My name is James. I worked as an intern in Dr Chris Nunn’s project “Untold Histories of “The Wicker Man”” as part of the Collaborative Research Internship. During my first semester of second year, in between talking about politics, film, and ghastly economic students, one of my lecturers detailed his project of a feature documentary he was working on. Knowing I desired greater experience within filmmaking, and after expressing that interest, my professor spoke three words that would dictate my future placement; The Wicker Man.
Over the course of a few months, he explained the focus and specifics of the film in question. At the time he described how the film was focusing on the sons of the original The Wicker Man director Robin Hardy – one of which is the director this documentary. The brothers trace the calamitous journey of their father while making the film and examine their relationship to him after his passing, while his cult film lives on 50 years later. Before my CRI placement begin, my professor enlightened the pre-production and production processes of documentary filmmaking, explicating the importance of treatments in acquiring distribution or financial support from studios. Already I was learning about the intricacies and complexities of making a feature film.
As time went on and once I had been offered the CRI internship opportunity, the CRI induction day arrived. Here, I met the other interns, and our placement lead outlined how we would help the film which had released a Kickstarter to obtain funding. As it was in post-production my primary task was creating cohesive social media content that replicated the style of the film in effort to advertise the Kickstarter. This consisted of watching edited footage from the first two acts, choosing clips which could be used to promote interest, as well individual posts and posters outlining news or information. We aimed to spread awareness of our doc whilst not revealing too much of the film.
Later we came together as a group to watch rough cuts of the first three acts, with the director, as well as others; here we were able to give our individual thoughts regarding the structure, style, and tone of the film. Through repeatedly watching cuts of the film, looking for small changes to discuss with my lead, allowed me to gather a deeper understanding of the meticulous process of filmmaking; the focused monotony of the edit that demands your attention.
Following from the social media posts, and after handing over to another intern when my hours were finished, we all pulled together for a final push on a Kickstarter. While we had strong doubts it would fail, in the final hours we acquired over 40% of the funds. The whole experience really demonstrated how small budget/ independent filmmaking manages to complete production. Contrastingly, completing social media content enabled me to develop skills and expand my competence.
Overall, it was a incredibly fun experience where I was able to learn, create and experience things I hadn’t before. Since completing my placement I’ve had the opportunity to continuing doing social media content for the film on Twitter and Instagram.
James Gordon, BA English and Film