'The Wookey Witch' - The Outcome

Just a short blog piece explaining the latest on ‘The Wookey Witch’ situation; As mentioned in a previous blog entry I wanted to film at ‘The Wookey Caves’ where the story original took place and still continues to be told. However after first contacting ‘Wookey Hole’ I was told this would not be possible, no explanation was given. I then contacted the owner of ‘Wookey Hole’ who kindly passed all my information on to ‘Wookey Hole’s’ general manager Daniel. Today I received a reply from Daniel explaining I would be allowed to film in ‘The Wookey Caves’ but in return they would like to show my film at the popular tourist attraction – “Wookey Hole’
I thought this was great news, not only can I now feature one of Somerset's popular and well-known legends I can now get my film seen by people. I just need to arrange a meeting with Daniel to discuss the details and possible dates further.



I am really pleased and happy with the outcome, but also it has helped build up confidence in being persistent, as it does show results. Whatever project I may be doing some sort of problem or obstacle will occur and I will need to find ways to overcome these – and just like the ‘The Wookey Hole’ situation sometimes you need to take a different direction and keep trying until you discover a result or solution.

Picture Source: http://www.wookey.co.uk/witch.htm

Molly the Tea Lady

On Wednesday I visited the café at Yeovil Junction Train Station to find out some more about the haunting of ‘Molly the tea lady’. I met with one of the café owners Ros who was very helpful in answering all my questions and gave me a guided tour of the small café showing me certain places where some strange and unexplained things happen, like the freezers being left open.






The café is a listed building and no alterations can be made to the building and its décor the only thing the owners have been able to do are refurbish the kitchen area, put up some curtains and a few ornaments. The main area of the café has had to remain the same since Victorian times – even the main counter is the same. With the café looking like an old and traditional café it has some fantastic character and I believe it would look great within my film and be a good short feature.







Whilst at the café I spoke to Ros about what I was hoping to do at the café and asked if she would be willing to provide me with an interview. Ros was very open to different suggestions and said an interview would be fine. After talking more about ‘Molly’ she mentioned some of the locals and previous staff members had experienced a few strange goings ons and that Ros would speak to them about asking them if they would be willing to tell me their experiences with ‘Molly’.
Ros explained that a best time to film would be from half ten and they usually stay open until around half two but they could possibly stay a bit longer if need be. I asked if I could film over a couple of days if needed this would be fine I just need to contact them to arrange the days the team and I would be visiting the café.

Once I had finished at the café I went to speak with the train station office to ask who I needed to speak to about getting permission to film at the station – the member of staff there rang through to their marketing department and they said I would be fine to film at the location.




During my visit I completed a recce form and took some photographs for my production file to support my finished film.

I think this is one story I would definitely like to feature within my film due to the story and the characteristic look of the location.

Wookey Hole Trip

Last Monday (26/10/09) My sister and I took a trip up to “Wookey Hole’ to learn and find out some more about the legend of ‘The Wookey Witch’.

After getting lost a couple of times and ending up in the middle of no where (this was with a Sat-Nav) some locals finally directed us the right way and we made it there.



The aim of my trip was to discover more of the legend, complete a recce and talk to the manager about getting permission to use the caves within my film.

The first thing on our agenda when we arrived was to have a guided tour of the caves. This took about half an hour and was a great way to find out more of the legendary story and to get a feel of what the caves would be like to film in.
During the tour I took a few photographs for my own reference however due too the limited lighting they haven’t come out great – which was disappointing but no flash photography could be used within the caves for health and safety reasons.





After the tour we proceeded onto the Museum where some of the ‘Witches’ bones can be found and other items relating to the story. At this point I knew that it would be a great to story to feature within my film because of the history and facts that go with it.






Taking a look around the grounds and facilities making a note of areas to eat, get refreshments, where the toilets are located (all for my recce form)



I then tried to locate the information office – which was no where to be found. I managed to find a member of staff who informed me that ‘Wookey Hole’ doesn’t have an information office as such and could he help with my enquiry. After explaining my project to him, he telephoned another member of staff who I spoke to over the phone. After explaining my project and what I was hoping to do at ‘Wookey Hole’ she seemed enthusiastic about the idea and told me she would contact their general manager and get back to me.

