Tiny Leaves - "Mynd" artist-in-residence documentary film
During the summer of 2021, Tiny Leaves (Joel Pike) took up an artist-in-residence at the National Trust, Cardingmill Valley in the Shropshire Hills National Landscape. Longing to explore the larger narrative of portraying a place, its ecology and its feeling through music, Pike moved a number of his instruments and equipment into the former shop at National Trust Carding Mill Valley site and set up his residency (a first both for them and Pike). Being at the heart of Long Mynd allowed him to record his responses to his surroundings in real-time, taking adventures deep into the landscape, making field and biodata recordings, and tapping into the expertise of the local National Trust staff to dive into the wildlife and sites off the beaten track. Field recordings are a prominent aspect of Mynd. Incorporating his love for analogue processes, Pike would take an old tape recorder, using its internal basic microphone to capture the atmosphere and soundscape. Throughout the album, you can hear the gentle trickles of water, varying birdsong, and the valley's soft breeze, right through to the human footsteps and cacophony of noise from the thousands of visitors that venture into the valley each week.
I was commissioned to produce a short documentary about the project, set to a selection of Tiny Leaves' pieces of music produced along the way.
Full-length film
Short Version
For more information about Tiny Leaves, visit https://tinyleaves.co.uk/