Shooting Schedule for Donaghadee

We have decided to keep the overall plan and structure the movie, but to improvise as it would sound more natural after learning all of our historical research about the festival and knowing exactly what is going to happen.

We are now filming at a chip shop at Donaghadee when we arrive there, rather than the car scene we originally had planned. We went to Bangor and recorded the car scene, but there was too much disruption from wind on the iPhone audio that we used to record.

Risk Assessment 1

A risk assessment is necessary considering the location where we will be filming, being the sea side. If safety precautions aren't taken before shooting, potential injuries or equipment damage may occur.

Risk Assessment 2

Characters for the Movie

The sailor, Eamonn Cooper, brings the three main characters to the island because they are significant in the sacrifice that the pagans require, like in the Wicker Man. These characters represent:

- The Fool
- The Virgin
- The Seed Bearer

Casting for the movie is also outlined for each character. We couldn't
Angus - The Fool

We chose the name Angus for the Fool, which is the Anglicized version of Aonghus, a name associated with Irish mythology. Aonghus (sometimes surnamed Mac Og meaning "young son") was the Irish god of love and youth. We decided that the name Angus was the most suitable because it relates to youth or younger years, and this foolish character is to be presented as childish and young-minded.

Angus is going to be wearing a bear costume throughout the movie, to present him as a fool. This costume is actually supposed to be scary as in the movie, he is planning to play as a monster, but instead wore a furry lion suit.

I am going to be playing the character of Angus, and will be wearing a lion suit for the day of filming at Donaghadee Pier.

Sean - The Virgin

We chose the name Sean for the Virgin, which is the Irish version of John, a biblical used name. We decided that this name was the most suitable because it has connection to the bible, and this character is to be presented as a virgin and devout Christian, with a holy necklace that his mother has given him to be safe whilst on the boat filming his project.

The character of Sean is going to be played by Kevin Pourmostofi, a student in my Media Studies class.

Fergus - The Seed Bearer

We chose the name Fergus for the Seed Bearer, which is also associated with Irish mythology, meaning 'man of vigour'. This character is to be presented as the 'cool guy' of the group who has had sex with a girl the night before. We drew inspiration from the Ulster hero Fearghas mac Róich, as our character sees himself as a hero, appearing cocky and confident in his establishing scene in the park.

The character of Fergus is going to be played by another member of my group for the short film, Rudi Magill. We think that me and Rudi look more alike than me and Kevin / Rudi and Kevin, so the audience will see these two characters as close friends with the similar names and appearance.

Eamonn Cooper

We chose the name Eamonn, which is the Irish version of Edmund, meaning 'protection'. This character's name is to be ironic, as he is not protecting the three main characters, he is actually directing them to their deaths at the hands of the Irish pagans that he has been in communication with.

Distribution

Definition:

Film distribution is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience, such as the Hollywood giants Columbia or 20th Century Fox. 
The distribution of film is what makes the film available for an audience. Accompanied by promotion, when the film is initially produced it will be shown to audiences in a movie theatre.
A professional film distributor would typically devise an efficient marketing strategy to get a film to be seen by the intended target audience. Knowing what dates are best to release the film. What cultures should be targeted and where the film is promoted is key. The film should be available to the public either by movie screening, television viewing, or online for personal home viewing.

Last year for my AS film introduction, the distribution company that we included at the beginning of the movie was Film 4. This year, we have decided to include either BBC Films or The Irish Film Board, as we feel that these films distribution companies are more suitable than Film 4. Our movie focuses on old Irish mythology and folklore, and is set in Bangor in Northern Ireland, so we decided to either use a British or Irish film distribution company.

The Irish Film Board has films that focus on older Irish history and culture. Our movie focuses on ancient Irish traditions and pagan culture so I feel that this distribution company is the best one to include in the beginning of the short film.

What distribution company would I work with and why?

I would choose a company such Northern Ireland Screen, Northern Ireland Screen was the production company incorporated in the making of 'Cherry Bomb', which I believe is one of the best films to come from NI. This company is also growing rapidly with success due to the amount of films coming to be shot in NI. This company also funds some popular film festivals in Northern Ireland such as a Queens film festival, Cinemagic fest and Belfast film festival, working with this company could benefit our film as it could potentially be shown to an all Irish audience that I believe would enjoy it the most as they may be able to relate to the themes within the film.

