Hair and Makeup

In order to achieve an authentic 17th Century look, we have opted for our actress to wear no makeup as it reflects her status and at that time the use of makeup would be limited to the upper classes and even then it would have been very rare.

For our actress' hair we have opted for a braided style, to show this, Ellie, a member of my group has created a youtube video as a tutorial for the hairstyle we are going to use for our actress: 

Filming Day 2 schedule

On day 2 we filmed our indoor shots which involved fire and other dangerous things, although we only needed a few minutes of footage, it took us around an hour to film our shots as the use of the lighter fluid meant that we had to take regular breaks to ensure that our room was well ventilated to ensure the safety of ourselves and our actor.

Day Schedule for Saturday 21st March

This is the timetable that we used to keep on track on our first filming day:

On this day we filmed our outdoor shots with our actress Emer, over all it took around two and a half hours to get the footage that we needed.

Risk assessment for Filming day 2

On day 2 of filming were filming dark scenes in a room that involves fire, this is our risk assessment for that day.

Re-thinking our filming location

Initially we filmed our scenes in Bangor behind Bangor abbey, but after three trips that resulted in not enough usable footage, we decided to look elsewhere for a more convenient location to film.

We eventually decided on filming at Shaws Bridge.

These are some photos of our location:

We made arrangement to get to shaw's bridge from Finaghy

It only took us around five minutes to get there which is much more convenient than bangor, which took around 45 minutes by train.

 The terrain of our new location was much more suitable than the last, our location in bangor was mostly flat ground, the new location however is much more uneven and makes it easier to vary shot types and make our scenes much more interesting.

(original filming location)

(new location)

Our Ideas in relation to the Island Magee Witch Trails

We were intrigued by the story of the final witch trails in ireland and decided that we would like to make something based around the struggle of the 8 women arrest.

We have decided to make something that focus' on one woman, who is being persecuted for witch craft.
The woman has received a letter announcing the trail and has to decide whether to run and try to escape her captors or to stay and defend her innocence.

We are also introducing a faceless character who will feature only as someone in the shadows, preparing for the witch hunt against our protagonist, doing things such as preparing weapons and setting fire to torches. This creates the sense of mystery and tension that we need to draw in our audience.

From the feedback we were given from the group that filled in our survey, we have discovered that, to appeal to all audiences, we need to strike a balance between the mystery and action of our antagonist and the drama of our protagonist.

Background to Island Magee Witch Trails

The topic we want to base our film in is the Island Magee Witch Trails, which took place between 1710 and 1711 on Island Magee in which is now known as Northern Ireland. This trial is throughout to be the last witch trial to take place in Northern Ireland.

Some background trials:
It all started when Mrs Haltridge, an Island Magee local, reported phenomenons of poltergeists and potion in the house of Mrs Haltridge. She had been unable to sleep and clothes had been thrown around the house, and a boy appeared to her. She was then heard screaming one night and was found dead, having been stabbed.

Another woman, Mary Dunbar claimed to also being attacked by a woman in her, she named the woman and subsequently 8 women were arrested and put on trail for with craft.

Sound in period dramas

After watching a number of period dramas, I have gathered a list of the most commonly used diegetic and non diegetic sounds used in period dramas:



Horses neighing (usually diegetic) example

Horses galloping (both diegetic and nondiegetic) 

People running on gravel paths, footsteps as someone runs (diegetic) example

Birds tweeting in outside shots (nondiegetic) example

Rivers running (diegetic) example

China Clinking (diegetic) example


The sounds that would be of use for our period drama would be the person running on what sounds like gravel, also a sound for the person falling down. in this case I don't really think that the birds tweeting a river noises would necessarily suit the tone of our film as we are trying to create a quite sad and serious tone.