Unfortunately I received an e-mail later that day from a member of Wookey Hole’s marketing team telling me that after speaking with their general manager Wookey Hole would not be able to accommodate me this time. Disappointed with the result I decided to research some other places around Somerset that I could feature within my documentary – some places I have found and am going to follow up are Bath Thearte Royal, Bath Ghost Walks and Glastonbury Tor.

Later on in the week I spoke to Dani about my project and ‘The Wookey Hole’ outcome he suggested that there could be other ways to feature the story of ‘The Wookey Witch’ possibly by filming at another cave, and maybe showing some of The Wells Museum’s items they have relating to the story.

During a tutorial with Nic, he suggested that I try and contact someone else at ‘Wookey Hole’ possibly the owner, as ‘Wookey Hole’ is privately owned. Following his advice I contact Gerry and he informed me that my information and details of my project had been passed onto Daniel (management of Wookey Hole), as Gerry doesn’t work directly with Wookey Hole. I am now awaiting a response hopefully it will be a positive one!

Wells Cathedral Project - FACT FINDING MISSION.

As Adam was going away we needed to make an urgent start on finding out what was required for The Wells Cathedral project so Adam contacted Ali (the client) to arrange a meeting to discuss the project further. All we knew was she had received some money to help towards revamping the cathedral’s website and she was hoping to work with us to produce some films to upload onto the website for content.

We all arranged to meet at the cathedral on 6th October around 2pm. Adam and I arrived a bit earlier and knowing Ali was in meetings during the course of the morning we took the opportunity to have a look around the surroundings and take a few photographs.






I personally found the Cathedral to be really amazing and looked beautiful there was so much detail in the architecture. But even the surrounding areas were pretty amazing too. Vicars Close (where some of the cathedral’s staff live) reminded me of something out of Harry Potter everything looked so surreal and a fictional place.



At 2pm we met up with Ali who gave us a tour of the cathedral explaining the different areas and some of its history. Whilst walking around we discussed what she was hoping to achieve from this project and what she required within the films’ contents. Ali explained that she wanted to create an up to date, modern website something a little more interesting and wanted the films to explain different aspects of what goes on at the cathedral. However she was very open to different suggestions and ideas of what the films could contain. Ali did suggest possibly doing one on the people of the cathedral, one on the cathedral’s music and maybe one of the building or a part of the building such as the ‘Jesse Window’.



After some further discussion it was suggested we could do one on the life of a chorister boy and maybe another one on the December service where the cathedral is lit up with hundreds of candles.

After the meeting Adam and I were talking and said it’s going to be a really tough decision to decide on just three areas to focus on, because everything is so fascinating and has a great story. However I do think it would be a fantastic and interesting project to work on. Ali is friendly and very keen to be involved and I think she would be a great client to work with.

Finally...an IDEA

After a lot of frustration and various different subjects ideas including, religion, influences of the media and DIY I have finally, yes finally settled on an idea which I feel will be interesting, entertaining and informative both to watch and to make.
I have decided to make a short documentary style film on ‘The Hauntings, Myths and Legends of Somerset’.

After carrying out some research the Somerset area is home to many different mysterious and strange stories.

Some stories I think will be great and interesting to feature within my film include:

‘Molly the tea lady’ based at Yeovil train station. This story because I may be able to get some interviews with staff members and customers who work and visit the little teashop.

‘Wookey Hole’ because it’s one of the most well known legends of Somerset based in Wells.



‘The Crown Hotel at Wells’ this hotel has had many mysterious visits and unusual activity take place – something I believe will make an fascinating feature.




‘Stanton Drew’ - The Dancers of Stanton Drew. A legend that has been around for many years and has an out of the ordinary story.



These are currently just a few possible stories that I may feature I haven’t decided definitely yet. I am still currently in the researching process and need to speak to all the relevant people to get permissions etc. I have sent some e-mails out to some possible contributors and am currently waiting for a response.

