Time Schedule for the actual day

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.

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.

Risk assessment

Possible shooting locations

First impressions are so important in the media industry as they are what either make or break the film. I think that our location should show some eerie old Irish ruins with typical greenery as a method of representation. I think that the harsh grey tones, mixed in with the average overcast day that northern Ireland sees will work will stylistically, creating a dark and serious tone and hence, presenting our overall theme. Below are a number of locations that were built before 1710 (and so are inkeeping with the authenticity of the events in our period drama) and are all around an hour away from our base location. As transport may be an issue in the forseeable future, we have to decide on our location quickly so that we can plan our transport in advance:

I began by contacting a very well known facebook website, who take photos of abandoned and eerie places all over northern Ireland. I decided to be proactive by contacting them and asking if they could help. They lead us to the following...

Devenish Island Monastic Site, Lough Erne, County Fermanagh

Devenish Monastic Site was founded in the 6th century by Saint Molaise on one of Lough Erne’s many beautiful islands in County Fermanagh.

During its history it has been raided by Vikings (837AD), burned (1157AD) and flourished (Middle Ages) as a parish church site and St Mary’s Augustine Priory. The island is home to ancient ruins and an impressive 12th century round tower.

Grey Abbey, County Down

Founded in 1193 by John de Courcy’s wife; Afreca, and situated within the parkland of the 18th Century Rosemount House, visitors to Grey Abbey are welcome to wander among the ruins and lawns of this breath taking abbey church.

There is also a small visitor’s centre with displays and a reconstructed ‘medieval’ physic garden.

Inch Abbey

Inch Abbey is a large, ruined monastic site 0.75 miles north-west of Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, on the north bank of the River Quoile in a hollow between two drumlins and featuring early Gothic architecture.

 Ulster Folk and transport Museum

The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is situated in Cultra, Northern Ireland, about 11 kilometres east of the city of Belfast. It comprises two separate museums, the Folk Museum and the Transport Museum.

I went so far as to contact the Ulster Folk n transport museum, however after the planning stages, we soon realised we wanted a creepy exterior as it would be more striking and because in terms of cinematography, there was much more that we could do with it. personally I am leaning more towards Inch abbey because of the cinematographic tones, and also Grey Abbey because of the old gravestones.

Research with Pinterest

Below is a 'Pinterest' that I created in accordance with my perception of general period dramas. It is somewhat like a mood board:

https://uk.pinterest.com/elliewildman9/period-dramas/

Here is one that I created in accordance with the correct costume, hair and makeup as seen suitable during the 1700s:

https://uk.pinterest.com/elliewildman9/costume-hair-and-makeup/

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.

Animatic

An animatic is basically a 'filmed' storyboard.
I used the software "Animoto" to make this...
Apologies for the watermark, it's ridiculously annoying, but at £300 per year, I'll just have to endure.

Storyboard

 1)  0:00-0:10 Our film will open with the Irish Film Board ident (IFB). After some research, I found that this would be the production company that we would be more likely to pitch our film to because it's local and it's in-keeping with our style. A orchestral instrumental soundtrack will start in sync with this.

 2) 0:10-0:20 Following this will be the ident of our own film company, named 'Bronze Age Films'. We plan to make our own ident for this using a number of softwares. Normally there are a number of comapanies that work on a period drama, however only the main ones are featured in the beginning title sequence.
The name is something that I would typically assosiate with Ireland and history and is so perfect for representing our film.

3) 0:20-0:25 Historical insight at the start of a period drama is not unusual and is quite often necessary to give the audience some insight. The first lines will be "The Islandmagee witch trial took place in 1710-1711"... Small white text positioned off centre on a black background. Clear cut, simple and stands out. We can now hear asynchronous sounds of nature, trudging and crying.

4) 0:25-0:30 Fade in more text gradually before the whole slide fades out giving way to the very first scene.

4) 0:30-0:40 The very first scene comes in and it's a medium shot of our female protagonist running through the woods and crying, holding a letter in her hands of her conviction of witch craft.

