He has created and overseen the multi-platform BBC project The City Speaks together with composer David Pickvance and sound designer Pete Ringrose.
(meta data) TITLE: Radio 4 to co-produce feature film | Media | The Guardian (meta data) AUTHOR: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/bendowell (meta data) PUBLISHER: https://www.facebook.com/theguardian (meta data) PUBLISHED DATETIME: 2007-04-10T08:46:10-0400 Skip to main content The Guardian - Back to home Support The Guardian Available for everyone, funded by readers Search jobs Sign in current edition: US edition AU politics Indigenous Australia # Radio 4 makes film foray Ben Dowell Tue 10 Apr 2007 08.46 EDT First published on Tue 10 Apr 2007 08.46 EDT London: Radio 4 is developing ideas based on a story written by Peter Ackroyd, novelist and chronicler of the capital. Photograph: Guardian BBC Radio 4 is to co-produce its first ever feature film, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal. The station's drama department is embarking on the multimedia project about London, called City Speaks, to culminate in a premiere at London's 3-D IMAX cinema. It will be the network's first serious attempt to harness images to radio content, working in collaboration with the Arts Council of England and film agency Film London. Overseen by director and producer Conor Lennon, the network is currently developing ideas based on a story written by Peter Ackroyd, the celebrated novelist, biographer and chronicler of London. The story concerns the discovery of a 1,000-year-old prophecy about a vision of the Virgin Mary discovered by altar boys in a London church. The station will produce two 45-minute radio dramas responding to the themes of the story, each containing three "playlets". The playlets will be scripted by six different young writers - Michael Walker, Nick Warburton, Alison Joseph, Lin Coghlin, Mark Norfolk and Mehrdad Seyf - and overseen by six separate directors. From this material, six film-makers will make six films which then be melded together into one larger single film. The film-markers include short film specialist William Raban and relative newcomer Alnoor Dewshi and were assembled by Maggie Ellis, the head of production at Film London. The 90-minute film will get its premiere at the IMAX cinema in London's Waterloo. The idea is then to show it in cinemas across Britain, according to the Radio 4 commissioner for drama, Jeremy Howe. Mr Howe said the project may also involve collaboration with "other TV channels within the BBC" and will be part of a London season on Radio 4, probably in Febraury 2008. "It is non-narrative film making and the workshops have so far produced some stunning ideas with people working in completely different ways but all joined up," Mr Howe said. "We are getting radio writers who don't often work with film-makers working with film-makers who rarely work with writers and we hope the result will be sensational. "Already there has been more heat and light coming from the workshops than you could imagine." Mr Lennon said the project aimed to invert the relationship between sound and vision and provide a "vision track" to the spoken material. When it is broadcast, Radio 4 will have a red button service for digital TV transmission enabling viewers to see the visual material, the first time the station has shown a feature-style film to accompany spoken material. "Radio is very excited about introducing visual material because of new technology," Mr Lennon said. "In Korea they are developing Eye River radio sets which can transmit images to accompany the sound and Radio 4 wants to be a part of this multiplatform revolution." · To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. · If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". Radio industry Reuse this content
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Conor Lennon
British Broadcasting Corporation.
From June 2004 until October 2007 Lennon was Radio Drama Producer for Special Projects at BBC. He was tasked with creating new forms of audio-visual and online content in association with the Arts Council and Film London and collaborations with European broadcasters, won a European Broadcasting Union (EBU) competition to create and execute a collaborative drama project and developed outreach projects in schools and community organisations through setting up a collaborative creative audio portal for students.