Gore Effects

We had ideas originally to include a gory ending for the characters at the hands of the pagans that live on the island. I feel that including blood in our short film at the very end would shock the audience, as there is a moderately strong comedic tone established from the very beginning, and then these 'funny' characters are brutally murdered on an empty island.

If we are to use gore in our movie, these are the effects that we are going to use. The best tutorials that I could find on YouTube are shown along with a short description how they could be used in the movie.

The character's bloody deaths will be a very quick collection of shots, edited to be fast paced, one-after-another, probably only about seven or eight seconds total of gore. The screen would then go to black for a few seconds and music would fade in, showing the movie title. This leaves the audience a short while to almost reflect on what has happened to the teenage protagonists who they have watched throughout the short film.

Throat Slit



One pagan would use a blade, specifically a Celtic dagger as shown in the prop research, to cut one of the characters' throat.

Impale



One pagan wouldn't impale a character on a stationary object, but they would use a bladed / sharp weapon to stab right through one of the characters.

The reason why the pagans are able to kill the three main characters quite easily is because the sailor who owns the boat, Eamonn Cooper, gives the protagonists a drink on the boat which makes them vomit and unable to defend themselves when the pagans arrive to them at the top of the island.

Target Audience

Our short film is comprised of comedy and horror elements, where the main characters in the film tell jokes and have comical moments, but in the end die to a group of pagans on an island, sacrificed for the pagan holiday of Samhain.

The target audience for our movie is teenage boys, from the ages of approximately 16-23. There are no female characters present in the short film, and two of the main characters joke about how one of the characters brought a girl home from a club the night before.

I believe that the short film is most relatable to teenage males, particularly ones who are studying A-Level Media Studies, as the film possesses moments that highlight the responsibilities that come with creating a short film, such as one person having to bring some props as shown in the movie.

The comedic tone of the movie leaves it open for many people to watch and enjoy.

Storyboard

The most talented at drawing in our group is Rudi, so he drew out the storyboard for our short film, which shows how we hope a few shots will look in the completed project. The storyboard outlines many shots that we put forward and have now decided to include in our film. The basic storyboard that we created is shown below.

Creating the Pagan Costumes


First Ideas

From researching websites, films and documentaries, I have now seen a lot of different pagan groups and their styles and different costumes, ranging all over Europe. I have gathered from my research that many of the materials which are used to create these costumes are easily accessible, some customs use simple cloth or burlap dyed different shades. Pagans also tend to blend in man made materials with natural, such as a normal fabric base layer covered in leaves, feathers or fur. Some Pagan wildmen also wear goat horns on their heads and in some costumes they may wear a full animal skull. Another natural material incorporated with the costumes could be vegetables, wearing a necklace of chilis or garlic is part of some pagan traditions.

With all that I have gathered, I sketched some ideas I thought of to create the costumes with:

Concept 1

This costume idea uses a base layer of normal fabric clothes. These clothes will have different colours of fur sewed to them.

A largish sized helmet will be worn when wearing this costume (such as a hard hat or american football helmet), by attaching many pieces of fur to the top of it so it hangs down and makes the pagans head look big will create a frightening character. 

To also create a more unusual looking costume which is what I am aiming to do, I designed the top of the characters head to have stray pieces of rope coming from the top. On the eyes of the character I designed, it shows goggles being worn, as goggles are man made and usually come from store and are branded, it does not completely fit the pagan codes and conventions, but I designed them to like very hand made and amateur, using ropes, and wood carved in to circles for the eyes of the goggles.

Concept 2

The second drawing is a more humane concept to the first one. With more of mixture man made and natural materials.  The head of pagan shows a simple fabric mask with an odd slice above the eyebrow region, again just added this to make it look more unusual. I also designed this mask to have horns of a goat, to display a more a satanic effect to the costume.

The base layer of the costume is a tunic made using fabric, and over the front, shoulders and upper arms, hangs some seaweed, which is relevant to our story as it takes place on a seaside island. Thin brown ropes are used to keep the tunic tight and on the legs I designed fur shorts that will be worn. On the characters feet normal shoes will be worn but will be wrapped up in bandages and when worn for a while when walking around, they will look quite fray and used. In the characters hand is a small brown pouch prop that fits the outfit.                 

