ND Creative Media Production YR 1 2018

Unit 2: Communication Skills for Creative Media Production

Searching for Columba – Client Brief

Columba Heritage Trail- Derry

Project Team ‘Searching for Columba’

Faye Thompson, Jack Coyle, Josh Kuzma, Katie McKeever, Lennon Boyd, Megan Brown, Niall Doherty, Shane Doherty, Shea Kealey, Alexia Moccia

Contents

1.0Introduction – Background

2.0Stops on the Columba Heritage Trail – Research

3.0Other Sites of Interest – Research

4.0 Research Planner

5.0 Residential

6.0Walking Tour

7.0Film Shoot – Individual Sections

8.0 Screenings – Individual Films (1/2mins) – Review/ Update Report

9.0Full Film Edit – Team work (Groups of 2/3 persons)

10.0 Full Film Review & Evaluation – Review / Update Report

11.0Legacy & Recommendations

12.0Bibliography

1.0 Introduction

The objective of this report is to provide a detailed media production report on the Experiential Project Learning experience of ‘Searching for Columba’. This was a joint endeavour by North West Regional College Media and ‘The Churches Trust’. The project was launched on the 19th January and ran for 12 college calendar weeks. It involved primary and secondary Research; Training in Media Skills workshops; A Team Building Residential; a Film Production Schedule & Screening. The timetable of events is documented at http://faustinastarrett.weebly.com/just-us-project.html .

This report will document the full story, including research challenges, training, pre-production and production challenges related to the Saint Columba heritage trail and the making of the short film of the project experience.

The research involved detailed investigations and location recce and multiple visits to the different stops on the Columba Heritage trail in Derry. It also investigated some points of interest and locations along the heritage trail.

2.0 Stops on the Columba Heritage Trail - Research Sources

For this Chapter of the report I will summarise the stops along the heritage trail as well as locations of interest relevant to the trail. [footnoteRef:1] [1: http://faustinastarrett.weebly.com/just-us-project.html - Research paper produced by Derry City Council]

2.1St. Brackens church (Niall)

St Bracken’s church is the first stop on the Columba heritage trail. It used to be the sight of a monastery. The monastery was founded by St. Bracken who also set up other monastic settlements. It is thought that he followed Colmcille`s example when he set up his monasteries. The original church was set up by St. Bracken in 1192 but Bishop O Gallah had the church rebuilt in 1585.

The church located on upper Magazine Street is Derry`s first Presbyterian church. Presbyterianism started being practised in Derry during the 1600s. The church itself was built in 1690 when Queen Mary gave a large sum of money to the Presbyterians living in the city for their role in defending the city during a siege in 1689. The building that is present today on the street was built in 1780. Behind the church there is a blue coat visitor centre. The building is open to visitors and people of the church`s religion.

2.2St. Augustine’s Church (Megan)

St. Augustine’s Church is located along the Derry walls near where the Walker memorial used to be. There is a story that St. Columba built his first fortified monastic settlement here. The church was apparently built in a clearing in surrounded by oak trees. The Augustine church is unique in its positioning. This is because instead of facing east to west like most other Anglican churches it faces north east to south west.

The original church was destroyed and the stones were used to make the city walls. The church that is there today was built in 1872 under Bishop William Alexander. The church architecture makes use of symbols that were associated with the church at the time such as the dove and the oak leaf.

2.3Long Tower Church (Lennon)

The long tower church is claimed to be the original site of St. Columba`s monastery. Although it cannot be proven that the site was originally the site of Columba’s monastery the artwork in and surrounding the church has a lot of material based around St. Columba. The original church was built in 1783. Before it was built mass was said near a hawthorn tree. Father John Lynch raised the funds to have the original church to be built in the early 1800s AND IN 1810 the construction of the church began. There is a series of ceramic reliefs that show stories of Columba’s life beside the church.

2.4Carlisle Road Methodist Church (Shea)

The building of this church began in 1901 and finished in 1903. The church was opened by the by the Duchess of Abercorn. The congregation of the church got considerably smaller during the troubles due to the families living near the church moving away for their families’ safety. The church itself remained open during the troubles even though many other churches around the city closed.

