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| Janine interviewing an overheating knight at Lancaster Castle |
The day was hot and the courtyard at Lancaster Castle was a complete sun and heat trap. However, we were not put off, although I think I did get a bit grumpy every now and again. I have found out before when working with re-enactment societies that they just really enjoy talking about there particular re-enactment period. This group was just the same! They were really happy to talk away, and brought the history of that period to life. However, I did ask one Norman to explain what the women would have been doing whilst the knights were all off fighting and being heroic - she told me that they would have stopped at home and done the cooking and washing. I was not terribly convinced by this so checked it out further - apparently some women could have held quite a lot of power - especially when the men were off on crusades - some held keys to castles which made them REALLY powerful! Now, that is more like it!
There were probably about 20 knights demonstrating combat through tourneys but also practising outside the Castle. Having looked back at the footage, their fights were fierce! I am sure that some of them are probably still feeling the effects of their fights a week later. We talked to Chris who told us that he actually makes his own chain (it's not chain mail because 'mail' is French for 'chain' so you are in fact just saying 'chain chain' which is a bit daft... a bit like koala bear...). I checked, and apparently in the 1100's England only had a population of about 2 million. It's a bit amazing that they managed to find each other to fight in the first place. 2 million doesn't sound like many at all to me.
Anyway, our filming challenge - we just wanted to produce a short taster of what was happening at the Castle and get it produced in a day - it was like a 24 hour challenge I suppose - we were doing it to keep us sharp - there's always something to learn in those situations. For example, I just wish we had filmed the fight scenes in a higher frame rate and not occasionally left the cameras in auto wb mode - I know they are small factors, but ones that I shall think about more next time.
The film is good. Pleased with the results and we'd relish the opportunity to go back in on a quieter day and do some film work in the prison wings - I imagine all sorts of interesting lighting states and it would be just good to let people have a look at things that are so rarely open to members of the public.
Our next challenge is to do a bit of hyper lapsing (if it ever stops raining!) so watch this space. In the meantime watch this film - it's fab.
