Made in 1904, The Mistletoe Bough is the earliest film version of a classic Christmas ghost story in which a husband loses his wife during a game of hide and seek, only to be startled by her ghost 30 years later.

This recently restored film from the BFI National Archive features a new score created in a day long workshop at Watershed in which musiciansaged 18-25 were encouraged to experiment with new approaches to playing and producing, in order to bring the dark heart of this film back to life.

The workshop was led by renowned musician Tony Orrell, and as part of the workshop the young musicians were able to experiment with a brand new musical instrument - The Alphasphere, developed at Watershed's Pervasive Media Studio by Adam Place and his company nu desine.

Tony Orrell plays drums with jazz saxophone star Andy Sheppard in The Pushy Doctors, The Charles Hazlewood All Star Collective, and The Gas Giants (featuring Will Gregory from Goldfrapp). Recent recordings include Adrian Utley Guitar Orchestra's version of Terry Riley's 'In C' and ex- Robert Plant and Grammy award winning bassist Charlie Jones' 'Love Form' that was awarded 4 stars by Q magazine.

Adam Place is the Founding Director of nu desine, a design firm, and he is the inventor of the AlphaSphere, a new electronic musical instrument and controller that reinvents the way you interact with sound. Its distinctive design is made up of 48 tactile pressure sensitive pads arranged in a spherical structure, providing an ergonomic and visually striking tool for electronic musicians (including producer and composer Talvin Singh).

The Alphasphere can be used to trigger any arrangement of notes or samples using the pads' pressure to further control the sound. The sphere can also be used as a controller for mixing and manipulating music in real time, providing musicians with greater levels of expression and freedom in composition, production, and performance. Adam is also an electronic music producer and has a background in music as a vocalist and pianist.

As part of BFI Gothic, Watershed also held a special immersive event around Kubrick's 1980 classic The Shining. Along with a digitally restored screening of the film itself, the audience was treated to first class, idiosyncratic hospitality in the ballroom, kitchens and lounges of the Overlook Hotel.

This event was presented as part of BFI Gothic.

Posted on Sun 23 Feb 2014.

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