03 Apr Hadrian Fletcher Draft
My original idea was to create a series of videos looking at the different challenges people living on remote islands may face and showcasing the vast difference between city and rural life using the Isle of Luing as an example, with a target audience being people who live in large cities and towns in the UK who want to learn more about different ways of life within their own country. Although I don’t wish to target a specific age group its quite likely that it will mostly be watched by under 30s as it is all online.
This has not changed however some physical parts of the project have changed due to complications that arose since my original proposal, for example I wanted to look at education on the island and planned to spend time looking at the small school on the island however this was not possible as the head teacher denied my interview request so the episode now focus on work life on the island as well as education.
This was the only major issue I faced, as my project is a series of short videos covering issues I wanted interviews for each one so I now have around 10 interviews Below is a video showcasing all my interviews with a few seconds from each. This is a list describing each interviewees role in order of how they appear in the video.
The community bus manager about transport
An older islander about social life and transport
A young islander about social life
my mother about her new commute to work which now involves a ferry across a small stretch of the Atlantic ocean rather than the A13 from Southend-On-Sea to Rayleigh
Two school children about their education and long journey to school
The events manager at the Atlantic Islands center about how important community events are
The Atlantic Islands center manager for information on the center and the community
The shopkeeper about how vital the shop and post office are
A farmer about the running of the farm which is the main industry on the Island
I have also created a lower third using the layering tool in adobe premier pro, I choose to not have a background to the lower third as I think it looks sleeker, once I created and laid out the text I used the effects in premier pro to create In and Out motions for the lower third, I will keep the lower third the same throughout the only variable will be the colour of the text depending on the frame to maximise readability.
Below is a video showing the lower third this is to show how the lower third appears on screen and how it looks, when used in the final videos it will be positioned and sized properly to each scene.
Although lots of my knowledge of the island is my own gained from personal experience as my mother lives there I did get some information from the internet.
For general island knowledge i used a community run site about the island : https://isleofluing.org I also used several other sites that have short descriptions of the island such as undiscovered Scotland and explore Oban
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/luing/luing/index.html
https://www.explore-oban.com/what-to-do/sea/isle-of-luing/
I also needed more indepth infomation on the ferry for as I talk about the timings and prices this infomation was found here
https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/isle-luing-isle-seil-ferry-timetable
I read about the shop from this article explaining how the shop was saved from Closure which helped me with my questions as well as general knowledge of the shop
another article I read was about the school although it was very helpful I did have to register which was frustrating
https://www.scotsman.com/education/islands-primary-school-could-be-left-just-one-pupil-2026824
I also used the following tutorial to help me create my lower third
Finally here is a detailed plan for the first 4 Videos
VT PLAN
Episode 1 INTRO
Still image of united kingdom – timelapse of busy street – uk map with pins on inhabited islands
“Many of the UK’s 60 million population live in Urban areas. Big towns and vast cities bustling with life and a 24 hour lifestyle. But there are some people that choose to live differently with over 100 permanently inhabited Islands in the UK these communities are often vastly different to big cities with a completely different way of life and a unique set of challenges that lots of people aren’t aware of ”
Shot of me on ferry
“Now I want you to forget about the larger Islands like the Isle of Wight or Isle of man there are plenty of islands with populations under 500. And this is one of them. The Isle of Luing”
Shots of Luing – Generic Scottish music in background
“6 miles long and a mile wide, 3 Hours from Glasgow and 40 minutes from the nearest town Luing is one of Scotland’s slate islands. First populated in the 18 hundreds by slate miners at one time the quarry here sold 750 thousand slates a year, although the quarry closed in 1965 165 people call Luing home and with views like these its not hard to see why”
Shot of me on walking off ferry
“On the face of it its very easy to see why you would want to live here the astounding beauty, the incredible wildlife or even just the peacefulness that’s what brought my family here on many holidays but 2 years ago my mum and sister left Essex to make Luing their home but you don’t have to dig deep to find some issues that might make you think twice about a similar move, firstly the ferry”
Shot of Ferry
“It’s the only way on and off the island and only runs from 7am till 6pm and its pricy with a season ticket for a car and driver coming in at just over £1000 a year and in bad weather people can find themselves stranded on or of the island if the ferry is cancelled”
Relevant shots
“but the problems don’t stop with simply accessing island, there is no gas connection although some residents have upgraded to electric heating systems many houses still have a fire roaring of an evening with fortnightly delivery’s of coal.”
“There is one very small shop on the island the nearest supermarket is 40 minutes away and doesn’t offer delivery’s to the island, although there is no pub however there is a community center which serves food and is licensed but opening hours are limited. The shop does serve as a post office but with last collection being 9AM you need to be up early”
“there is a primary school but senior school students have to travel into the nearby town of Oban”
“so join me as I discover the island, talk to the community, find out how they deal with the challenges they face and still call Luing home”
End credits
Episode 2 – Transport
General shots of me, the island and relevant shots of cars etc.
