On the occasion of Chris Watson‘s installation ‘Whispering in the Leaves’ at the Sunderland Winter Gardens, commissioned for AVFest 2008, film maker and academic Nick Cope took the opportunity to interview the Newcastle based and world-renowned sound recordist, experimental musician and sound artist about his work, for Sounding Out, the international academic conference on sound and the moving image.
Dir. Nick Cope, Video/DVD, Documentary on the work of Sound Recordist and Artist Chris Watson, 2008, 29’41”
From founder member of Sheffield-based electronic music pioneers Cabaret Voltaire, via sound recording work for Tyne Tees Television and the Royal Society of Birds, Chris has gone on to win a BAFTA award for his work on David Attenborough’s ‘Life of Birds’, working on numerous wildlife documentaries, radio programmes, music and sound art projects, films and computer games. In 2012 Chris was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his work by the North East and Borders region Royal Television Society.
From its inception in 2002, the Sounding Out symposium has sought to raise the profile of research into sound and bring together from around the world a range of sound theorists and practitioners working on different aspects of sound – film, radio, video, sonic arts and electro-acoustic music, with an emphasis on exploring interconnections across media and disciplines.
Originally designed to stake out a new territory for film studies by raising the profile of sound within the sound-image relationship, whilst contributing significantly to the newly emerging area of sound studies. The five bi-annual events to date have brought together scholars and practitioners from around the world, identifying practices and scholarship not just in the UK but also USA, Australia, Europe and India, reflecting contemporary globalization interests.
Sounding Out 3 and 4 were hosted by the University of Sunderland in 2006 and 2008. The symposium hoped to invite Chris Watson to be a keynote speaker in 2008, though due to other commitments Chris was unable to attend in person. Instead film maker and academic, Nick Cope, took the opportunity to interview Chris on camera and put together this interview and documentary about Chris’ work for screening at Sounding Out 4 and subsequently Sounding Out 5 in Bournemouth in 2010. Combining an interview between Nick and Chris, with footage shot by Nick Cope of Chris’s installation in the Sunderland Winter Gardens and archive footage of Chris’s work both for the BBC and various music performances and recordings.
Sounding Out 5 – 2010: http://soundingout.bournemouth.ac.uk/
Invited Presentation and Screening:
Sounding Out 5, University of Bournemouth, September 2010.
Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, December 2010.
Sounding Out 4, University of Sunderland, September 08
nick cope film & video 