Some examples of period dramas that use the aforementioned sounds would be Pride and Prejudice (2005) Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) and Jane Eyre (any year)

Plot Description

Plot:

Our film is a period drama, or more particularly, a docudrama meaning that we are targeting real events that have happened. We want to tell the story of the Islandmagee witch trials and of the hardships experienced by the eight women who were involved. We want to challenge the treatment of these women by developing emotional drama.
We plan on opening our film with the appropriate indents, followed by some historical information on the witch trials. We need to be careful that our opening to a movie doesn't look like a trailer though.
We will have our protagonist running through the woods, towards some old irish ruins. She is holding a letter, the letter of her conviction. She is clearly distraught and is crying because of her given circumstances. She may never see her family again or worse!
We definitely want to establish an enigma over whether or not the women are guilty and have been practicing witch craft or wether they are totally innocent. In saying this, we also want to open on a powerful note, provoking pathos and sympathy from the audience and therefore, establishing an emotional character/audience link from very early on.

Brief:

We recently attended a cinemagic lecture on pitching a brief and on how to summarise a movie into one sentence, taking the above into consideration, I believe the best way to do this is by the following:

'A tragic tale about the misconceptions of witch craft in Ireland in the early 1700s, coupled with the questionable treatment of females throughout history.'

Timetable

Above are our timetables which are well needed for organisation during the academic year, from the view of a producer or director, organisation is key to success. We have mapped in every possible outcome, from rehersals to editing and we have tried to be as realistic as possible with timing. The next stage is to give my team a copy of this so that they show up on time in order to produce a good final outcome.

Costume

How did working class women dress in the 1700's?
At this time the whole of Ireland was under British rule. The British did not have the ragged poor of Europe. It had not had a peasant class since medieval times and this was reflected in the appearance of its people. You could tell a person’s social class by the clothes that they wore. The richer you were; the better-fitted, brighter-coloured clothes you had. Some servants received clothes as presents. They would have been cast off clothes from a master or mistress, to be worn or sold on. The poorer in society wore second hand clothing.

Clothes tended to be very well looked after. The were patched and darned until they could no longer be repaired and then it was taken apart for a new use. The clothing of the poor is difficult to trace as there are currently no surviving garments and few artists recorded what these people wore. However, some artists had painted lower-class individuals. The only thing to consider is that the artist may lie to flatter or make the painting more aesthetically pleasing. Stitching may not be painted in, colour may have been added and also oils used in the painting may have caused the painting to become worn over time.
Some garments from the 17th century exist today and they would have been expensive or valuable to the people that owned them. Original garments give construction details. The clothes of the working class are expected to have been made in similar manner of cut and tailors would have used less expensive fabric.

Fabrics: Linen was always worn next to the skin. The working class women would more than likely been unable to keep their linen white and would have dressed in cream, grey or beige. Wool and wool mixtures were the typical material for skirts, stays and bodices. Lace was expensive and so although it was made by the poor, it was worn by the rich so we are avoiding using it in our costume.

Colours: Only natural dyes were available but they would have been able to produce a wide range of strong colours. However, the working class would have been limited in the colours that they could buy as they would not have had enough money to by clothes of a variety of colours. The dyes faded more easily then chemical dyes. Washed out muted colurs look better than harsh, strong, bright colours. People     working outdoors and sleeping rough would have caused their clothes to wear faster.
Headgear: Women tended to cover their heads unless they had enough money to have their hair dressed in a fashionable style. Many rich women wore coifs when they did not have time to fix their hair. Covering one’s head was a social convention. No hat and no hairstyle was not seen as indicating an immoral individual however, it did indicate pure laziness.

Here is a photo of a young women who is dressed in the typical clothing of a working class women in the 1700's. We can see that she is wearing clothes with noticeable colour however they are still very dull. She is also wearing hat that was typical of working class women at the time. She is carrying a bag over her shoulder that would have been used by the working class women to carry their belongings.

Shooting Schedule Saturday March 7th

On the day of shooting, it can be expected that things will be somewhat hectic. therefore, we need things to be as planned out as possible. We are pretty much compressing a weeks worth of shooting into one day and hence we need to be on time and efficient.

