Our Story

My name is Lucas Jedrzejak and I've been making this film about early sound recording for the last 2 years. I met some phonograph enthusiasts by complete chance. I was particularly impressed that one of them, an accomplished singer, had flown all the way from Australia to the UK to make a phonograph recording. This took place not in a studio, but in the sitting room of a fellow phonograph devotee, who made the wax cylinders for the recording in his basement. No electric cables, just a wax blank indented with grooves made by sounds. From that point, I realized that it was an international story and the film has grown so big that we are interviewing in Canada, the US, Japan and The Netherlands. I realized that this would be a wonderful opportunity to share the origins of recorded sound and its development up to the present day. We are all interested in other peoples lives and this story is no exception. You will be entertained by some eccentric characters, learn some interesting facts and love the film (hopefully).

The Impact

Imagine a world without recorded sound. Its hard to do. But before Edison's invention of the phonograph the only way to listen to music was live or via a live radio broadcast. We all live our lives rushing around against the backdrop of one soundtrack after another. A main goal of the film is to enlighten the audience as to the history of sound recording and help them appreciate its significance. 

Today there are only a few record shops left in the UK where you can purchase your own vinyl. Spotify and MP3 music files take priority, with click-of-a-mouse download. Sadly, the social element of sharing music is disappearing very quickly too. 

What We Need & What You Get

We need to raise $15K which would enable us (a small crew of 3) to travel to Japan, the US and Canada. We would cover the shoot costs on location and rough edits. We are lucky with most of the musical sores as they are over 100 years old so we don't need to pay much for the copyright usage. We will use cheap shared accommodation and accept free transport where possible. We have our own equipment so don't need to hire any extras. A great creative bunch in UK are already helping us for no fee. 

If we don't managed to raised the entire sum we could limit the characters in the film to 4 or 5 and rethink geographical locations, perhaps not reaching Japan as this is the most expensive shoot location. Then the film would wrap with current material and the money would go towards final edits, graphics, voice over and marketing/distribution. The film would definitely get release in some form of shape - we have received very nice and positive comments from major broadcasters in UK and Finland.

As far as I am aware such a film has never been made before. For this reason, a few universities have expressed their interest in using this film as an educational tool.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you are based in US, Canada or Japan and could help with logistics or accommodation. That would be highly appreciated. If you are a filmmaker, producer, sound recordist, animator, graphic designer, history consultant on the subject of early recorded sound and would like to get involved please drop us a line! Please, please, please spread the word. It should be fun making this film together!