Sound It Out – A documentary by Jeanie Finlay

MOVIE REVIEW – http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/movies/sound-it-out.html ‘Sound It Out’ By DANIEL M. GOLD Published: September 15, 2011 The Web site for “Sound It Out,” Jeanie Finlay‘s documentary about the last independent record store in the Teesside region in northeast England, calls it “ ‘High Fidelity’ with a northern accent,” and there’s no getting past the similarities with [...]

“Proof that, in the right hands, documentaries boast as much heart as any feature. This one got soul too. Wonderful.”

“An independent record shop in Teesside – the last of its kind – might not strike you as fertile ground for a great documentary, but this is wondrous and funny, finding pathos in music nerdery and a rich ensemble of characters among staff and clientèle.”

A film-maker from the North-East has made a warm, funny and insightful portrait of her home town – and its last record shop

Filming in the only surviving vinyl record store on Teesside, Jeanie Finlay has made a documentary that serves as an elegy for small, cosy independent shops in general and for independent record shops in particular. Only a shop for vinyl enthusiasts could bring together the sort of customers we meet here. They are people even [...]

“A lovely, intimate, funny-sad documentary about Teesside’s last remaining record shop, and the community service it provides to the mostly male, variously lonely, jobless and obsessive music fans who frequent it.”

Review: Sound It Out is the last vinyl record shop in Stockton, and apparently the whole of Teesside. Local director Jeanie Finlay took a handheld camera there to watch Tom, the intrepid owner, dealing with his customers. An old boy who loves Meat Loaf plays up to the camera but in general they tell it [...]

“In other hands, this might simply have provided a sad procession of sad losers, but Ms Finlay is so warmly empathetic and gently curious — you’d be amazed what people will tell you when they are simply asked to talk though the badges on their jacket — you do not feel anything like pity.”

“The store is a sanctuary for the collectors, obsessives and regulars who drop in to rifle through its stacks; its owner, Tom, knows where on Nancy Sinatra CD lies amongst thousands of unruly rock riffs and is, unusually for a indie music shop owner, pretty non-judgemental about customer satisfaction, even handing over Dire Straits without editorialising on the choice.”

“Tom and his incredibly loyal band of customers delight in indulging each other’s nerdiness…”

“Sound It Out is the name of the last independent record shop in Teesside, and this dinky, bitter-sweet film offers a profile of its chipper staff and endearingly oddball clientèle.”

“It’s a delightful, real-life version of Nick Hornby’s novel High Fidelity…”

There’s No App for That: Life at the Record Store in Sound It Out

her focus instead is on the day-to-day goings on in the store, Tom and his employees, and a handful of their customers – some pleasingly eccentric, others heartfelt in their acknowledgement of the store’s meaning in their lives.

Like them, Finlay is able to find the extraordinary in a seemingly ordinary place.

Surprisingly moving, funny and unmistakably Teesside, it’s a truly wonderful film that proves to be one of the festival highlights.
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“Sound It Out captures an outpost of vinyl culture at a time when the industry is simultaneously dying out and undergoing a burgeoning renaissance.”
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“Anyone who misspent their youth loitering in record stores will find much to enjoy in this affectionate docu tribute to Sound It Out Records.”
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I must confess a soft spot too for Jeanie Finlay’s ‘Sound It Out’, a loving portrait of an old-school record shop in Stockton-on-Tees, which was touching on a human level

With her flame-red locks and a weeklong international tour, you would be forgiven for thinking Jeanie Finlay was picking up where Santa Claus left off.

Director Jeanie Finlay uses a beautifully deft touch on letting the story tell itself—witnessing the owner’s vast memory bank of his store’s stock, conversing with its colorful patrons.

Our picks from SXSW – SOUND IT OUT “Timely… optimistic… human”

“An unexpected pleasure, and entirely winning. Gorgeously shot, loaded with ace tunes and full of real people you come to know and like, “Sound It Out” was the unexpected pure pleasure of this year’s indie documentaries at SXSW.”

‎”With Jeanie Finlay’s ‘Sound it Out’ I stumbled upon one of the most vital and innervating films of the entire festival”

“Sound It Out” isn’t just good, it’s important – Matt Singer IFC

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“A winning combination of High Fidelity and American Splendor”
“The subject, feel and ingenuity of Sound it Out put it in the frame to be one of SXSW’s surprise hits”

El vinilo, especie en peligro de extinción

La cineasta Jeanie Finlay consigue rodar un documental sobre la última tienda de discos en un pueblo de Inglaterra gracias al micromecenazgo

Such shops have taken a beating in recent years, with the triple threat of online piracy, eBay and cost-cutting retail chains all conspiring to reduce consumer demand, and Sound It Out is one of the last of a dying breed.

nos­talgia works best when it’s spe­cific and per­sonal, and the fact that dir­ector Finlay grew up three miles from the record shop she pro­files in Sound It Out gives it a lovely hand­made and intimate feeling.

“A classic David and Goliath story…Finlay captures not only the heart of the shop, but the customers that frequent it”

A female-directed look at a form of music collection that is fairly male-dominated, Sound It Out is the official film of Record Store Day 2011. It also gets bonus points for nifty accents.

This week we head to the UK for our latest Certified Film Threat in Progress. Jeanie Finlay is currently crowdfunding her latest film, “Sound It Out,” on IndieGoGo…

“Sound It Out tickled me at times, made me sad sometimes, and even shocked my senses a bit. It’s a film that is as much about what it means to be human as it is about a record shop. I was changed after I saw it.”
Michael Kurtz, Co-founder – Record Store Day

CONVENTO a personal favorite because of its unusual subject matter and strong sense of place. Another one is director Jeanie Finlay’s Sound It Out, a small documentary screening in the 24 Beats Per Second program about the obsessive music fans that work and hang out at the last record store in the Northeastern English town of Teesside.

Sound It Out is the last independent record store in Teesside, and almost certainly the first to be immortalized on film.

Original article from Left Lion When tapes became de rigeur in the eighties, they said vinyl was not long for this world. When CDs came striding in in the nineties they said that tapes and vinyl had definitely had their day. When minidisc were released, well, nobody paid the blindest bit of notice really, but [...]

A tiny but lovely mention in this month’s Mojo Magazine