Oscar Sansom directs an intensely atmospheric visual for Scottish Ensemble's performance of Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony, reimagining how classical performance can be portrayed on screen.

Following the recent collaboration between the orchestra and Glasgow-based production company Forest Of Black with the AINS-directed video for Anna Meredith's composition Tull, Sansom brings a real cinematic sensibility to the way he captures the musicians performing the music.

The dynamic camerawork and editing emphasises their physicality - illuminated by atmospheric shafts of light within a centuries-old house - and building a sense of drama in keeping with the mood and tempo of the music.  

“Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony has so much tension in it that my initial instinct was to create a dramatic narrative scene, acting out a visualisation of the sonic drama," says Sansom. "The more I thought about it though, I began to wonder if we could evoke the same sense of visual drama and tension from a musician’s performance.

"I was definitely thinking of horror films like Susperia, Possession and The Shining in the early stages. I was thinking of how they build visual tension and I was interested in what it would feel like to capture a musical performance using the approach of an action sequence like a chase or fight scene. I liked the idea of musicians brandishing their instruments like weapons.”