The following film is the first drama piece from the studios of Mono Media Films. For its inspiration, we’ve gone back to our first documentary, namely ‘A Man in a Hurry.’
With a script by celebrated tenor saxophonist and writer Simon Spillett, ‘THE LITTLE GIANT‘ details a few days in the life of perhaps the UK’s finest jazzer, Tubby Hayes. We find him in 1967, now struggling after a few years of unrivalled success running from the late 1950s to the early/mid 1960s.
Tubby’s life was simply beginning to unravel. Modern jazz as he played it, was in the doldrums. Pop music swept away all before it. Added to this, Tubby’s personal life was in a destructive spiral too. Drink, drugs and a succession of women were all in the mix, whilst he frantically tried to get back to what he once had.
Our film documents a week in the life of Tubby and sheds light on his troubles. Produced by Mark Baxter and edited and directed by Lee Cogswell, Mono Media Films are proud to present ‘THE LITTLE GIANT‘
Language some might find offensive and mild sexual content.
Tubby – Paul Tadman
Ronnie – Charlie Carter
Doris – Cassandra French
Bob – Alexis Saunders
Based on a script by Simon Spillett
Addition Script by Mark Baxter
Hair & make up by Claudine Rose
Director of Photography – Daniel Thompson
Sound & Edit by Lee Cogswell
Music by Kris Halpin
Producer by Mark Baxter
Director by Lee Cogswell
All characters, places and incidents in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
© MMXX Mono Media Films. All Rights Reserved.
Here’s a new book from Mono Media Films’ producer, Mark Baxter.
If you enjoyed our film ‘A Man in a Hurry‘ about Tubby Hayes, you may be interested in this new, limited edition, book.
TUBBY HAYES – The Life Behind The Tenor
Curated with an introduction by Mark Baxter
Foreword by Simon Spillett
Afterword by Richard Hayes
Book binding by Tangerine Press.
For information on how to purchase the book, please contact mono_media@hotmail.com
Here’s the short film THE FIRST DAY.
THE FIRST DAY is a fly on the wall glimpse at the first rehearsal, on 2nd July 2018, for Paul Weller‘s Royal Festival Hall gig.
This short film “THE FIRST DAY” was screened in Vue cinema’s across the UK, alongside Paul Weller‘s Royal Festival Hall gig, in February 2019.
Shot & Edited by Lee Cogswell
Additional Camera – Daniel Thompson
Audio mix – Charles Rees
Mono Media Films began, when myself and Mark met, back in 2013. And so, as this decade draws to a close, I’ve looked back at the work we’ve achieved so far. I could never have imagined where this would lead to.
Our independently made documentary films were really well received and have been screened all over the world. These were made with a lot of passion and hard work, both on niche subjects, they somehow seemed to find audiences far bigger than we expected.
Our first big project as MMF, Tubby Hayes: A Man in a Hurry was narrated by Martin Freeman and featured Sir Peter Blake, Michael Horowitz, Jeffrey Kruger, Ray Gelato.
John Simons: A Modernist featured, amongst others, Paul Weller, Kevin Rowland, Suggs, John Hegarty and Robert Elms.
We teamed up with Channel X to create Peter Blake: Pop Art Life, commissioned by Sky Arts. We looked at the work Sir Peter Blake created over his career within the world of music. This was a real big one for us. This doc featured Sir Peter Blake, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Suggs, Chris Jagger and Bob Geldof.
We had the pleasure of being on set and documenting the making of the film JAWBONE, interviewing director Thomas Napper, writer and lead actor Johnny Harris, actors Ray Winstone, Michael Smiley and Ian McShane, trainer Barry McGuigan and sound track composer Paul Weller. We have also made ‘behind the scenes’ docs for Sulphur & White and the short film Beverley.
We created lots of work with musicians and bands.
With Stone Foundation, we made many music videos (featuring Calum MacNab, Steve Furst and Andy Nyman), we made EPKs for several of their recent albums, filmed and edited the live show ‘Live Rituals’, I traveled with the band, documenting their first trip to Japan and also made the short documentary Keep On Keepin’ On about the band’s collaboration with soul legend Nolan Porter.
