Filming of The Christmas Concert, Wells Cathedral

Yesterday Adam, Sam and myself all went over to Wells to film the Christmas Concert at Wells Cathedral for the first of the three, three minute films we are making for them. Adam had previously filmed the rehearsal on the Saturday, and our main aim on the Sunday was to capture some good shots that would showcase a taste of the Christmas Concert, where the cathedral is entirely lit by candles.



(Picture similar to the Concert's Lighting)

Although this was very beautiful and amazing to look at, it was extremely difficult to film the concert due to limited lighting and the positions we were located in (we were high up, looking over everything). Although I do think we managed to get a variety of good shots of the choir, candles and audience.
We all arrived at Wells at around half past three, met up and went across to the cathedral, where we got everything set up straight away ready to begin filming the Vergers lighting the candles.
Adam and myself had planned to create a time-lapse of the cathedral being lit, both of us thought this would be a great way to show people how wonderful the cathedral looks lit just by candlelight; but also to help show how this Christmas concert is different to the Christmas service. Adam set the camera up on the tripod and placed it on the West Front Balcony to capture this time-lapse, the plan was to leave the camera recording and not move it until all the candles were lit, and the whole cathedral glowed in candlelight. However I think the camera accidentally got moved, so I’m not sure how the time-lapse material will turn out. It will be extremely disappointing if it hasn’t worked to how we had both imagined because we were hoping to use this material has a transition from the rehearsal material to the Christmas Concert material.
We all arrived at Wells at around half past three, met up and went across to the cathedral, where we got everything set up straight away ready to begin filming the Vergers lighting the candles.
Once we had filmed some material of the Vergers and candles we all took a quick break, had some dinner and then got straight back to work, filming everyone entering the cathedral. We made the decision that we would only capture sound using the camera mics because of limited spacing, time and the fact we had to be really discreet and not seen by the public; most of the finished film will contain soundtrack material.
The only major thing that concerned me during the day / evening was the weather conditions it was very icy and I hate driving in it; so it took us a little longer to get there and back. But luckily everything that was being filmed was filmed inside so it didn’t affect the filming of the concert.


Overall I think everything went well, although we couldn’t get all the shots we had planned because of health and safety issues and lighting I believe we have enough to produce a strong finished short film. After the concert I spoke to Ali and she seemed really pleased with what we had managed to do and she understood that it would have been impossible to film the whole concert, getting a variety of different shots but she was pleased with what she had seen so far.

1st Filming Day

On Tuesday 8th December 2009 I completed my first filming day for my Individual film ‘The Myths, Legends and Hauntings of Somerset’. As the project is a small production, I arranged to take a small crew along with me to help out. Aleicia took on the role of Camera Operator, Tom was the Sound Recordist and I took on the role as director. I met Aleicia and Tom at Weston Train Station around 8.45am and we went on from there to Yeovil Junction Train Station arriving at around 10.15am. When we first arrived the café was fairly busy and Ros was a little tied up working. We took this opportunity to get everything checked and set –up. I did plan to use some extra lighting, but for some reason we had some lighting issues, the light we had taken didn’t seem stable, in the end I made the decision to abandon the light for health and safety reasons plus the camera picture looked well lit anyway.
Once we had Ros mic’d up and Tom had checked sound levels, we were ready to go. I had planned some questions in case Ros was stuck with what to say; however these weren’t really needed. I felt Ros told the story really well, and she was full of character and enthusiasm. We did a few takes of Ros telling the story stood behind the counter. During the first take Ros seemed o.k. but I knew she needed to be made comfortable so I decided to get Aleicia to film a conversation between Ros and myself discussing ‘Molly the Tea Lady’. I felt this take put her at ease and she seemed comfortable during the next few takes.





After filming Ros telling the story, we then worked though my shot list filming a variety of cut aways and additional material to use within my final edit, these included: establishing shots of Yeovil Junction, Trains passing through, clocks, basement, freezers, kitchen, tea, etc.




We ended up finishing around 2.30 – 3pm. Got everything packed up and made our way back to Weston.
The following morning I captured all my material onto the computer, making some logging notes of the footage to help during the editing stages. After looking back over the footage I was pleased with what we had filmed. I did have a few concerns as some of the camera footage was a little shaky (during the hand-held footage) some possibly unusable, which is a little disappointing but I wont know for sure until I get into the editing stage. However as Dani mentioned to me we are all still in the learning process and this will all come with experience.
Overall I think the filming day went well, I was pleased with how organised and helpful everyone was and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Aleicia and Tom for their support and help with the project. :-)

Making Progress

I wanted to make a start on my project’s production before the Christmas break, mainly to get everything rolling but also because it helps balance out the workload we will have in the New Year. Therefore I have arranged to film one of my ghost stories ‘Molly the Tea Lady’ on Tuesday 8th December 2009 at Yeovil Junction Train Station. I have spoken to Ros (storyteller) and she is happy for us to get there for around 10.15am. I have organised a small crew, Aleicia will be the camera operator, Tom will be the sound recordist and I will direct. The aim of the filming day is to

• Film Ros telling the story of Molly and her strange and unusual activities
• Film a train coming into the station
• Film an external shot of the café
• Establishing shot of the café
• People sat sipping from cups
• Shots of the basement (Freezers open and closed)

For this shoot I have booked out a SONY Z7 Camera, Sound Equipment and Lights.

Hopefully the shoot will be a success and I will have some footage for my documentary ‘The Myths, Legends and Hauntings of Somerset’.

Encounters of Documentaries

Last week a group of us from Paintworks headed over to ‘The Encounters Short Film Festival’ at the Watershed, Bristol. Whilst I was there I took the opportunity to carry out some further research for my Individual film by going to view ‘4 Docs’. During this viewing we watched four documentaries each about a different topic. At the end of the showing one of the directors ‘James Lees’ the director of ‘The Apology Line’ gave a short talk about the making of the documentary, how the idea came about and why certain creative decisions were made. I found this talk to be very inspiring and beneficial as it helped me think about certain creative decisions I will make, how I’m going to present my topic, the type of camera shots / angles I will use, etc.
After viewing the documentaries I decided to include some of them within my research sketch book – making a note of my likes and dislikes of them to help me make certain decisions and guide me in the right direction of achieving my documentaries aims.
Whilst researching the documentaries on the ‘4docs’ website I cam across some more great short documentaries, all very inspiring and interesting to watch. The one I particular liked and felt made great use of the beautiful surroundings was ‘Valley of Goats’. I personally found this documentary style approach to be quite similar to ‘The Ghostman of Skye’ recently broadcast on BBC2. At present I am currently thinking this is the style and direction I would like my documentary to go. The only dislike I had with ‘The Ghostman of Skye’ was I didn’t particularly like the presenting style – I prefer just the story-telling approach from local people who have had encounters with the subject matter.
A few other documentaries I have been looking at and researching are ‘The Girls who were found Alive’, ‘The Archive’ and I have recently been watching ‘John Sergeant On The Tourist Trail’ I particularly liked the feature on The Loch Ness Monster, all these programmes have helped me decide on things I like and dislike helping me progress further with my research, planning and creating my individual film on Myths, Legends and Hauntings of Somerset.



Picture Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00636/sargeant_385x185_636323a.jpg

'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!