The Happy Lands
This week I was commissioned by Theatre Workshop Scotland to shoot some on set documentary stills for an upcoming feature film, The Happy Lands, a film set in Fife during the miner's strike of 1926. Documentary stills rather than film stills as the feature is being shot using a RED camera, essentially meaning every frame shot is a hi-res film still.
The Mining Musuem at Newtongrange was the location and the scenes being shot were set in a bleak Scottish winter, duffle coats, woolen scarves, flat caps and pickets huddling around oil drum fires wilted on what seemed like the hottest day in the history of Scotland. Stoicism prevailed as water was taken on board between takes and the actors, perfectly channeling 1920's coal miners, prolifically puffed away on cigarettes.
The heat, colour bleaching intense sunlight, and the period costumes lent a strange allusion of the dustbowl disaster in 1930s Midwest. John Steinbeck and Dorothea Lange loomed large.
I'm prone to go into a little dreamworld when documenting an event, I don't directly interact with anyone present (unless they say hi of course) and people who have commissioned me often don't notice I've been there till they see the results, something I take as a compliment.
For a few hours in the midday sun I concentrated on capturing candid portraits, and was struck by the rich characterful faces on set, all the more remarkable considering none are actors, but volunteers from the Fife community. There were the most wonderful charismatic faces, the kind of faces that you could project film characters onto (which I happily did, having no knowledge of the script).
Many of the roles were written for specific people, who family lived in the area during the period, and were actively involved in the events that the picture depicts.
The film is currently in the middle of a 5 week shoot and is due for completion next year when it will be entered into film festivals before being screened by one of their funders, the BBC.
Whilst they are all (presently) unknown acting talent, you may recognise one face within the images...
Labels: Feature Film, Film Stills, Miner's Strike, Photography, Production Stills, Scotland, The Happy Lands
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