, and her work has appeared in galleries and in the UK press.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 17:41 and is filed under Novels in Progress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.