Revised Treatment - Mary Ann Cotton

Illustration ©Darren Murphy.

Popular Conception
In 1873 Mary Ann Cotton was tried, convicted and executed for the murder of 3 of her 4 husbands. She was also suspected of killing up to 21 other people, mainly family members by Arsenic poisoning. Her motivation provided by the prosecution at her trial was primarily financial gain, by collecting their death insurance. She is notable in historical text as Britain’s first documented female serial killer.

The Documentary
An alternative history exists for Mary. The documentary will try to breakdown the myth surrounding her and shall pose the popular media driven version of events against trusted historical documentation (court transcripts etc.) that imply that she may well have been innocent and the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
 
The Hartlepool Historians group present a great representation of this information on their website maryanncotton.co.uk. They suggest that Mary was convicted on circumstantial evidence alone. Reading their website it’s hard not to agree.

Her case will be compared to a remarkably similar case in America contemporary to Marys that the movie ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ with Cary Grant is based upon.

The first easy big myth to destroy is that she was Britain’s first serial killer, she simply wasn’t. There are over twenty other documented cases of female serial murderers before Mary, so we have to ask ourselves why it was that she received this title

.

Additionally the production will present a contemporary understanding of the consequences of the unregulated and frankly unbelievable use of Arsenic based products in the home that compound this case with a historical backdrop of Victorian Britain draped in a veil of poison, and why this was.

As I have an unknown (good or bad) family connection to Mary I think I am in a suitable position to give a fair account of the known events with reasonable speculation. I would like to use this in the final production by confirming my family connection as a conclusion to the end and include a personal journey aspect into the piece.

The documentary will remain open minded to argument for and against Marys guilt leaving ultimate judgement to the audience. Reconstruction scenes showing key moments following Mary’s arrest, her trial and execution will be used as a vehicle to personalise her to the audience and highlight her personal plight. It will try to strip away the monster of legend and allow a fairer chance of judgement by them at the documentary’s conclusion, opposed to Mary’s jury of peers during her trial.

Mary Ann Cotton c.1873

Scope of work
The reconstructions will be shot on 16mm motion film, they shall be interspersed throughout the documentary to create a visual distinction from the investigative and analytical aspects of the documentary which is to be captured on digital media.

The aim of the project is to produce a mini documentary 'infomercial' to raise public awareness to this alternative history and generate interest in the production of an hour long version for broadcast.
Primarily conceived for web distribution the infomercial will be no longer than 23 ½ mins (Channel 4 standard half hour evening slot) should the opportunity for it to be broadcast become available.

The infomercial hopes to capitalise on renewed media interest in Mary Ann Cotton due to the soon to be released ITV drama ‘Dark Angel’ starring Downton Abbey actress Joanne Froggatt as Mary.

Matching 16mm Film, Stock

My plan, hatched last year during my creative module, hoped to demonstrate that 16mm film making didn’t have to break the bank. And that by buying second hand stock, developing the film myself and choosing and cutting the shots in negative so as to telecine only the shots necessary to edit would seriously reduce processing costs.

That's £12.60 per 400ft!

To this end during the summer 2015 I purchased 2000ft of Vision2 100T on EBay for £63, in mind for my final project. I also managed to find and purchase an editor/viewer, a pair of film winders (essential) and a 400ft split reel. 

The modern film tape base does not bond together well using conventional film cement, which is what virtually all 16mm film splicers (available) use.
I had been invited to demonstrate the development process of Super 8mm film at CCAD to the first year film students. College agreed to trade a 16mm CIR tape splicer for the demo and the use of my equipment, which was great.

Mmm..Not quite a Steinbeck

And so now we are ready to cut and join our negative to weed out the chaff and save on telecine costs...Except upon packing away my equipment following the day of the demo I noticed that the spiral from the development tank was damaged (Booo!). 

Due to this misfortune I had to rule out any developing of the film myself on this project.

As there are two 16mm reconstruction scenes, one an interior in the court, and one with mainly exterior shots of the execution in the Documentary. Each is planned to run for approximately 3 minutes, with a shooting ratio of 3:1. It was decided that we should use 400’ of the 100T and buy 400’ of daylight film stock also to compliment it. Luckily I managed to purchase 400’ of Vision3 250D film from CCAD. 

The 100T film is an unknown quantity. It is supposed to have been refrigerated all the time that it has been stored, but it is sold as seen and so some tests are required. It occurred to me that I may be able to still develop 25’ lengths in the tank as the damage was sustained to the outside edge of the spiral.

To this end I Wound 25’ off a 400’ core of 100T onto a daylight spool. The stock must be wound off to length and then wound back onto a spool to maintain the wind of the film for correct loading of the camera.

