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.