Yellow Boat Music & director, LIAKH provide a voice in collaboration with STAMMA UK

Yellow Boat Music are a phoenix that rose out of the glorious legacy of Joe and Co. Yellow Boat’s Composer Philip Jewson and Composer/Producer Paul Cartledge, fondly known as PC to his mates, are still based in Dean Street Studios, the one time spiritual home of Joe and Co in the heart of Soho, and more importantly just across the road from the French House.

The halcyon days of advertising would see them working on anything from The Big Breakfast to Burt Bacharach, and as the landscape of our industry has changed, these guys are still the dream team. One of the nicest, most collaborative and creative music duo’s in London, their model is more relevant now than it ever was.

Working with Yellow Boat you are working directly with the talent. This means the immediacy for clients during the creative process is second to none. The opportunities for creatives to explore, when they can converse directly with the composer helps in any situation, but especially music… When descriptions are subjective and detailing the atmosphere the client is trying to create.. explanations can easily get lost in translation.

Yellow Boat also love to work on unusual projects that they can really deep dive into. A recent collaboration with Director LIAKH for STAMMA UK ‘It’s How We Talk’ is a brilliant case in point.

STAMMA was nominated for five British Arrows, and has been submitted for consideration at the D&ADs and if you don't know about it yet you should take a look. A beautifully thought out and crafted project, designed to raise awareness and inclusivity for people with a communication disability. It's estimated that stammering affects around 1 in 50 adults, with men being around 3 to 4 times more likely to stammer than women. It can affect people’s ability to communicate in everyday situations and impact mental well being.

The Stamma project ‘It’s How We Talk’ is an empowering spotlight on this condition.

Teaming up with stammer charity STAMMA UK, and Director LIAKH, the team worked to highlight the disparity in the treatment of people who stammer, by those around them. Daniel’s vision saw a series of photos, taken by David Vintiner with the shoot produced by Germaine Walker, to create an out of home poster campaign launched on International Stammering Awareness day. Along with the stills, a film of the images were created where the images were edited to voiceover and where we are introduced to the protagonists, each talking about their experiences of how they are perceived in the world around them and how they feel they have to explain themselves. One of the most powerful lines for us was ‘I don’t need fixing’... the unspoken follow up could have been ‘I just need you to be accepting’

Yellow Boat Music’s involvement was key. PC did the beautiful recordings with each of the protagonists and Philip Jewson composed the hauntingly staccato soundscape that just breathes an atmosphere of tension and flow.

PC and Phil - What drew you to this project?

PC: The cause, the creative concept and the people making it!

PJ: Same as PC

Phil, was there anything in the content or subject matter that informed the way you composed the soundscape to the piece?

PJ: I wanted to create a track that had a parallel with the actors. It’s deliberately glitchy, to try and create a musical stutter. We wanted to avoid the obvious uplifting or emotional music route. I wanted to create a contemporary sounding piece that didn’t detract from the V/O. I created a synth loop which is the backbone of the piece. From there I did lots of different processing on the sample to keep the interest and pace to the piece. Once this loop was complete, there were only two other sounds needed, a subtle bell loop and the moody bass…..This is very unlike me as I usually throw in the kitchen sink! With so few parts you have to make sure you are making the most of each part that is there…..After a lot of manicuring I got to a place I was happy, and luckily Daniel and the team were too!

PC you recorded each of the subjects - Talk us through the process.

PC: I set the studio up like a lounge - no headphones, soft lighting, open doors. We wanted the subjects to relax and speak as naturally as possible. We didn’t want them to feel that they had to perform like a traditional VO artist. We wanted them to speak as naturally as possible, and to feel really at home.

Did you work to a script or let the Voiceovers just tell their individual stories?

PC: We had a script, but were also open to possibilities.

What is your overriding memory of the session?

PC: How lovely everybody was, and how collaborative the sessions were. The power of a group of people who had something important to communicate was tangible, it was like witnessing a force of nature and I will never forget it.