The Damaged Spiral Base

I booked out a Bolex camera and lighting equipment, I set up a sand bag as a focal point on the settee and also some redheads to light it with in the studio. I performed a number of shots including walking into the shot to give it a bit of variation, however during the shoot the lid fell off the camera twice, both times when I was carrying it by the handle whilst the camera was running. The first time I thought that I must have seated it incorrectly after loading the film, after the second I decided that there was some issue with the lid and held onto it also to finish the shoot. I also was not convinced by the lens I used as this seemed to lose its sharpness when I took my fingers off it.

Vision3 250D test shot

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Vision2 100T

The development proved nothing, the images were very grainy, fogged and not sharp. My worry is that a difference in colour and film grain between the two different generations of stock would be too obvious rendering the film not suitable for the production. But on seeing results, I am also concerned that the remaining stock may be effectively unusable. Add to this that I could not prove that the developing chemical mix could not be responsible opened up a whole new can of worms.

To prove that it wasn’t the C41 chemical mix to blame for the poor quality images. Using the same chemicals that had processed the 100T, I developed the remaining Vision3 250D test shot film taken for my Level 5 Creative project, as a control film. This is a film which is a known quantity. I already knew that the other half of the film had developed fine and the sort of image that I should be able to expect from it.
The development produced images as good as the Creative project film and so the chemicals were not the issue.

In order to isolate the Bolex as a problem from the equation, I shot and developed 25’ 100T in my K3 (Krasnogorsk) camera. This included outdoor shots (without an 85 filter) to compare with the 250D outside shots. Scan 1 In focus grain is significantly improved but is still grainier than the 250D. I thought that it was ok so long as it wasn’t viewed against better film, and so was still concerned as the 250D was better. I noticed that the frame edge on the 100T film was greying compared to 250D which was black. Lee performed a small colour grade which convinced us that it would be ok to use for the documentary.

Ignoring the Blue Hue Its a nice crisp image

 Tungsten film in daylight produces a bluish cast. To further evaluate the second test film, I researched colour correcting the effect that the 85 filter has on Tungsten film in post with Resolve. It had been mentioned during a conversation with Lee. 

I discovered that this is not a perfect solution as a filter before the film affects how light hits the film emulsion and how the different colour layers absorb the light.

Luckily Jango was around to pull some dynamic moves for me.

 I discovered that in circumstances where one type of film stock is required it is convention to use Tungsten with an 85 filter for exterior shots. This allows the crew to move from interior location to exterior location without changing stock in the camera. Tungsten stock is chosen over daylight as an 85 filter only requires 2/3 of a stop adjustment compared to 2 stops with an 82C filter.

The 85 Series of filters produce natural looking colours when shooting with tungsten film outdoors. Best results are achieved when the correct filter is matched to the film type. For negative film the difference between 85 and 85B is not much of an issue, unlike reversal film.

Filter	Conversion	Exposure increase
85 Cooler than the 85B.	5,500 to 3,400 K	2/3 stop
85B Tungsten to daylight.	5,500 to 3,200 K	2/3 stop
85C Cooler than the 85.	5,500 to 3,800 K	2/3 stop

The 85C is useful as creative warming effect with daylight film in daylight.

Scan 2 of film 2 It occurred to me that I wasn’t giving the 100T a fair chance as I was comparing the worst 100T image against the best 250D image but not the counter wise. Once I did, seeing them together convinced me that it would probably be ok.
The outside shots on the Vision2 100T looked good. As I said with scan 1 it would be fine for another shoot, but that the grain might stand out too much when matched with the Vision3 250D.

In light of my test footage results and research, the best way to combat my concerns regarding the matching of different generations of tungsten and daylight film stock is to also shoot outside with the Vision2 100T and an 85 Filter.
So during a chat with Lee I confirmed that we do have a 4” 85B that will fit the front of the SR3.
The bonus to this decision is that the Film budget costs are now significantly reduced, the downside is I now have 400ft Vision3 250D without a planned use…oh poor me.

Credit Soundtrack - "The West Auckland Poisoner"

Original Broadsheet Ballad c.1873

During the course of my research into Mary I found a number of Broadsheet Ballads regarding her case. These ballads were used to spread news to the populous via single sheet hand printed songs before automation, they continued into The Industrial Revolution with mass media distribution, the composed lyrics regarding news events were sung to well known popular tunes.

I thought that it might be interesting to incorporate one of these into the credit soundtrack, but to compose a new music score to pick up the pace a bit and update the song for a modern audience, the original tune is very slow.
This hopefully would give a feel for the influence of such a track upon hearing it to a historical audience.