5) 0:40-0:45 This is interjected by another fade in black slide as seen in the duchess along with many other period dramas. This time the line is "Islandmagee is now known as northern Ireland", which gives the audience some geographical background.

6) 0:45-0:50 The next line fades in saying "The Islandmagee witch trial was the last witch trial that Northern Ireland ever saw". Personlly, I thing this gives more importace to the story by showing just how significant these exact events were. The last slide of historical background information fades out, giving way to the real shots.

7) 0:50-1:00 We see a long shot that emphasises location and diastase. the protagonist is runing towards some ancient irish ruins, still crying and holding the letter.
The credits are a constant, positioned strategically around the frame.

8) 1:00-1:10 There is a medium shot from behind the protagonist now...

9) 1:05-1:20 there is a 15 second constant pan from the wall where the ruins end, right across to the window so that we can see the protagonist again, as shown above. The speeds will slow when the protagonist is in view, but will speed up however when we can see wall.

10) 1:20-1:40 'The fall'... This is basically a medium shot from side on, showing that our protagonist has fallen in the mud, where she drops the letter and begins to sob profusely. This will provoke empathy ad pathos from our audience, setting an emotional depth from the very start.

11) 1:40-1:50 There is an over the shoulder shot, showing the protagonist picking up the letter and possibly a close up on her hand so that we can see what is written, otherwise there will be a narrative. But I'm not sure we will have time for one.

12) 1:50-2:00 High angle shot showing how desperate and somewhat pathetic the protagonist is, provoking empathy.

13) 2:00 The main movie title is yet to be decided but will most likely be plain and simple.

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.'

Brainstorming

This is a 'Word it out' I created in order to brain storm themes for our movie...

Representation

1) Firstly, our film will be representing the small town Irish culture and race, obviously due to the fact that the film is set in Islandmagee, which is now known as Northern Ireland. The film will relate very much so to 'The Scarlett Letter' which represents small town hysteria in Salem. We want to convey how the Irish lived in the early 1700s, as in their basic way of life, their treatment towards each other and others and their superstitions. I want to convey the minimalistic and simple life style through the mise en scene, therefore having typical Irish costume as shown below, only natural lighting or candles as electricity hadn't been invented yet and authentic props too. The location will also be very important for representation, as obviously we couldn't film a period drama in the middle of Belfast's high street. We are looking for something rural to film in with lots of Irish greenery and possibly ruins. 

As well as this, we are heavily looking into the well known superstitions of Ireland at the time, one being witchcraft. This will make the film very applicable to an Irish audience, as they might want to find out a little about their ancestors.

Map of Ireland 1700s:

 A number of paintings conveying the Islandmagee Witch trials:

2) We are definitely representing young females in our film by showing society's view of women and of those tried for witch craft. Much like katniss Everdeen in 'The Hunger Games', our film will follow  strong female protagonists, who are very much so oppressed and trapped in their own home, being treated like outsiders. This shall make the film very applicable to young women, who will relate very easily and who will almost subconsciously consider themselves in the role of the protagonist. Our main method of representation and creating a link with the audience will be through audience and therefore, we will need a good set of actors.

Strong female protagonists:

3) As we are creating a period drama, we will be representing the period through mise en scene, possible dialogue and natural editing. We will be representing a certain group of people in history in doing so. We also want to represent the unjust times through are plot, in that women were unfairly accused of witchcraft and trialled. We want to show this unjust quality in that society by provoking sympathy and pathos from the audience, through character connection and emotion. We will consider all the micro and macro traits in order to create an authentic film, which challenges the codes and conventions and therefore, the audience.

Some possible shooting locations:

Distribution

Target audience and audience expectations

-I gave this questionnaire out to 30 people in Belfast city, 15 women and 15 men, all of different ages in order to keep this a fair test. I also put out a poll on the internet so that I could get an idea of which nationality and specific social groups we would be targeting.

