Music Blog

Andy Beckett Found Himself With A Dream Of A Job When Nirvana Came To Britain …

 With Nirvana the band of his youthful obsession, plus 22 years of archive research know-how, Andy Beckett had the challenge of home movies and limited footage on a band that toured the UK on only three occasions.

It is rare when career and personal passions align. For archive producer Andy Beckett, his work on BBC2’s ‘When Nirvana Came to Britain’ was an incredible experience that allowed him to combine his love of music with his knowledge of archive developed across a 22-year career. Being in the right place at the right time was crucial as he explained:

“When I worked at ITV, I was in an archive unit run by Mark Robinson who came up with the ‘100 Greatest’ format for Channel 4. I was a music obsessive as a youth and Nirvana was my favourite band, so I always wanted to do something in that area. When Mark left ITV (to set up Wise Owl Films) he made ‘When Bob Marley Came to Britain’ for BBC2. They wanted more, so my long-term collaborator and fellow Nirvana obsessive Stuart Ramsay came up with Nirvana as a follow-up and BBC2 agreed to it. It was my dream job.”

It quickly became apparent what the challenges would be creating the film as the band toured the UK on just three occasions.

“There isn’t a huge amount of official footage of them in the UK. I realised we’d need to go down the home movie route as the whole premise of the programme is that it’s not just about the band – it’s also about the people around the band. It’s about the fans, the promoters, and the people who were touched by them.

“From the start, I spread my net wide to try and find as many people as I could that had recorded Nirvana on amateur footage. There’s also a community of Nirvana fans online that tries to locate unseen material and catalogue all the footage and audio wherever they played. As I knew so much about the band, I could build relationships with these people. It really paid dividends.”

With mobile phones now ubiquitous, the reliance on amateur footage was a unique challenge to overcome and the home videos eventually played a significant role in developing the film’s tone.

“There is a short list of Nirvana recordings that collectors know exist, but the owners won’t release them. We didn’t get access to them all but what we did get really helped tell the story. I’ve always liked amateur footage as it’s a form of history that really gets to the emotion of the story. We couldn’t have done it without it to be honest, it could have been a very different project.”

Building rapport was key to the film. It became integral to its success as the footage that was obtained created a lasting impact on viewers.

“It’s all about relationships. It’s about appreciating
the footage people have and not treating it as a business exchange. It was emotional making this project and that did put the pressure on. It was the perfect project for me, and I wanted us to make the best programme possible.

“It was about getting to the footage that hadn’t been seen and making the most of it. There’s no point making a programme if it’s not going to generate emotion for the audience. If they feel emotionally connected with the subject, and it touches them, I think that’s the best thing you can do with a documentary.”

Andy’s experiences on ‘When Nirvana Came to Britain’ are an example of how powerful the result can be when a TV project and a subject close to the heart of an archive producer mesh perfectly. 

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