3.0 Other Sites of Interest

As well as all these stops along the heritage trail, we also visited Gartan, the place where Saint Columba is thought to have been born, we had our teambuilding residential there, it helped the crew get closer and also allowed us to feel more in touch with our own history, and ended up strengthening friendships while educating us.

3.1St. Columbs`s Cathedral (Shane)

St. Colm`s Cathedral was built in 1633 and was the first protestant cathedral built in the UK after the Reformation. The building is the oldest surviving structure in Derry. There are stained glass windows inside the church that depict three different parts of the saint’s life. There is also a statue of Saint Columba in the Pulpit and a mosaic of him at the back of the altar.

3.2St. Columbs Park House (Faye)

This building used to be a manor house in the centre of St. Colm`s Park. The house was used to house British soldiers during the Second World War because of its proximity to Ebrington Barracks and Clooney Base.

The house was renovated in 1993 so it could be used as a venue for cross-community programs. The house also got an extension in 2010. The house contains facilities such as a café, rooms to host different programs as well as rooms available to groups doing residential. This was my stop along the heritage trail, and I had a very fun time going about filming it, Josh and Niall helped me gather footage, and the staff were very accommodating for us in our endeavour to get the needed footage that would represent and showcase the house and its facilities well. In my opinion it’s a very important stop, as it’s a building and community dedicated to Saint Columba himself, and is a tribute to his life and all he stood for. The concept I had for my segment of the film, was to focus more on the beauty surrounding the building, as it’s set in such a beautiful and scenic part of Derry, and I believe that will seem very poignant when edited together.

Below I’ll put the unedited version of my segment of the heritage trail, featuring my stop, in editing I’m going to put a soundtrack on top of my segment, as well as complete my own full edit of every stop put together as well as mine to tell the full story of what this experience was like for all the students involved. I aim to have it be so that my short film is more focused on each individual experience of the students, rather than the same run of the mill story of Saint Columba’s history, I want to really personalise it, and allow it to engage the audience, and get them involved in learning the history of saint Columba as if they were alongside us throughout the whole project.

3.3Peace Bridge (Sorcha)

The Peace Bridge was opened in June 25th 2011. It was funded by an EU program called the Peace III program. The bridge cost 14.5 million and is constantly used on a daily basis. It was opened by the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hann as well as Martin Mc. Guinness the Peace Bridge is a monument to the work that has gone into the Peace Process.

3.4The City Walls (Jack)

The Derry Walls were built from 1613 to 1618. They were built by the honourable, The Irish Society. The walls are about 1.5km long and surround the inner city. There were originally four city gates in the walls and three more were added. The walls holds a collection of 24 cannons. In 2005 the cannons were restored.

Research Film Sources

The Cholmchille Centre - Research for  Documentary and Full Interview with Ivor Doherty by Jonny Fulton

https://youtu.be/GJmxvAXyIa4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl8q8fHriMw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn_i6zX9QXM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDl56NTLliQ

4.0 Research Pre-Production Plan

'Searching for Columba' Induction Waterside Park House - Week.1

On the introduction week of the Just Us Project, we went to Saint Columb’s Park House for an induction and to meet the other participants who we were going to be seeing over the duration of the project, there, we played a few ice breaker games to help us get to know each other and get acquainted.

Team Building Day with Churches Trust Participants

'NWRC Media Skills Training Day - Week 2

On our second week, we were teaching the members of Churches Trust how to properly operate camera equipment among other critical skills that you’d need in the creative media industry, I myself, taught them all how to create their own website on weebly that they could use to document the entire Just Us project in their own words.

5.0 ‘Residential’ Teambuilding - PART 1 - Beginnings – Gartan Donegal Week 2

Gartan was where we went for our teambuilding residential, it was a very educational trip, (albeit very cold), however it brought all the classmates and participants closer. There, we had various classes of sorts on different important issues, and spent a lot of time together as a group. It was a very enlightening and enjoyable trip.

6.0 'Walking Tour’ - History Trail around the City - Filming on Location -Week 3

We went on a walking tour around the saint Columba heritage trail around Derry, we started in Saint Columb’s Park House, and then moved around the city to see and learn about various locations and buildings that have tributes and stories detailing Saint Columba’s achievements and life that would be useful in our film.

