GIDDY STRATOSPHERES a Day on the Set from Director Laura Jean Marsh
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by Laura Jean Marsh, Filmmaker
Screenmancer Exclusive: We queried GIDDY STRATOSPHERES director Laura Jean Marsh about doing a behind-the-scenes look at the making of her new film, that opened Sept. 14 from Gravitas Ventures. To set up Marsh’s reveal on how she wrote GIDDY STRATOSPHERES during the first lockdown in the UK, here’s some official background on the film, including a clip.
In GIDDY STRATOSPHERES, you’ll find out about “Breakfast Vodka” and take a romp with a rowdy rocking bunch, including Daniel and Lara, our Giddy Indie Kid Soul Mates, who spiral in the center of the storm and broken glass that was the 00’s Indie Music Scene. Beautiful, mischievous and disheveled, and on a quest for the ultimate Euphoria, Hedonism and Excitement that comes with dancing and thrashing on the front row to your new favorite song by your new favorite band. They don’t miss a gig. They don’t miss a beat.
After the furious joy of dancing all night to a smorgasbord of incredible live music, then the DJ playing tune after tune of massive indie hits….looms darker spells in the shadows of the after party. The laughter has gone and is replaced by closed curtains blocking the morning light and the whispered shame of over-indulgence. How far can they push it, when they don’t want the night to end?
Daniel and Lara, don their new boots, their perfectly scrawled eyeliner and ripped tights and indulge in a night of Pure Euphoria. Dancing on the tables in an infamous North London Live Music Pub, to their favorite band ‘The Long Blondes’… One week after getting their lyrics ‘Giddy Stratospheres’ tattooed on their fingers.
At 6am they spill out of an after party to head straight to Lara’s Grandmothers funeral. Lara hasn’t slept and is clutching a poem she wrote when she was 10. Daniel is desperate for Lara to remember the events from the night before. Why is she in denial?
GIDDY STRATOSPHERES is a love song to an incredibly special time for Music and Mayhem. A story of furiously loyal friendship and feral, animalistic expression. A film dressed in a beret, pencil skirt and black eyeliner, dancing to the soundtrack of the best of Noughties Indie tunes. Shot entirely in UK Lockdown.
GIDDY STRATOSPHERES features a soundtrack of huge Indie Hits from Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads, The Walkmen, Le Tigre, The Rapture, Art Brut, The Cribs, Black Wire, The Rocks, Theoretical Girl, Pink Grease and more.
The film was written and directed by Laura Jean Marsh and stars Jamal Franklin and Marsh. Gravitas Ventures released GIDDY STRATOSPHERES on digital platforms on Sept. 14, and now you can meet the director here.
First the Film
Meet The Filmmaker
LAURA JEAN MARSH: I wish I could give a detailed ‘Behind The Scenes’ kinda glimpse into some of the heavier days on the set, and some of the heavier scenes from my first feature film. But sadly, If I did it would give too much of the plot away and I want people to watch it!
There were some very emotionally testing days on set. Scenes unraveling in front of me that were drawn from past experiences in my own life, that I never thought I would experience again.
I wrote Giddy Stratospheres at the very beginning of the first U.K Lockdown. A Love Song to a period of time in my life that formed me. Set in the infamous mid-00’s Indie Music Scene in London. I was in my late teens and early twenties and I was spiraling in the centre of the storm of guitars and broken glass that surrounded me. I was fronting a band, DJ-ing and Running club nights. Hedonism and Incredible Live Music was on the menu every day of the week, With a smorgasbord of options every night.
We were spoilt for choice when it came to club Nights and exciting performances. We were a Family, albeit an incestuous and dysfunctional one. It was an extremely exciting and electric time but not without drama and heartbreak.
I wrote the story of Daniel and Lara, two star crossed Indie Kids, Best Friends… on their way to Lara’s Grandmothers funeral. They haven’t slept, and Daniel is trying to trigger Lara to remember the events from the night before. She is reluctant and stubborn… and In Denial?
The viewer is treated to flashbacks from the wild night before. Slowly unraveling the events that Lara is pushing to the back of her subconscious. The crescendo of truth crashes down on her, as she reads a poem she wrote for a Gran when she was 10 years old in front of her family.
The rest you will have to discover when you watch the film!
The challenges whilst filming were plentiful.
Our filming blocks were through November and December 2020.