-As we can see from the results, the general preferred type of period drama is a documentary or drama. Upon asking some more questions to the people taking the quiz, I came to realise that this was because people watching period dramas prefer them to be real so that they can actually learn some history.
Below is a table showing the preferred genre results:

-As well as this, we can see that our movie is aiming at a slightly older crowd, anyone from the age of 30 onwards. When I asked my peers why exactly they wouldn’t enjoy watching our film, they met me with ‘because it’s boring’. As a teenager, I would generally agree with this, but I don’t feel the same about every period drama. For example, I enjoyed watching Jane Eyre because it’s more stylistic. It focuses more on the plots than on the stereotypical society at the time.
-In general, people recorded that they wanted to be either ‘informed’ and ‘interested’ by our film, which is to be expected of the genre. However, people under the age of 25 generally said that they expected to be bored, but that however, they would enjoy the supernatural undercurrents associated with whitchcraft.
- Everyone who took this questionnaire told me that they most enjoyed the plot of a period drama. This falls in with the codes and conventions of a period drama because the plots generally tend to be very complex and well thought out. When I asked some more questions, I found out that some favourite plotlines were family issues, complicated love triangles and mostly, stereotypical society and it’s treatment of specific groups at this time. Below is a chart showing the preferred element of period films:

-When I explained a general outline for our film, women of all ages seemed to be more interested than the men. They said this was because of the ‘strong female protagonist’ and that they could ‘relate’ to her better than men.
- As well as this, most people told me that the costume and setting where the two most important aspects of mise en scene and the films in general, as I expected.
-Below are a number of individual case studies of people of a number of ages:

Name: Mark Wildman

Age: 45

Location: England

I thoroughly enjoy period docudramas as  have a real passion for history and heritage. I love finding out more about the past and how it contrasts with the present time. Whilst I do enjoy literary adaptations, I also enjoy movies about true past events, such as the duchess. As I'm from England myself, I generally enjoy movies that are set in England as they are more applicable.

What really draws me to any movie is good acting, but with period dramas, I pay particular attention to the plot and I like how complex they usually are. I also like to see a very accurate setting and I think that mise en scene is so important as it shows what things looked like back in the given time that the movie is set. I always expect to be informed by a period drama and like to have my views challenged a little.

Name: Adam O'Loan

Age: 17

Location: Lurgan

I don't really enjoy watching period dramas, I generally find them very boring, but when there is some action in them, it makes them easier to watch. So the likes of Sherlock Holmes is ideal for me. i also enjoy period dramas about the various music eras, like punk, and hence, I really enjoyed 'good vibrations'. I also find that Period dramas are very hard to follow, I usually don't understand the difficult plots and I find them really boring. 

I believe that the most important aspect of period dramas is character development as it creates more dimensions to the film. I think I expect to be bored by period dramas because I don't care about history as such.

Name: Emer O'Kane

Age: 16

Location: Belfast

As a young woman, I generally like period films such as Jane Eyre or The Duchess, as I can relate to the strong female protagonists. That is why I think I would really like watching your media studies movie. I think that many women were very unfairly treated and as a feminist, this annoys me.

The main aspects of a period drama are definately plot lines and character development. Setting is important too for creating tone and atmosphere. I LOVE to see lavish costumes as I think they are so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. Due to my general interest in history and society, I'd expect to be interested by this film. 

The film makers thoughts and opinions...

"Typically, I'm not really a fan of period dramas, but prefer indie as a genre, e.g. the works of Wes Anderson and Tim Burton. However, i think I will be able to bring a stylistic approach to this film in order to incorporate a younger audience to our film. Tone and mood are very important for me, as is setting."

"I am a big fan of drama and how the society at different points influenced different drama techniques really interests me. All in all, I think I will enjoy making this movie and I'd love to direct the actors. I expect to be informed by our film and will love to create complex characters"

"I will really enjoy looking into the history of this film, I'm always up for a chance to learn about my Irish heritage and what better way to do it than looking at the Islandmagee witch trials. I will enjoy challenging the stereotypical treatment of women at the time and in doing so, creating a film which challenges the codes and conventions of the time."