“An obvious issue with any remote area is transport, its likely to be mostly cars with a sporadic bus service and if your really lucky a train station. Once on the island there is no public transport but the islanders manage just fine providing lifts for each other however if you don’t have a car getting off the island is where it starts to get tricky, the nearest big town and train station is Oban and there is a very limited bus service from where the ferry stops just over there. With only about two or three busses a day – and missing the bus home from Oban is a costly mistake”
Clip of me getting quote for taxi from Oban to Ferry
So car is the most convenient way for islanders who work in Oban but it its expensive and the ferry can be delayed or cancelled so although the only traffic jams are caused by sheep its far from ideal, after moving here from essex my mum got a job in Oban so Im gonna have a quick chat with her about her journey.
Interviewee – Islander/s who work off the island
Questions:
- On a good day how long does your journey into Oban take?
- And how many times a year do you think you get stuck on off the island unable to get to or from work on time or at all?
- And what can cause these delays
- How much does the ferry cost you a year
- And in the past few years everyone seems to be being more green and eco friendly if you could rely on a regular public transport to get you to work would you.
“but of course not everyone drives and those who have to rely on the bus service, but its still quite a walk to the ferry from most of the houses on Luing so there is a community bus which once a week takes islanders to the ferry terminal and back”
Interviewee – Community bus driver
- How is the community bus funded?
- How could it be utalised better if the funding was improved?
- How important is the community bus to the residents who use it?
Concluding piece will sum up the interviewee’s thoughts
EPISODE 3 – Education + work
Outside primary school
“An important part of growing up is going to school, and there is a primary school on Luing it only has 5 pupils considering most classes in UK schools have around 30 pupils its quite astounding that there is only 5 in the whole school and also just look at the view they have from the playground certainly very different to the view I had from my school playground”
“but once they leave primary school the nearest high school is in Oban 19 miles away, the local council do provide a bus to the ferry, free ferry crossing and another bus to the school but that is a long journey and obviously its a lot harder to join any after school clubs as the bus home is straight after school finishes “
“Once they leave school if they want to go to uni they obviosly have to travel of the island but if they choose to stay on luing and look for jobs instead they can either communte to oban each day or find work on the island which is mostly small bussniesses with the biggest bussiness on the island being the farm.
“Luing is home to hundreds of cattle and thousends of sheep and today we are going to be speaknig to james who works on the farm to tell us abit more about how the it works and the job consits of”
1) How many people are employed on the farm
2) And how many of them live on Luing
3) How much of the island is farmland
4) And how long has there been farming on Luing
5) Are there any aspects to farming on an island that differ to farming on the mainland
6)So we are here with just a few of the cattle you farm here on Luing and I understand that the bulls all have quite interesting names could you tell me a few of your favorites
7)Its pretty clear the cattle and sheep have plenty of space to roam about in but what do you do behind the scenes to ensure the animals are happy and healthy
Episode 4 – social life
Shot of me outside the coran halls in Oban
“A good social life is important to everyone, weather you’re in your 20s and hitting the town or over 60 and just going for lunch with friends, we all need to socialise the ferry can of course be very restrictive to social plans although there are plenty of opportunities for socalising on Luing people will still want to go off the island sometimes and the nearest fairly big music venue is the coran halls just behind me here in oban”
Shot of me in Glasgow
“But for really big bands or a nightclub you need to travel 3 hours to here in Glasgow”
Me searching prices
I will start by explaining the issues described above and present a short breakdown of costs added to a night out in to places Oban and Glasgow – Oban: Travel = under £5 Hotel = £40 minimum total £45 Glasgow Travel £25 accommodation £40 minimum cost = £65 Oban only has gigs with a venue that holds a few thousand people for nightlife or big gigs Glasgow is the only option.
“We had a quick chat with islander james who only moved to luing two years ago about how his social life has changed since moving here”
Interviewee – James
Interviewee – lorane
Episode 4 – Business
Shots of cattle and sheep
“Although Luing is popular for tourists and many of its residents travel to Oban for work it is a farming island, it is in fact owned by the Cadzow family who have farmed on the island for generations”
“we have already seen the farm in action but we caught up with james again to ask him abit more about the challenges of farming on an island”
Interviewee – James
Questions
- What animals do you farm here on Luing?
- Could you tell me some more about Luing Cattle?
- Are there any challenges you face farming on an island that you wouldn’t on the mainland?
- How do you face these challenges?
“there is also several smaller businesses operating on Luing on of these is the shop, also serving as a post office this tiny shop is open 6 days a week for 3 to 5 hours each day and its run by Published author Norrie.
Interviewee – Norrie
Questions
- So what challenges do you face running a shop in such a remote location?
- How do you face these
- The shop is defiantly a community asset but just how important is it to the locals?
“and one final business to look at is the Atlantic Islands center, the hospitality industry is tough anywhere but the Atlantic Islands center is a popular among lifelong islanders and day trippers alike, serving food and hosting a range of social events it has become a important part of life to many islanders since it opened in 2015.
Interview center
