24LINES (2011)
24 Lines was shot over 4 of the hottest days in London this year: Easter Weekend 2011. A mobile crew of 4 actors, 1 make up artist, an assistant and The Astburys themselves shot 24 scenes across several locations in London including Greenwich and the vibrant area of Soho. Helena & Jake took roles of directors and camera operators with Jake employing his skills in cinematography and Helena producing each shoot day.
24 Scenes, each at least 3 minutes long, contain only one line, or none.
24Lines started life as two separate concepts; A structural idea for a long-form piece of 24 scenes containing one line each and an idea for a future live performance piece around angelic and demonic figures, being worked upon by Jake and Helena respectively. Working as solo makers as often as together, Helena & Jake realised that these ideas, originally intended to be entirely independent of each other, on examination transpired as being two concepts that could work fused together.
During both the casting process and the shoot The Astburys worked on scenes by asking the performers to deliver their line within a given timeframe as opposed to a fixed cue point, or if a cue existed it would be something that the performers themselves would have to initiate.
The viewer will see at intervals glimpses of a lover scene, at first appearing as simple punctuation of their everyday life as a couple - in fact this is one single scene, shown in reverse order, from the past, a memory. These scenes were shot continuously as one long sequence and have been separated out to punctuate the piece.
Music from Netherlands Avant Garde duo Bebe Fang, German field recording Artist Mirko Uhlig and American Neo Rockers Viva American Death Ray Music complete the piece.
A Film by The Astburys
24 Lines
JULIET LUNDHOLM AL SMITH
OMAR SHAKER as Gabriel
JAMES TWEEDY as Lucky
Casting Assistant GEMMA WARING
Make-Up Artist CATT BAUM
Costume Consultant CLARE AMOS
Director of Photography JAKE ASTBURY
Music by MIRKO UHLIG, BEBE FANG, VIVA L'AMERICAN DEATH RAY MUSIC
Editor HELENA ASTBURY
Additional Sound Editing
SARAH CORKE
Executive Producer OMAR SHAKER
Story by THE ASTBURYS
Written, Directed and Produced by JAKE ASTBURY & HELENA ASTBURY
UK 2011, Colour HD, 2.35:1
Running Time 60 minutes
English, Spanish, Swedish
