|
Crafta Webb can now be watched on-line via the Community Channel. Click here
"To make a film, however short or on whatever scale, is a good way of investigating a past event, a place, a contemporary issue, or just a narrative with conflicting characters.The process forces you to ask questions and find the answers through research. It means that you see the world through a stranger's eyes and maybe find a new perspective on familiar territory"
Ken Loach from his foreword to the Crafta Webb book
At various times nicknamed Hyde Park Corner, New Town and Poverty Street, the origin, history and demise of Crafta Webb is a mystery.This ‘lost village’, once home to 60 people, was rumoured to owe its origins to the ‘one night house’, when, it’s said, erecting a chimney and smoking it by dawn meant you could claim rights. Local folklore suggests it was established by impoverished economic migrants who came here hoping to benefit from a charitable trust to assist the parish poor, set up by the wealthy Bredwardine resident, George Jarvis.
Although the settlement once boasted its own grocer, tailor and shoemaker, nothing now remains on the hill. County history records refer only to a ‘shrunken village’. No one knows what happened to the people who once resided there, how they lived and what it was that eventually made them leave.
Working with the over 120 people from the communities of Bredwardine, Staunton on Wye and Letton over a two-year period, The Rural Media Company embarked on an ambitious community film project to shed light on this mysterious part of Herefordshire’s heritage and discover a way in which we could convey the story of Crafta Webb through film drama and documentary.
The project had several key outputs:
· A short film drama built on research, archaeology and discussion about the Crafta Webb settlement, which members of the local community would help research, devise, write, crew and perform.
· A practical media training programme and equipment resource for members of the community, training them in the use of Mini DV cameras and digital editing in order to facilitate their own documentaries.
· A Crafta Webb animation project with a local primary school
· A book with interviews, maps and photographs
The Film
Work on Crafta Webb began in November 2005 with the first steering group, made up of members of the community and Producer/Director Adrian Lambert, first meeting in January 2006. Weekly workshops began in September 2006 with the group ranging in age from nine to 75 years of age.
It became clear that Crafta Webb was to be more than historical research, it also stood as a symbol for all our personal migrations and sense of home. It was important to understand that the experience of migrating to Bredwardine, or Crafta Webb, wasn’t just an idea that could be attributed to the past; in fact it is fast becoming one of the most pertinent and significant issues of modern times.
We decided to take Crafta Webbs past and find a way of re-telling it in the present. We wanted its discovery to be part of the film and its appeal to its inhabitants to be reflected by historical and contemporary reference points. We wanted its ruins to be reflected in the naïve architecture of a child and the diaries of a Victorian Reverend replaced by those of a young girl. We wanted to explore the difference that the discovery of Crafta Webb could bring to a family’s life.
The Production
Roles in the film were given to members of the group who had expressed an interest in taking on an acting part. Robyn Collins and Jean Dubberley were given the central roles of Anna and Mary, who would strike up a friendship that would lead to the discovery of Crafta Webb. John Williams would be played by Phil Morgan, a third generation farmer born and bred in Bredwardine.
|
|
Similar Projects
It was felt that the part of Maja should preferably be taken by somebody who had migrated from Eastern Europe to Herefordshire and so could possibly bring a sense of the reality of that situation to the part. In another small village in Herefordshire we found Raimonda Cioga-de-Almeida, who had moved from Lithuania in 2001. She was welcomed into the group and rehearsals began.
Freelance professionals were brought on board as Director of Photography, Camera Assistant and Sound Recordist. The shoot was scheduled for eight days in locations in Bredwardine, and on the Crafta Webb site in June 2007.
Over eight long days the Crafta Webb film came to life. Members of the community worked side by side with professionals to create a film which they had an enormous stake in. Tasks and performances, which for so long had been limited to the village hall, were now out in the open, as the actors warmed to the realities of a working production and the crew discovered the true requirements of their roles!
On the last day a Jimmy Jib was hired to capture the moment that the Crafta Webb field is ‘re-populated’. Over 80 members of the community complete in Victorian costume came that day and the sight of them walking up the Crafta Webb field was truly magical for everyone. It was a moment that really brought the project to a fantastic climax, and incredible culmination of everybody’s hard work and dedication.
Animation
We approached the local primary school with the idea of creating a Crafta Webb animation with some of the children at the school. Thirty-nine children from Reception, Years 1 and 2 eventually took part in making their own Crafta Webb characters, houses and props for the stop motion film.
The children not only made their own characters, but also the props, including miniature carrots and a horse drawn wagon!
If you would like further information about the project please contact Adrian Lambert on adrianl@ruralmedia.co.uk or 01432 344039
Crafta Webb is supported by Herefordshire Rivers Leader+
Available to purchase on DVD (includes 40 page booklet) @ £10.00 inc vat and p&p.
To order please select and complete the preferred order form below and send with the appropriate payment.
 PDF order form
 Word order form
|
Crafta Webb