Animatic Reponse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q464Rd6-DCM

Audience Feedback

Below is a blank copy of the questionnaire that we gave out to people to find out what their expectations for the period drama opening sequence was and their opinions of period dramas and the sub-genres within historical period dramas. This helped us to understand what people were expecting to see compared to what we were planning to film. It also helped us to understand how different audiences will look for different elements in period dramas and will be attracted to different characters, story lines and setting. We also looked to see which of the films that we ourselves had analysed had been viewed by the people answering the questionnaire.
By doing this, we were able to have an insight into what makes a good historical period drama stand out from other historical period dramas and which sub-genres are the most popular.


Period Drama Questionnaire

Please circle your answer.

1.     What is your gender?

             Male                    Female                 


2.     How old are you?

                          12- 15     16- 19     20- 25     26- 34     35+


3.     What is your favourite Historical Period genre?

             Comedy     Horror     Romance     Thriller     Mystery
            
              War     Fiction     Drama     Musical     Fantasy     Documentary
  
              Other:………………………


4.     What draws you to a Historical Period Drama?

         Acting      Plots     Characters     Storyline     The Title     Hero Vs. Villain
  
         Setting     Education about specific period     Depends which film it is


5.     Write in order from most to least important, the importance of these elements in a Historical Period Drama.

          Setting     Props     Costume     Make-up     Lighting     Sound

          1:…………     2:…………     3:…………     4:…………     5:…………     6:…………


6.     How do you expect to feel from watching the opening sequence of our Period Drama?

          To be informed     To be interested     To be excited     To be intrigued
        
          To want to find out more     To be unresponsive     To be confused



7.     What is your favourite Period Drama and why? If you don’t have one, why not?
                                 ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
                                 ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
                                 ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
                                 ……………………………………………………………………………………………….


8.     What qualities make a good Historical Period Drama?

                     ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
                     ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
                     ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
                     ……………………………………………………………………………………………….


9.     Which of the following films that we have analysed have you watched?

                      Witchfinder General     Jane Eyre     Pride and Prejudice

                  Pearl Habor     Narnia     The Duchess     Mother Joan of the Angels
              

                   The New World     The King’s Speech

Hair and Makeup Tutorial

Timetable

opening plot description

Plot:

Our film is a period drama, or more particularly, a docudrama meaning that we are targeting real events that have happened. We want to tell the story of the Islandmagee witch trials and of the hardships experienced by the eight women who were involved. We want to challenge the treatment of these women by developing emotional drama.
We plan on opening our film with the appropriate indents, followed by some historical information on the witch trials. We need to be careful that our opening to a movie doesn't look like a trailer though.
We will have our protagonist running through the woods, towards some old irish ruins. She is holding a letter, the letter of her conviction. She is clearly distraught and is crying because of her given circumstances. She may never see her family again or worse!
We definitely want to establish an enigma over whether or not the women are guilty and have been practicing witch craft or wether they are totally innocent. In saying this, we also want to open on a powerful note, provoking pathos and sympathy from the audience and therefore, establishing an emotional character/audience link from very early on.

Brief:

We recently attended a cinemagic lecture on pitching a brief and on how to summarise a movie into one sentence, taking the above into consideration, I believe the best way to do this is by the following:

'A tragic tale about the misconceptions of witch craft in Ireland in the early 1700s, coupled with the questionable treatment of females throughout history.'

soundtrack for period dramas

After analysing a couple of soundtracks from various period dramas, I have gathered a general idea of what a period drama soundtrack usually consists of:

1) There is usually a minimalist piano accompaniment.
2) In moments of dramatic tension there is usually fast piano arpeggios accompanied heavily by strings.
3) the music is usually very light and slow especially in scenes shot outside.
4) usually the music is used to describe the emotion of the scene, for example in a scene permeated by anger it would be minor piano music with heavy minor strings.

Some examples of sound tracks that reinforce these codes and conventions are

Pride and prejudice - 2005

Jane Eyre