Scott must have returned the last piece of Aztec gold to the chest, because the Curse of Soul Searcher was lifted this weekend. Punctual finishing, fully-functioning equipment and ideal venues are things you don’t see much in this journal, but that’s what we had. Must be because I didn’t do much of the organizing.

But this wasn’t just a weekend where everything went hitch-free, I can’t describe what it feels like to hear over 50 skilled musicians playing the music to your film, but it’s an experience I’ll never forget. The Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra were a joy to work with and made an excellent job of performing the 45 minutes of music, of all which had to be recorded in just one day, with many of the players never having laid eyes on the music before.

The choir, Colla Voce, were fantastic too. Their recording took place in a church, the acoustics of which added immeasurably to the sound. Amongst the members are Mike Staiger – who appeared briefly in The Beacon and helped out when we were shooting the model train, and Dan Reeve – who plays Dante’s servant, and had the slightly strange experience of singing the music for his own death scene. Paul Bellamy – The Beacon‘s very own General “In English, damn it!” Garrett – conducted the choir.

So big thanks to Colla Voce and the WSO, and to Rocchino, Laudrus, Nilesh and Jim, who manned the large array of computers, DAT machines and microphones.

In other news, Soul Searcher appeared in the Hereford Times last week, and should be in the Malvern Gazette this week. Now you’ll have to excuse me – I have to put the end credit roller on the film. [Manic giggles]