                

The third concept would be designed to fit a smaller person for the role, Using a large white fur overcoat with a large fur mask, again using the helmet method to make the head look bigger. Black leather gloves would be worn to keep the heat in. This design is more fitted to a snowy environment. I sketched this 'wildman' with a spear type weapon with a bag similar to the bag held in concept 2. These pouches I've drawn may or may not be used in the film with a sacrificial significance, maybe the hearts of those sacrificed will be put in the bag. Rope again is used as a belt but more for the hand made pagan aesthetic. Below the waste of the character is a skirt/kilt made from straw, In my research I came across many different pagans with different tradition but many had straw in common, so I believe that it is well fitting to our short.

Next, Going to Start the Costumes 

My group along with the rest  of our media class went to the Crawfordsburn Beach in order to collect some materials needed to make our costumes back in the school art department. 

The whole class helped us collect seaweed and shells to be used for making the costumes. For all costumes, a burlap material base will be used. The seaweed and shells will be glued on to the burlap to create different costumes for the pagans, with a shore / 'washed up' feel to the costumes.

We collected all the seaweed and seashells in black bags, to bring them back up to school and store them until they are needed to create the costumes. With the knowledge that it would smell, the seaweed was stored inside our school's greenhouse.

We drilled a small hole in each of the shells using the equipment in the technology department. When all the shells had holes in them, we threaded string through them and tied a knot after each. These shells will be suspended from one of the costumes and some of the other shells will be glued onto another.

This idea comes from our favourite of all the Pagan Wild Men costumes, where small rocks were suspended from one man's costume.

As stated, we used shells rather than rocks to give the pagans a more seaside / 'washed up' look to their attire.

These are two of the costumes almost completed (shown above and below), modelled by Rachel and Rudi in the art department. Each costume will be worn by the pagans along with a mask or a hood. The costume shown (left) is a real pagan dress that inspired the first costume. As you can see, the costume contains a large amount of hay joined to the body.  Instead of using hay, we decided to use seaweed as the main decoration of this costume.

This is the pagan costume that our second costume was modelled on, which all members of our group have decided is the favourite of any (Pagan Wild Man) costume that we have seen. This dress used clam shells or rocks suspended on strings but we decided to use more generic, white shells instead.

Location Research

Donaghadee Pier

Donaghadee is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is in the northeast coast of the country and is about 18 miles outside Belfast and about 6 miles outside Bangor. We plan to go to Donaghadee to hire a boat and film the entire project.

The Donaghadee Pier has some history surrounding it too as it is the nearest port to Scotland and in the early times of the port was the landing point in Northern Ireland for travellers from the British mainland. The majority if Ulster-Scots settling in Ireland will have traveled through Donaghadee. At one stage, Donaghadee was the province’s principal port before Belfast became the major city and much of the town’s development resulted from ships and shipping. 

The Donaghadee Pier and the nearby islands are the ideal place to set our film. The open water gives us the perfect opportunity to get some great shots on the boat, of surrounding coastline and of the various nearby caves and animals. The large, deserted islands create the perfect, spooky place to set the main part of our movie. This is where the movie will end, with the protagonists being sacrificed by pagans.

Copeland Islands

The Copeland Islands are a group of three islands in the north Irish Sea, north of Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland consisting of Lighthouse, Mew and Copeland Island. Until the twentieth century, the islands were used by smugglers who brought tobacco and spirits through the islands and into County Down. Over a century ago the Lighthouse Island had a population of about 100, including a school master with 28 pupils but now there are 0 residents.

This is the preferred location for filming our short film. We have got a quote from a Donaghadee boat company for filming, where we will need to spend around £160 in order to hire a boat and visit the island for filming.

Possible Alternatives

West Strand Beach (Portrush)

West Strand Beach, also known as West Bay or Millstrand is a popular resort beach in the heart of this busy seaside resort. West Strand Beach is bounded at its northern end by the busy habour and flanked along its eastern boundary by a well used pedestrian/cycle promenade.

We may use this beach if the boat services in Donaghadee or Bangor are unavailable at a time to suit us and the filming of our project.