For Paul Weller, we created EPKs about his albums ‘A Kind Revolution’ and ‘True Meanings’. Spending time in the studio while Paul records is fascinating and always an education. We made music videos for his song White Horses, probably the piece of work I am most proud of, and for Movin On, with artist Ed Gray. We made the short film First Day that was shown in cinemas alongside Paul’s 2018 Royal Festival Hall gig and we also filmed and edited The Black Barn Sessions featuring Miles Kane and Samm Henshaw.
We made a short doc called If Destroyed Still True with Pete Williams about his album H.O.L.L.A.N.D. and a short film with Kris Halpin, The Gloves Are On, about his 2016 adventures with the Mi.mu gloves. We made performance promos with Steve Pilgrim featuring Double Bass man Danny Thompson and a music video for Mark Butcher.
We made a short documentary piece about LeRoy Hutson, The Man!, for Acid Jazz Records and PIAS that was released by Apple. For this we interviewed Craig Charles, Norman Jay MBE, Femi Fem, Andrew Levy and Simon Bartholomew.
As a Beatles fan, it was incredible to get to spend a day at Abbey Road in Studio 2, documenting album recording with the band The Moons.
DJ Gary Crowley was the subject of a 10 minute profile piece, The Life, Music & Hairstyles of Gary Crowley, Commissioned by Demon Records and Modfather Clothing. Always a pleasure to work with GC.
It’s hard to believe how many great projects we’ve had the privilege of being involved with so far.
We’re a small team but we’re passionate about what we do. We’re currently in the edit, on a feature length TV documentary due for release in 2020. More on that in due course.
Thank you, to everybody we’ve had the pleasure to work alongside and to those that have supported us and followed the work we’ve done.
Happy New Year. Happy New Decade. Much love, all.
Lee
Episode 1 featuring Miles Kane and The Mysterines.
Episode 2 featuring Samm Henshaw and Villagers.
Episode 3 features Connie Constance, Villagers’ Conor O’Brien and Paul and his band give “Woo Sé Mama” from “A Kind Revolution” the live treatment.
Episode 4 features Miles Kane and The Mysterines performing ‘I Walk on Guilded Splinters’ with Paul and his band.
We had a great time making The Black Barn Sessions. Here are some behind the scenes photographs by Yvonne Cogswell.
Back in July, we spent a couple of days at Black Barn Studios, to film this new project. Hopefully, the first of many episodes.
Paul Weller Presents The Black Barn Sessions.
Featuring:
Paul Weller
Miles Kane
Samm Henshaw
Connie Constance
Villagers
The Mysterines
“I’ve wanted to have a go at my own TV content for a while now. This is me choosing some of my favourite talent that’s out there at the moment and us just plugging in and playing live in my studio “Black Barn”. We had a great time making this and I hope everyone enjoys what we’ve done” – Paul Weller
This December, Paul unveils an exciting new project! Inviting some of his favourite talents to his studio ‘Black Barn’! The first of the special four-part series of musical sessions will be released on Friday.
Subscribe the the YouTube Channel, to be first to see each instalment.
Here’s a promo we recently made for Mark Butcher, for his single “COUNTRY“.
“COUNTRY” is the first single from Mark Butcher’s 2nd album, “Now Playing“.
Available on digital platforms with the B-side, “Feel Nothing” from June 28th ’19.
Back in April, we popped in to see Steve Pilgrim & Danny Thompson, as they rehearsed at Black Barn Studios, ahead of their ‘Magic Strings’ tour.
We filmed them performing the song “Magic Strings” for Around the world in 80 plays, a project remembering guitarist Bert Jansch.
See more about the project at 80plays.bertjanschfoundation.org
Last night, our short film “THE FIRST DAY” was screened in Vue cinema’s across the UK, alongside Paul Weller‘s Royal Festival Hall gig.