NWRC FILM SHOOT - Individual site shoot & edit - Week 5

Script:

I made my script as simplistic as I possibly could. This is because my stop is the introduction of the full film, as such, I introduced the project.

“This is a legacy story told by the young people from Derry and Donegal who went on a journey to find Columba. We are going to show what his story means to young people of today, and what better place to start this story than saint Columb’s Park House where our journey to find Columba started.”

7.0 PLAYBACK & REVIEW - Week 7 Final cut (Individual) due - Week 8

Segment drafts:

8.0 Full Film Edit – Team work (Groups of 2/3 persons)

The Columba Heritage Trail is a very interesting and accessible walk to do in the city. It is very informative and provides a lot of insight into the legend and legacy of St. Colmcille.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y1X6ZZgKPM)

This is the first draft of the full version of my Just Us submission, after showing it to the class as well as others and getting feedback on what improvements I could make, I got a lot of helpful feedback that I can take in and implement in order to make my finished version as good as I possibly can.

Some feedback I got was the likes of:

- Putting the peace bridge segment at the end of the video

- Stabilizing the St Augustine's Church segment

- Fixing audio levels and cancelling out static

These are all very valid points that I will take on board and improve on. However some positive feedback I got was the likes of:

- My soundtrack was very well picked and fitting to the project

- The pacing was effective

After having the whole class show their edits, it's been decided that Megan's edit best encapsulated what our client was trying to convey with the project. (https://meganbrownmia.weebly.com/) so instead of working on more full edits of the film, I have decided instead to focus on remaking my segment to better it for the full finished product. After getting feedback, I have decided on things I am going to change about my segment. I am going to:

- Redo the audio, as I feel like I stumble over my words in the original drafts

- Cancel out any static in my audio

- Originally, in my first edit, I mostly centered around taking shots of the house, and while that is my stop and it's important to Columba, I am also opening the film and introducing the project, because of this I am going to split my focus points in my segment to focus on the house, but also the 'Journey' to find Columba that I introduce. To best convey this, I'm going to make use of the different stops along the heritage trail that we all visited together on the third week of our project, and visibly show the start of a journey through my segment in order to engage the audience and let them know that they are coming on this journey with us throughout the film.

9.0 Final Cut – 10 minute short Film - Week 12 - 27th April 2018

Full Film Edit – Team work (Groups of 2/3 persons)

Review and Evaluation by Client:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=Z8vs-X8Mrc4

Here is the full film edit for the project, edited by Megan as she was the designated editor. In order to edit it together successfully we decided on a set order to edit the clips in.

- St. Columb’s Park House

- St. Columba Statue

- St. Bracen’s Church

- First Derry Presbyterian Church

- St. Augustine’s Church

- St. Columb’s Cathedral

- Long Town Church

- Methodist Church

- The City Walls

- Hands Across the Divide

- Peace Bridge

The reason that we structured it the way we did, was due to wanting to engage and show the audience the ‘journey’ that they could go along with us on. As well as this, to transition between the different segments, we decided to use the imagery of a flying dove, this is due to the significance and symbolism of a dove in regards to Saint Columba.

Bibliography

Derry and Raphoe Diocese Website- https://www.derryandraphoe.org/st-augustine-s

The Walls- https://discovernorthernireland.com/17th-Century-City-Walls-Londonderry-Derry-P7097/

The Derry Walls Website- https://thederrywalls.com/explore-the-walls/

St. Columba’s Park House Website- http://www.stcolumbsparkhouse.org/

Flickr- https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjg182/with/4383398431/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/earlychurch/features_earlychurch_iona.shtml

http://www.colmcille.org/colmcille/history-in-stone

http://www.colmcille.org/colmcille/history-in-stone

http://biography.yourdictionary.com/saint-columba

Soundtrack for film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQ3JRS4gqc

Peace Walls Tourism Project Website- http://www.visitbishopstreetandthefountain.com/portfolio-item/carlisle-methodist-church/

Film Archive Research

Research Film Sources

The Cholmchille Centre - Research for  Documentary and Full Interview with Ivor Doherty by Jonny Fulton

https://youtu.be/GJmxvAXyIa4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl8q8fHriMw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn_i6zX9QXM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDl56NTLliQ

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-st-columba-1963-online

The Columba Heritage Trail