Little Things Created a ‘Farm Symphony’ for M&S Food

We all know that there’s food and then there’s M&S food. And we know this in large part due to the effectiveness of the brand’s advertising - how it looks and how it sounds. Over the last four years, independent sound studio Little Things has been entrusted by M&S to ensure that its ads sound as good as possible, and continue to communicate that there is something special about its food. This is no more evident than in their ‘Farm to Foodhall’ campaign, which began this year with a compilation of last year’s films followed by 10 new films released between July and September.

James Clark, senior sound designer, notes that M&S knows it can rely on Little Things due to the trust they’ve built over the years. “A lot of work goes into the ‘Farm to Foodhall’ campaign, they’re very filmic and require a lot of attention. M&S always has a direct line of communication with a sound engineer when they need it, which is a huge advantage,” James adds. 

For the ‘Farm to Foodhall’ campaign, M&S wanted to draw attention to the work and care that farmers put into growing their food. Narrated by and starring the chef Tom Kerridge, each spot situates viewers in the farm environment, complete with a naturalistic sound landscape that James perfected in post. As well as ensuring that all the birds chirped when needed, and the sound of chickens and cows complemented - not drowned out - the voiceover and dialogue, James also got slicing and dropping various fruits and vegetables to authentically capture those moments. 

We sat down with James to find out how he turned the production’s cacophony of sounds into a symphony, the foley effects he recorded across the campaign, and all the other ‘little things’ he added to bring the spots to life. 

LBB> What kind of brief did M&S come to you with for this campaign? 

James> The M&S ‘Farm to Foodhall’ campaign follows Tom Kerridge as he travels the UK to meet with the M&S select Farmers to find out about the stories behind what it is that makes their produce such good quality. 

My job was to showcase the beauty of the British countryside, the care that goes into growing the food and help bring those stories to life, using authentic food foley, in an almost documentary style.

LBB> How much sound was provided versus added?

James> We had the production sound to work with, but as it was shot on a farm the sound recordist would have had no control over the environmental sounds. 

Meaning, when recording in a live environment like on a farm, in a hen house, the production recordings would pick up the whole barn, it’s a cacophony of noise. I added detail to these shots. Foreground chickens and hens etc.

Although my first task would be to work with the dialogue to remove sound and make sure it was as clear as it could be. It would be after that stage I would add to the production ambiences to give more of a soundscape. This would give me freedom later to play with different elements and the music separately at the mixing stage.

LBB> Tell us how you went about creating the sound design - what moments did you want to emphasise in particular?

James> My job was to make the soundscape of the British countryside front and centre. 

It wasn’t about embellishing anything that wasn’t there but drawing the viewer into the natural beauty of each location and shot. The bees in the meadow, the wind blowing through the wheat or the sound of the sea lapping against the harbour wall.

LBB> Which sound elements did you create with foley?

James> The production sound recordist would struggle to be able to record the intimate detailed moments so I used foley in the confines of a studio to recreate some of those sounds.

I sliced strawberries, rolled bunches of asparagus and I was breaking fresh crusty bread, all M&S I might add, as I really wanted to make it as accurate as possible.. Almost like ASMR. I tried out recording honey but it was a bit of a cringe trigger so I decided to leave that one alone!

LBB> The campaign balances three sound elements - a track, a voiceover, and ambient farm sounds. How did you make these work harmoniously? 

James> All the elements crafted to this point - the dialogue, the ambient soundscape along with the food foley - are all delicately woven together with the music at the final mix stage, making sure everything plays its part in the story the film is telling.

Albatross is synonymous with M&S and the version created for this campaign is the main emotive drive.

LBB> What ‘little things’ did you pay special attention to when working on this?

James> The whole spot, from a sound perspective, was about the ‘little things’. The spot comes across very naturally, like all the sounds were recorded on set, but it’s full of tiny details that are impossible to be able to capture on set. My job was about first removing a lot of sounds, ensuring that the dialogue is clear, and then creating that countryside soundscape to support the storytelling. Every element required special attention and the addition of ‘little things’.

LBB> Did you run into any challenges while working on the campaign? How did you solve them?

James> Definitely dealing with the environmental sounds - you can’t tell animals to be quiet! There was a lot of extraneous noise, like dogs barking, which impacted the clarity of the dialogue. I did a lot of work on the dialogue to ensure that it was clear for listeners but didn’t lose any of the individuals' character as that wouldn’t have been in the spirit of authenticity. 

LBB> What was your favourite part of working on the campaign?

James> This campaign really taps into my preferred realm as a sound designer utilising all my audio engineering skills  - dialogue editing, sound effects, foley recording and mixing - to add emotional drive and feeling. 

Also as we have a pre-existing and strong relationship with the brand, we’re given a lot of trust to just get on with things which is great for me as I like to play around to see what might work best. That’s why I was able to grab a bunch of veg from M&S to see what sounded best.