New writer Glenn Marshall approached us to bring his script to life! Based on his memories of growing up in Radford, a borough of Nottingham in the 1970s, this hugely ambitious project recreated the people and places of the time, in all their glory.
We set about researching the kind of look and feel of the era by accessing archives at the library, this proved to be a treasure trove, even containing film footage of the streets and relevant signage. We mocked-up some of our own signs. As you can imagine, costume was a major element in this project, we worked with a local theatre company as well as a team of costume designers who trawled charity shops and market stalls to find the right garments for our cast.
We cast locally, drawing on an assembly of talent from our network as well as non-professional actors who looked and sounded the part. Props and scenery came care of a few antiques shops and prop houses. We hired a vintage 70s classic car for one of the scenes too.
We established the look of the piece by shooting on vintage lenses with a Tiffin Pro-Mist filter to add a glowy look to the highlights (bright parts) of the image. We also hired a smoke machine to recreate the hazy atmosphere of the period, with smoking inside being rife. To protect the crew from secondhand smoke we used camomile cigarettes - hopefully it added to the chill atmosphere on set!
