Interview with Nick Jordan , director of Thought Broadcasting. So where did the idea of focusing on broadcasting come from? With the recent revelations by Edward Snowden, of mass data gathering and monitoring by our secret services, I thought it would be apt to combine a paranoid, anxious psychosis with issues of surveillance or spying. Can you tell us a bit more about the selection of filming locations?
They are now everywhere, and have become almost invisible to us on a daily basis, despite being so prominent. Most of the phone masts were filmed in my home city of Manchester. I also filmed in an abandoned broadcast television station, plus an actual psychiatric training video unit β which is where I shot the role-play sequences. The other main location is Menwith Hill, Yorkshire. Why did you choose to have a voice over? I usually work in layers of sound, combining voice-over, archive audio, location sounds and the soundtrack score performed by Lord Mongo.
It has a transformative power, in a way that only cinema can achieve I believe. The voice-over is mainly from a patient role-play, and I wanted more visual interest and contrast with visuals from a wider, external landscape. Fellow artist Clara Casian stood in as the AV technician in the film, observing and documenting the recording. How did you work on the sounds and vibrations? He creates these amazing tracks based on a mere hint or suggestion from me. Sometimes this is just a phrase or word, which is enough for Lord Mongo fire up his imagination, work late at night in trance-like state of mind, and conjure up these evocative, atmospheric scores.
He uses a whole range of tools and devices, such as a MiniBrute synth, guitar, flute, hammer, scrunched leavesβ¦which he manipulates and molds into something. What are your interests as a filmmaker?
What are you keen to experiment with in a future project? The subjects usually relate to the interconnections between natural, cultural and social history.