We were shooting in between Lockdowns.
I was adamant that I needed to execute the vibe of the live music nightclubs and bars I spenT my 20’s in.
It was of upmost importance that I respected ‘The Scene’ I was a part of.
It needed to feel exactly the same. The characters looked and sounded the same. I wanted our audience to be able SMELL the cigarette smoke, to feel the euphoria of live music wash over them. To want to be there but also feel the danger those nights brought with them. The knife edge.
All this on my mind and I also needed to keep the Crew and cast One Hundred Percent Safe. Covid Testing, Social Distancing, Temperature taking and Mask wearing were all unquestionable daily tasks.
As the ‘nightclub’ dates approached, I couldn’t help but worry that we wouldn’t be able to execute my vision for these scenes. Keeping people safe was No.1, but what was the point of making my film at all if it didn’t feel like the sweaty exciting mess that was the reality of the ‘Scene’ I was so in love with.
The morning came where we were filming the first of our club / live music scenes. Myself, my Producer Bethany Slater (Who also plays the DJ ‘Bella High Kick’ in the film) had spent the night before dressing the venue with our Set Dressers.
I had managed to bag a genuine venue from the 00’s.
The Legendary MACBETH in Hackney, in the 00’s artistic mecca that was East London.
The Macbeth had been the scene of many of my hedonistic crimes, and was famed for many incredible bands and artists of the time playing legendary gigs.
Often resulting in messy, early hours after-parties and housing scenester hangers-on and other waifs and strays that had no where else to go.
The venue was looking perfectly imperfect. Fairy lights, tinsel curtains, a wall of booze behind the bar and dingy lighting, courtesy of our amazing DP Jack Miller. The three live acts I had booked for the scene had sound checked on the dingy stage. (Wargasm, Industry Standard and Modern Guilt – Check Em Out!)
And it was impossible not to be excited. The sound of electric guitars filling the air and the thump of live drums. Myself, cast and cew had been starved of live music due to COVID-19.
Lets face it, a whole world of music lovers feels the same.
So the opportunity to watch these acts in the context of making a film seemed too lucky for words… The perfect loophole.
As our young Actors arrived and had gone through all the long winded, yet necessary Covid-Safe Measures we had set up on the door, they then disappeared upstairs onto our Costume and Make up floor.
Our ‘Glam Squad’ team (Aaron Francis Walker – Costume Designer and an old Friend of mine from the 00’s , Make Up Designer Charli Avery, and Make Up Artists Lily Simmonds and Jules West) had the challenge of transforming our ‘Gen-Z’ 2020’s young actors into Punky, Edgy and Glamorously disheveled 00’s Indie Kids.
As my Assistant Director Josh Harper (Also plays ‘Jasper Cage’ in the movie!), my DP, and I set up the shots for the first band, I turned to see our newly transformed Characters trickle down the stairs, onto set.
Blonde hair was now dyed black, baggy sweatpants had been replaced by skinny black, torn jeans, perfectly blow dried hair had been twisted into space buns, nail varnish was now chipped, eyeliner smudged and the rosy cheeks of enthusiastic and healthy young actors were now the pasty complexion of a nightlife vampire.
Myself and my older on-set friends on set couldn’t help laughing (and half wanting to cry). Everyone looked so bang-on. The cast were carrying themselves differently.
Our ‘Drug Dealer’ character ‘Zee’ (Played by the brilliant Nadia Lamin) was wigged to perfection, with dozens of chunky silver rings, a Courtney Love-esque night gown, fishnet tights and DM boots. Her soft, well spoken accent had disappeared and she was fully into character, swaggering around the room. Everyone looked PERFECT. The room looked perfect.
We pumped the smoke machine as the first band hit the stage.
We placed our cast in COVID-19 safe spaces, yet cheating the gaps to pull off the look of a swarming crowd.
And as I yelled action for the first time that day, I knew, with the help of my incredible team…..I had pulled it off.
We were back in time.
It was 2007 again and I had to choke back the tears.
Follow the filmmaker here:
insta : @laurajeanmarsh @giddystratospheresfilm
twitter : @laurajeanmarsh @filmgiddy
Giddy’s Media Handles:
@giddystratospheresfilm
@FilmGiddy
For more info about the film, go to:
http://www.giddystratospheresfilm.com/
Screenmancer thanks Filmmaker Laura Jean Marsh for sharing her on set stories.
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