A Vision Of Loveliness
For BBC Four’s The Read, Liv Hill performs ‘A Vision Of Loveliness’ by Louise Levene, a darkly comic novel which recreates the grubby glamour of 1960s London.
Client: BBC Arts / Rural Media
Sector: Narrative / 60 Mins
Services: Sound Design & Mix
SYNOPSIS
Jane James works in a cashmere shop but feels she is destined for better things. Upon meeting part-time model and socialite Suzy St John, they dive headlong into the fashion scene replete with fine dining and fancy clubs. However, Jane also experiences the sordid side of a male-dominated industry.
The narration is interspersed with comical animation scenes based on Lady Be Good, a fictional manual which lays out the ‘expected’ behaviour of women at the time and provides an ironic commentary on the main narrative.
SOUND DESIGN
The sonic world had to consist of elements that could only have existed in the 60s. We hear atmospheres of bars, clubs, streets, train stations, and period-specific sounds of cars and phones.
The animation sequences were done in a cut-out style, which allowed lots of room for enhancing the comedy through exaggerated sound.
Composer Nick Muir did an incredible job on the score, which we foregrounded as much as possible in the interludes between chapters and when underscoring the narration.
CREDITS
Director – Alice Johannessen
Performer – Liv Hill
Director Of Photography – Luke J. Collins
Producer – Julie Colman
Location Sound – Arthur Turner
Production Design – Prop It Creative Ltd
Sound Design – Brian Lane
Music Composer – Nick Muir
Colourist – Vic Parker
Post Production Coordinator – Rich Hankins
Offline Editor – Chloe Hardwick
Commissioning Editor for BBC Arts – Stephen James-Yeoman
Executive Producer – Grant Black
BROADCAST
Originally broadcast on BBC Four at 8pm, Sunday 2nd April 2023.
Now available on BBC iPlayer.