Hitchcock's Beatbox Film Score

Whilst the world of film today has certainly changed much from its early, simplistic beginnings; there is something to be said for the dramatic beauty of those early movies.

This fantastic opportunity for young people was made possible by the BFI and THAMES in response to the restoration of the Hitchcock Silent 9; Alfred Hitchcock’s 9 surviving silent films made between 1925 to 1929. Read more here

The Opportunity

The British Film Institute offered up the chance for young people to compose  music and dance based on the new musical score by beatbox artist Shlomo for Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Downhill”. 25 Year 9 pupils from Tower Hamlets schools were selected to be part of the project.

Act 1 – Shlomo’s Live Beatbox Score

We began with a visit to arts venue Stratford Circus to experience the live performance of the new score for Hitchcock’s Downhill written by World Loopstation Champion and Guinness World Record Holder beatboxer Shlomo.

Whilst the movie itself had no speaking throughout (being a silent movie) the pupils were transfixed by the 5 singers and beatboxers performing alongside, for many, their first experience of a black and white film.

Act 2 – Workshops to Writing

Once the pupils had experienced first hand how modern can mix with old one group were set the task of creating their own score while the other group were given the challenge of choreographing a piece of dance theatre inspired by this iconic piece of film.

The groups met weekly over an 8 week period in which they went from complete beginners to creators of a remarkable work of art that they and their schools were extremely proud of.

The music group worked with music educators Dave Darch and Dominic Peckham in collaboration with Shlomo. The dance group worked with Jess Williams from Frantic Assembly and Francesca Gkotsi for THAMES.

Act 3 – Showcase at Richmix

After all the hard work creating and rehearsing it was time for the pupils to showcase their creation at Rich Mix, an East London multivenue and cinema. Every single one of the 25 young people had worked extremely hard and, thanks to the professional artists who had dedicated their time, the pupils had a huge sense of achievement in their creative output.

The show was attended by friends, family and the public and was documented by photographer Matt Russell.

We believe that children and young people should be encouraged to unleash their creativity through a multitude of art forms. However, a strong foundation of skill and knowledge needs to be in place if they are to produce what they are truly capable. If we can teach our budding artists the basics and give them opportunities to perform like this then we hope to lay the foundations for our future producers, directors, composers or theatre performers to produce work on par with that of Hitchcock himself!

We excel at partnering schools and cultural organisations to give young people high quality, well structured experiences of taking part and creating in the arts. If you are a school or cultural organisation who is interested in working with us please don’t hesitate to get in touch.