Though diverse in style and tone, the films are united by themes of childhood, parenthood, love, loss... and magpies.
They all feature rural settings, showcasing the forests and coast of southern England, treating nature and landscape as a key narrative element.

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The series provided director Roger Burton the opportunity to experiment with different genres and approaches to filmmaking. For each film he imposed a new set of production 'rules' or 'limitations' to encourage himself and those he worked with to seek varied solutions to the new set of challenges encountered. In ONE FOR SORROW, the use of dialogue was forbidden, so the emphasis was put on visual storytelling and the incorporation of environment and place; TWO FOR JOY used improvised performance - from a skeleton script, the scenes were built collaboratively with the cast and all of the music used in the film had to be performed by the actors and recorded live on location; in contrast, THREE FOR A GIRL was shot in a studio using three cameras to capture the uninterrupted performance of an experimental theatre script written by Marty McCaffrey; FOUR FOR A BOY was in part an exercise in narrative omission - a challenging story of child sex abuse in which the key pivotal scene was to be withheld from the audience.

      

All four films were made during 2012/13 and went on to enjoy a wide festival run, screening throughout the UK and Europe. Some highlights included: Kinoteka, where ONE FOR SORROW was nominated for the best short film award; Cannes Film Festival where FOUR FOR A BOY made its premiere; the Hansel of Film, a UK wide tour run in conjunction with the Olympic Torch Relay as part of the London 2012 Festival and the Cultural Olympiad, during which ONE FOR SORROW was screened at over 20 venues; Portsmouth International Film Festival where the full MAGPIES collection was nominated for several awards and won Best Supporting Actor for Andrew Coppin's performance in FOUR FOR A BOY (pictured below).      

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