After discussing my project idea with Nic a suggestion was made to try and get my film played / broadcast on a local website or at a local museum. This is something I am going to try and do; so now I just have to get in contact with the relevant people to hopefully find someone who is looking and willing to use my film. But at least I now I have a project idea to progress further with. HOORAY.


Picture Sources:

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p127552-Somerset-The_Crown_Inn_Wells.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtffkL9PAagJLjMTTPqAhuV1_j4M1Wsy9hp0XaQp9m6v-q0RGkRjKypBXdSNPGLlleRcebzoAN98Vj_ijiXimufNDJEQyk4_xSoHrmu7db1FntqaI1x8pR2kFV7GyU2nueaERxp64v3g/s320/wookey+hole+witch.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0qQPvmr17pRnuAGNs9AYKAO88yze9vv_R7JIpRGDUtTlNUWHhEyBvaSCG91OpJicBBGHhqRP09UpAC9x-dowzPm-P2HBr-a3iMyJRHM6CuBN_uouzmV1ZTLo1qbOOeXhLp1UWDOVfMcCZ/s400/Stanton+Drew+016.jpg

What to do?????

Over the summer I was thinking (well trying to) of an idea for my final project. Being interested in journalism I knew I wanted to create journalistic project and having had experience in making documentaries I decided I wanted to make a documentary but wasn’t sure on what type of documentary I wanted to make or what it would be about.
When we started back I had the opportunity to have a one to one meeting with Nic to discuss my project. I found this meeting to be very useful because I had a couple of ideas, which I felt were o.k. and possible doable but wasn’t hundred percentage sure on whether to progress further with them.
The first idea I had was to make a documentary on the issue of teaching religion in schools and should it still be allowed? or should we be more like Portugal in the way religion is taught?




An issue, which I believe, is interesting but a very debatable topic. After talking to Nic I realised if I was going to use this idea I would need to find a focus on which direction I wished to take it, what visuals could I use, what contributors and how can I make it entertaining to watch. There was so much to think about and to be honest I felt the issues would be more effective on paper than in a film. So I decided to scrap this idea for the time being.

The second idea I had was to create an online magazine similar to ‘Company Magazine’s online website. The website would contain reviews of the local areas around Bath and Bristol for example: Bands, Where to Go. Film Reviews etc.
Nic gave me some advice on this project idea and suggested I look at some other website such as pour-vous-paris.com.

I believe this could be a really strong project, however it could be fairly challenging finding content, building an audience, creating the website and getting it to go live. Having not really done any web based projects or had much experience in this area I am a little dubious of whether to actually take it on as my final project because I want to do something I will enjoy and throw myself into it and I’m thinking what if I don’t like web, will I get frustrated and begin to resent the project and be wishing I did something else. I want to create something I will be proud and am confident to show future possible employers.

So at the minute I’m still not entirely sure on what I want to do. MORE THINKING, PLANNING and RESEARCH is definitely needed!

Picture Source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u589/World_Religion.gif

The First Week Back

Last week was our first we week back at Uni. To be honest I wasn’t quite sure in what to expect as we were starting in a new location and a new type of learning environment.





But I felt everything went well and I am now looking forward to the year ahead; although it’s probably going to fly by with the different projects were going to embark upon.
Mentioning projects we all had a group meeting to discuss the type of projects that were currently available and there is a great mixture of clients with projects hoping to work with us. By the end of our meeting we had divided into pairs and taken on a couple of projects each to begin a fact finding mission to establish what the assigned project would entail and what the clients required from us.
The two projects I am currently working on to find out more information is ‘Vanessa and Virginia’ which from what we have already learnt could possibly be a very ambitious project the client wants filmed and edited footage of her script.
The other project is ‘Wells Cathedral’ the client has some money to revamp the cathedral’s website and is looking to have some short three-minute films made for the website. All sounds very interesting but now the goal is to find out what is actually required and with what projects do we move forward with!