The Black Page
Live Performance - First performed 2009
In The Black Page our onstage band controls a cast of interactive animated characters through a narrative musical adventure.
The piece tells the story of a lost wanderer stumbles into a surreal desert landscape and learns that the door home can only be opened by an unusual guardian.
“Frank Zappa meets Salvador Dali in this unique interactive entertainment experience.”
The Black Page premiered at the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle UK on 24th September 2009.
“These are exciting times for both the music and film industries. The Sancho Plan’s live performance is an entertainment experience built to combine the narrative power of cinema with the energy of seeing a great live band.”
Ed Cookson, Director of The Sancho Plan
“Something Pixar would do if it gave up family films for avant-garde performance art, and started hanging around with Thievery Corporation and the developers of Rock Band. If only they would.”
Wired
“The Black Page is amazing, finding the group taking their concept to new heights. Part Frank Zappa drum solo, part Dali tribute, it truly is a wonder to behold.”
The North Phase
“The Black Page is a multisensory experience – a mix of animation, music and high-tech interaction.”
The Sunday Times
“Move over Pixar as audiovisual group The Sancho Plan present ‘The Black Page’, an out of the ordinary cinema experience.”
The Guardian
“I delight in The Sancho Plan’s perfect expression of the new transmedia immersive world. Like wild dogs, they are boldly marking the evolution of digital music and digital image as a live immersive experience.”
Alex McDowell, production designer (Fight Club, Watchmen) & director of the 5D Immersive Design Conference
“In our Future Of Sound shows, The Sancho Plan embodies the pioneering spirit of today’s emerging technologies guided by true artistic daring and vibrant performance – in the future all entertainment will be made this way!”
Martyn Ware, founder of the Human League & Heaven 17, and host of the Future Of Sound UK tour
Production Notes
Psychedelic Section Stills
Credits
Created & Performed by The Sancho Plan
Director Ed Cookson
Producers Beckie Darlington and Georgia Rakusen
Lead Artist Olly Venning
3D Lead Edd Dawson-Taylor
AV & Production Assistant Bruno Mathez
System Architecture Adam Hoyle / Do Tank Studios
Post Production Golden Square
VFX Producer Gil James
Lighting & Rendering Sean Elliott
Compositing Matthew Stevens
3D
Adam Lindsey
Mike Little
Mat P Stephens
Olly Sullivan
Additional 3D
Ondrej Svadlena
Gordon Dunn
Additional Character Design Sebastien Grenz
Model-making Peter Vining
Music Ed Cookson
Based on The Black Page Nos 1 & 2 by Frank Zappa
Music Mix Matt Foster
Audio
Mike Grimes
Ash
Ed Cookson
Performers
Joel Farland
Bernie Gardner
Pete Gardner
Simon Francis
Written by The Sancho Plan & Maurice Suckling
Thanks to
Mark Dobson
Tom Harvey
Alex Lambert
Alex McDowell
Amanda Ritson
Darren Turrell
Mark Walsh
Martyn Ware
Yami
