LMTO Upbeat transforms UK secondary school students with no prior musical experience into concert performers in just 8 weeks. The programme establishes a new orchestra in every school it visits, and West End musicians guide students on the journey from first picking up a musical instrument to performing in a concert in front of friends and family.
Upbeat gives young people a chance to discover the joy, confidence and purpose that comes from making music as a group. The programme uses easy orchestral arrangements of popular songs which fuels the students’ enthusiasm for practice and learning orchestral instruments. Since its launch in 2021, Upbeat has positively impacted over 300 students and fostered a lasting culture of music-making in 6 schools.
This assignment from LMTO Upbeat was a chance to make something fun to promote their services. Right away we decided we should be hearing from the students and staff up front, essentially narrating the film with positive testimonials. Onto this we layered fun rehearsal and performance footage – illustrating the fun journey the students went on (in the cases of some, going from never having held an instrument to being able to competently play it in a orchestra; a unbelievable change.)
As you would expect, a catchy music track underscores the piece. As we couldn’t use the actual music being played (for licencing reasons) there was particular fun to be had finding the right library track and lining up the footage with parts of the track that mirrored what was being seen, to make the whole edit seamless. The film was a great success and was a big hit with staff, students and interested donors!
