The Chase - A Short Film

If you know the brand, you will know we aren't strangers to creating our own unique Campaigns that tell a story and world-build.

It is our creative outlet. Yes, it would be simpler to just take studio photos but where would be the fun in that?

 

Born from a love of the novel and the 1930s and 1950s films, I have always wanted to retell (in some way) 'The 39 Steps'.

My intent to tell this story was so much so that even one of the early jumper designs was named after the main character.

This was way back in 2019, when I first started the brand.

 

But, I hit a snag... I couldn't find the right people to play the part. As a fan of the first two adaptations, I had my heart set on finding someone who would be faithful to the characters portrayed by Robert Donat & Kenneth More.

So, the idea sat, waiting in the wings, until one day Rob Salathiel walked into the shop. He was perfect!

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It is funny how sometimes, it can take just one thing (or a person), for other elements to fall into place.

With one part of my cast confirmed, this then led me to stumble across some amazing footage Rob shot with a fellow student, Charlie Ord. 

Charlie, is a wonderful cinematographer who, it turns out, is a huge admirer of Alfred Hitchcock and his early films... can you see where this story leads?

 

It was then time for me to sit down and write the film. I already had a proof of concept but to sit and create something is an entirely different challenge. Many cups of coffee were consumed the day the story was scribbled down.

It was with the script that we decided to follow the film adaptations and cast a herione to counter our Hannay. Rebeka Mihaela Ilie was cast as the other half of our dynamic duo; Miss Fisher aka 'Fishpots'.

It then was an easy choice to cast Jack and Gary (my husband) as the Shadowmen. Even our own lovely 1938 Flying Standard gets screen time!

Always ambitious, we needed a steam engine and railway to tell our story, and pay homage to the story.

Jack Shaw, the amazing Station Master of Quorn & Woodhouse Station at The Great Central Railway was delighted to welcome us to the LNER line in Leicestershire.

As an aside; I grew up visiting this railway line, and my Great Grandfather was an engine driver on the LNER line. So it felt incredibly special to film on the line and the surrounding area.

Another wonderful location that we must thank for all their support was the wonderful Fox House at Haversage.

This is when you'll see the wonder of movie magic where we cut multiple locations, across multiple days, seamlessly into one. So, you'll actually move from Leicestershire to Nottinghamshire, back to Leicestershire before we end in Derbyshire. And none of that was planned - we had to change our plans due to the weather and other factors. 

But, I can't help but think that we were able to imitate the scale of the original story (that starts in London, heads to the Scottish Highlands and ends back in London) with our own journey across the Midlands. And this was all with a 1938 car, driven everywhere.

While filming, I realised then that the film was going to be something very special. And it was down to everyone's hard work and passion for the project.

 

Music, as Hitchcock rightly pointed out, is key to a film's impact. A scary film isn't scary or suspenseful if you turn the sound off.

So, this is when I began to question if simply using some license free music would be sufficient. Surely, I knew a musician who could write the music for the film?

It was the day after we finished filming that I popped on a certain playlist and the music of a favourite composer of mine came on. It suddenly occurred to me that this man might just be willing to help. He was a customer and supporter after all.

So, I dropped him a message and asked rather bashfully if he might consider working on this little project. I couldn't think of anyone better suited so I hoped that he might...

We are delighted that Emmy award winning composer Michael Price agreed to compose the score and theme to the film 'The Chase' and it truly makes the film.

So after shooting in just two days (which is a real achievement), we then began Post production. Charlie busied himself with editing and reediting. Very little was cut from the film and once we were happy with the cut, we were able to send this over to Michael for him to begin.

As the film is largely lacking in dialogue, Michael's suggestion of adding 'a voice' to the film was most welcome and that is when he suggested Grace Davidson. Grace has one of the most beautiful and purest soprano voices on Earth and I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that her voice would be accompanying music written by Michael Price for a short film I dreamt up as a bit of a passion project. Truly, a dream experience.

We can't mention the music without mentioning another key element to getting this aspect of the film made. The film would not have the wonderful score it has without all the kind people who supported the fundraiser. Thank you again to all who contributed.

 

After four months of post production, where footage was edited, posters were created, music was composed... 'The Chase' was completed and released to the world via our YouTube Channel - for free - on Thursday 3rd April 2025.

I truly hope you enjoy the story, the music, the costume and the characters.

Please, watch and share it as many times as you can as it truly means so much that the film is out there for you all to enjoy.

Thank you again,

Sophie

 

Our Contributors - who made the music production possible, thank you.

(In no particular order) Steven Burton, James Baker, Ronald Gibson, Gregory Nicholls, Ian Hirst, Tanya Hinton, Sean Kelly, John Tozer, Jimmie Paulson, Richard Burgess, Gabriel Steinbauer, Matthew Woodfield, Ashleigh ZiDillon, Aaron Kietzmann, Sheila Hollis, Darren Tapley