PJ: The whole team were a lovely bunch and full of energy and enthusiasm. It was a joy to work with them all.

Had you worked with Daniel before this project?

PC: No, but he was highly recommended and didn’t disappoint!!

Daniel, what drew you to the STAMMA project?

LIAKH: I have stammered as long as I can remember. So when I started my advertising career, I wanted to work with a charity that I would really give a damn about. This led to me and my creative partner at time, Josh Croston, reaching out to the fine folk at The British Stammering Association (previous name of STAMMA). The rest is history, filled with beautiful work and sleepless nights. This film (and campaign) is the fourth piece of work I was involved in. What really drew me to it is the desire of everyone on the team to do something different to any piece of work Stamma (or any other charity) has previously done. I hope we succeeded.

At what stage in the process was it decided to use the voiceover’s of genuine Stamma members, or was that part of your brief, and what challenges did that pose finding the right talent?

LIAKH: Conceptually it was a no brainer. If the purpose of the work is to shine light at someone who talks differently, then it’s only logical to give them the chance to narrate the film about them too. The main challenge was to get everyone to donate their time and step in front of the microphone – a nerve-wracking undertaking for many. But Paul and Philip are Professionals with a capital “P” and made everyone feel at home. Which resulted in a smooth and fun process. We had fun. I know I did.

What do you think the music track adds to the communication of the atmosphere of the piece?

LIAKH: We were actually thinking of not using music at all, to keep it as raw as we could to ensure the visuals and speech got all the attention. It was Philip’s idea to sketch out some ideas and after he sent the first draft everyone fell in love with it so much the original idea went straight to the bin. Thank you, Philip, you absolute star.

How did you find working with the music composer Philip Jewson, and the music producer/ engineer PC at Yellow Boat?

LIAKH: Word “love” gets thrown around lightly these days, but I absolutely loved it. Sorry for all the tiny notes I sent after-hours, gents. Next time I am in Soho I am putting my card behind the bar at “The French House”!

Can you tell us about the editing process, especially how using stills affected things?

LIAKH: I enjoy working with limitations, as they make you focus on things that you can control. So we knew we can’t shoot live action, but we can compose and light every shot exactly the way we wanted. Luckily, the editing concept landed itself perfectly to the core idea and Beth Roberts (editor) took it to the next level on her end. Having a music track composed specifically for this film helped too, as we could really time things. But nothing would be even remotely possible without Layla Boyd’s (producer, VMLY&R), Germaine Walker’s and Davit Vintiner’s (photographer) obsession with craft. A match made in heaven.

You’ve made a really powerful and beautiful film. Can you re-wind and tell us what your thoughts were when you first read the creative brief?

LIAKH: There was no brief, just the question “What cool thing can we do this year?” that Adam Noel (creative partner at VMLY&R and creative director on the project), Josh Croston (copywriter, VMLY&R) and me asked ourselves. We knew right from the start that we want to do something really visual and craft oriented, which is an interesting challenge in itself if you think about stammering – it’s an audible experience after all. We cracked it when one of the people we know said that every piece of work about stammering rarely shows the physical act of stammering. A simple idea that needed a lot of craft and love, which is what everyone brought to the project.

What do you think your next passion project will be?

LIAKH: Hard to say. I got a few things cooking, some of them probably will be released once this article is out. I just love to be busy, all day, every day. So every project is a passion project really.

You won a pencil for a Stamma project last year ‘Not Just One Day’ - Would you say you are a creative ambassador for the charity?

LIAKH: I’m just a man who STAMMA allows to let loose for a good cause. Recognition and friends made along the way are a good bonus.

You clearly bonded with the team at Yellow Boat Music - Will there be another STAMMA project in the pipeline?

LIAKH: I truly hope so. As long as Philip and Paul are okay with me sending very peculiar notes that rarely make any sense!

If you would like to find out more about Yellow Boat then please contact athene@lemonadereps.com Daniel Liakh is repped by Spindle.