Possible Problems to Consider with Location

The weather may not be suitable for filming our movie. If it rains, we cannot go out on the hired boat to Copeland Island. The wind may also be a problem for the audio of our movie. We are using a Rode microphone to record the audio, but the recording can be disrupted by wind. The audio is also going to be recorded through an iPhone 6S's Voice Memos application, and the best audio will be chosen to use for the film.

The boat may also not be available for a day that we need it to be. There are a total of seven actors in our movie and we will need to choose a day that will suit all seven actors, the boat rental company and the weather for filming.

Prop Research

Most Importantly, a Boat

A boat will be needed for a large part of our film as we would like to film the characters travelling to the 'pagan island', the coastline and nearby islands. We will also be doing some filming of the sailor speaking on the boat about Irish mythology and the pagan holiday of Samhain as a way to explain the backstory to the audience, and foreshadow what is to come.

Our group have found two potential companies that may take us out on their boats for filming. Both boat companies are giving a similar quote of between £150-£200 for a half-day on the boat. As filming is weather dependant, we will have to wait until nearer the time to decide on a date for filming the short film.

Halloween Decorations (The Fake Props)

We have written in our movie plan that the three characters have decided to create their own short film, titled 'Monsters and Caves' that is to be a very amateur Media Studies project filmed on an island. This is why they have hired the boat in the plot of the short film.

These props will be used to show that the film being produced in our film is very amateur and is lacking quality. The characters in our film will be in the same situation as us and plan to shoot a scary movie on the island. They will have various props and costumes for their movie that are clearly not up to a high standard.

Car

We will need a car for our film. The first scene may consist of the three main characters getting out of the car and one of them taking equipment out of the boot. This is the only time the car will be used in he film and therefore the model and colour of the car isn't important, it will not be needed for another day of shooting the movie.

Camera

A camera will be needed for when we are filming on the boat. One character will be filmed taking photos of the sea and surrounding cliffs, caves and islands. This will be used to establish who the sensible character is and will show that one character actually has a genuine interest in what the group is doing.

Backpack

Each character may have their own backpack as they will be on a school excursion to record their Media Studies project and this will make it more genuine. These could contain the things needed for their movie, such as the inefficient props that one character will bring.

Sacrificial Weapon

Celtic-style sacrificial weapons will be needed when we are filming on the island. The pagans will have these weapons to show that they are going to kill the students that have came to the island. Weapons like the dagger shown above were used in sacrificial ceremonies to cut the thoughts of animals and sometimes, even humans. 

St. Brigid's Cross

We will need a St. Brigid's cross to put on the side of the boat. These were usually set over windows and doors in order to protect homes for any harm. As we will have these crosses around the boat, it would suggest that the captain is trying to protect the boat form something in particular.

Costume

The sailor will wear glasses similar to these in order to make him and his style look dated and like a typical fisherman.

The sailor may also wear a pair of fisherman's trousers to give him the look of an authentic sailor. These will be worn over regular, casual clothes such as a wooly jumper, boots and a wooly hat.

Favourite Costume

This is a 'Pagan Wildman' from eastern Europe. His costume is made from burlap, string, stones and bits of wood. This costume is definitely our favourite costime that we seen, and we hope to create something much like this.

Shells

We will need shells in order to create one of our costumes. Our costume has been inspired by this pagan dress made with rocks and bits of wood. We will drill holes through the shells and hang them from pieces of string.

Seaweed

We will use seaweed in this costume as well in order to make it more relevant to the setting. As our movie will be filmed near the seaside and contain many shots of the coast, it would make sense to give the costumes a seaside related aspect. We put forward an idea to collect seaweed and shells from a local beach to use for the costumes. The costumes will be created in our school's art department.

• Burlap Fabric

We plan to use some burlap fabric to make the base layer of the costumes for the pagans on the island.

This is a 'Pagan Wildman' from eastern Europe. His costume is made from a straw-like fabric and has several cowbells hanging form it. The cowbells could be to symbolise nature or maybe just as decoration.














Cowbells

We have taken some inspiration from this costume and have decided that we would like to use some cowbells for one of our costumes.

Foley

Foley will also be used in our movie for some of the actions. When the protagonists are killed at the very end of the movie, we will create new foley for the movement of the pagans when they kill the characters. Other foley may be needed in the movie, but this will be decided and added during the editing stage of our short film.