A Multi-Media Summer

Bethany Stenning, 4th Year BA Music (with Year Abroad) student reports on her varied summer activities.

During the summer I was asked to fly out to Dublin to take part in a short film. I was living in Dublin for the second half of my year abroad (I spent the first half in Paris), and whilst I was there I performed frequently at various pubs/cafes etc. During The Circle Sessions open mic, I met a filmography student who took my details and said he would potentially be in contact with me in the future for an opportunity. He emailed me during the summer and 4 days later I flew out to take part in his film!

The film is still in production so there is no video to share yet, but the film takes place in an open mic/pub gig setting so there are many different artists performing – who in essence tell the story on the behalf of the characters who rarely talk. The concept of the music/comedian/poets telling the story of two people was a really interesting concept and puts a nice twist on the relationship between music and films. The music is the story, instead of being an accompaniment or an accentuation of emotion. It was a fun project to be a part of and I look forward to the finished result! 

For the majority of this summer I have been working in Cornwall, whilst working on my second album which will be out in the next few months. I worked on a few videos for the album, and one can be seen here for one of the tracks on the album called ‘Tin Foil Men’.

I also worked at Glastonbury at the start of summer. I paint the bins and murals for the festival with an art team – I have attached an example of a Van Gogh Bin I painted this year for the festival. The music was epic this year with James Blake, Sigur Ros, and loads of mad bands!

Bethany.