When editing the stills (which we weren’t sure if we were going to include or not) I made sure to edit them with standardisation and keep them similar in appearance. This was difficult when images differed in tone because of the balance of light or were darker because of cloud, but I tried to ensure that they all had the same feel despite the differences in light/colour in the original images. As a more general overview of changes made, I increased saturation and vibrancy to make the images a little less grey, whilst also bringing the contrast and sometimes the highlights down. I then adjusted exposure as necessary. I think I have achieved what I wanted to an extent, but the general greyness and lack of light in the original images made it hard to create images I was truly happy with. In terms of creating images that match the style of Wes Anderson’s work – which is characterised by bold colour palettes, wide lens shots and symmetrical framing – I think I have only truly achieved this on a few occasions, which I will show below.

-We decided to have a narrator to read our version of St. Helier’s life story, with links to Elizabeth Castle. We chose Gail O’Malley as the reader to have a more mature voice and we thought it would sound most effective. We will record the narration in seven parts, making it simpler to re-record mistakes as we wouldn’t have to re-do the entire narration. The audio will play over the entire duration of the film, with short pauses in between each paragraph.

Script

“Saint Helier was born to pagan parents in Tongeren, Belgium in the early 6^th century. His parent’s inability to conceive caused them to seek help from a Christian teacher, Saint Cunibert, who advised them to pray to God. However, his came with one condition- the child would have to be handed over to God, and Saint Cunibert would be the one to bring him up as a Christian. The couple were blessed with a son and were forced to act upon their promise.”  

“After years of Saint Cunibert’s influence on his son, Helier’s father grew angry and had the teacher killed. This caused Helier to flee, and the young traveller ended up in Normandy, where he found shelter in a monastic community. Helier was baptised by Saint Marculf, who sent him as a missionary to Agna, which we now know as Jersey. The island was recorded as having only 30 inhabitants at the time, due to the repeated attacks by Vikings. Helier, along with a companion Saint Romard was sent to guide the helpless people.” 

“After their arrival, Helier settled on a tidal islet, nowadays known as the Hermitage Rock, next to the island now occupied by Elizabeth Castle. Having a better view of the surrounding ocean, Helier could easily spot the approaching attackers and signal to the shore, allowing the inhabitants to scatter and avoid the attackers’ bloodlust.” 

“However, this all came to an abrupt stop on one stormy night in the year 555. Night was falling, the storm made the sea dark, and Helier did not spot an incoming pirate ship. The tyrants reached the small islet where the hermit lived and beheaded the frail man with an axe, after he refused to renounce his religion.” 

“Legend says that Helier picked up his head and walked to the shore of Jersey, declaring pirates were attacking, before falling down: dead. His body was placed in a small boat by Saint Romard, which is said to have reached the beaches of Normandy where he was later buried. He was a declared a saint due to his sacrifice for the people of Jersey.” 

“During his life in Jersey, it was recorded that Saint Helier performed one healing miracle, curing a man named Anquetil. However, the man was mostly known for bringing Christianity and hope to the island, for which the inhabitants were extremely grateful for.” 

“Nowadays, the saint’s memory is preserved in the Hermitage, a small 12th-century oratory, which can be visited by walking down the breakwater connecting the castle and the hermit’s old residence. A part of the original islet has been kept inside of the Hermitage, where a shallow nook in the rock served the hermit as a home.” 

-Read by Gail O’Malley

How are Archives a repository of knowledge?

What are Archives:

“Archives” is traditionally a name for a room that stores and documents information about something or several things. This can be for history or general information etc.. Archives have been used throughout human history and they have been very helpful among historians who are studying a specific era in human history. These days, while archives still remain in use, digital archives are now very well used and are much easier and quicker to access, digital ones contain images, documents and many more things that you wouldn’t be allowed to even touch in a physical archive. Despite the rise in technology and the internet, physical archives have seemed to push through as it has done so for many centuries as one of Man’s most reliable resources for information.

Archives in Jersey:

There are a few Archives here in jersey too. Such as The Société Jersiaise and the Jersey Archive. In The Société Jersiaise, you will find a lot of work from the well known photographer, Henry Mullins. His work consisted of many portraits of Jersey during the 1800s. His work helped him be recognised as the person who played an important role in the early development in Jersey’s photography. In the Jersey Archive, it stores information on Claude Cahun, another well known photographer that is linked to jersey. In the Jersey Archive you can find her work, or what is left of it after the Germans destroyed most of it during WW2. Her work covers alot on sexuality and gender identity, quite interesting especially since it’s from the 30s to 40s. Appealing to anyone who wants to study the history of gender identity and sexuality.

Conclusion:

To conclude, archives are a great way to tap into the history of a certain event or era. It is a very reliable source as it will tell you the truth on something and nothing but the truth, it wont be altered by other people’s stories that you would hear online. Using an archive to gather information is a more authentic way of learning from the past as you will likely be in a different atmosphere and have different surroundings from that era, like in The Societe Jersaise where you are inside a real building that was built from that time.