I spoke to my brother who is a musician and asked him if he may be interested in composing a new track for the production. I said I wanted it to be radically different and suggested something perhaps Punky, or maybe The Pogues..ish so that a folky feel could be maintained when sung.

I picked the best broadsheet for the content of its lyrics and due to its running length, selectively picked lines from the verses and chorus, whilst maintaining the lyrical structure and provide a narative start middle and end within a credit length time frame.

Recording and mixing took a day to complete, I think that the resulting mix is good. It is undeniably a first mix-down. Retrospectively I think that whilst it is important that the lyrics are clear for the audience, the vocals are too prominent within the track and drown out his musical composition a bit (which he performed with each instrument).

 

“She murdered her husbands and the lodger as well.
The numbers she poisoned no one can tell”.

“Her crimes have struck terror all over the land,
and deep indignation on every hand”.

“Strong hand of justice compelled her to stay,
and her crimes been proven as clear as the day”.

“And in Durham prison condemned she did lie.
and on the dread scaffold was prepared to die”.

“No one can pity and no one can bless
Mary ann Cotton for her wickedness”.

“The West Auckland poisoner condemned did lie
she murdered her children and soon she did die”.

Selected Broadsheet Lyrics (composed c.1873)

We are going to perform a re-mix of the track for the final edit.

The Documentary Movie Poster.

As the production is a historically based case including a reconstruction. I thought that an illustration may suit the role of the main image in the poster better than a photo. My brother is an illustrator, and although we have worked together creatively many times, we have never worked together in this capacity before.

After speaking to him, Darren was right up for the job. We discussed the brief at length and I forwarded information regarding Mary and my thoughts and ideas regarding elements of the image construction, to help fire up his imagination regarding the project. included were images of Mary, Victorian Poster designs and fonts, Gallows constructions and Arsenic. I thought that green (the pigment that Arsenic provided for the Victorians) should be prominent within the image.

It would also be good if the duality of the case within the documentary could be represented in the poster...innocent, or guilty?

 

The image will need to be multi-functional and fit a number of canvas formats other than that of a poster. It will also be used in the production header/titles sequence, DVD cover image and promotionally within the Press pack etc. Darren forwarded sketches during the development of his ideas that we discussed by mail. When he came to visit at Easter with his family we formally decided upon a scheme incorporating a number of element’s from his sketches. 

The production title had a couple of incarnations following its introductory working title. I really liked the reference to 'Arsenic and Old Lace' Staring Cary Grant and the word play in the title 'Arsenic in Old Lace and Cotton' as i wished to discuss the American serial murder case of Amt Archer-Gilligan in the documentary which has some striking similarities to that of Marys which the stage play was based on. 

 This title however was just too long to be catchy and it was shortened to 'Arsenic in Old Lace' for the production.

I think the final art work is a strong image. The last stage to format the image into the finished poster in Photoshop, was performed with the help of my brother Jamie who is a graphics whizz.

I am really pleased with the finished poster design. 

It is striking visually as an original art work and fulfills the requests that I made within the brief.

The finished poster design.

I have included a British Board of Film Classification age rating in the poster design.  Following research both the infomercial and the documentary may well require a BBFC rating for distribution.
The symbol is included into the poster design so that certification is not an afterthought to it. Should it not be required removal will not affect the layout of the poster. 

Video Distribution
The BBFC assigns age ratings to video works that are released on physical media (i.e. DVD/Blu-ray) under the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA) which came into effect due to the unregulated video nasties (list) of the early eighties and popularity of the increasingly affordable home VCR. This exposed children most concerningly to subject matter that they previously would not have been . 

The BBFC assigns age ratings to all video works supplied in the United Kingdom unless they fall into one of the two exempt areas:

Such as works that when, ‘taken as a whole, are designed to inform, educate or instruct;’
or works when, ‘taken as a whole, are concerned with sport, religion or music;’

However conditions do apply that are dependent upon the subject matter content within the production. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/industry-services/video/exemption

Theatrical Release
All features, shorts and trailers which are to be shown theatrically must be submitted to the BBFC .

unless; ’ permission has been granted by the local authority in the area that the production is being shown’.

Online Distribution
The infomercial (at least) will probably aim for exclusive online distribution. The BBFC Watch & Rate service can be used for works exclusive to digital platforms or for online distribution prior to a DVD/Blu-ray release. If it has already received a rating for DVD, Blu-ray or Video Cassette it does not require re-rating and its video rating will apply. 

If the production has been rated only for the cinema, it will need a BBFC digital rating in order to be sold on many digital video services.

BBFC Rating Rates.

BBFC	Student Theatrical	Theatrical	Online Distribution	Physical Media
10mins	Flat rate up to	£206.88	£59.40	£164.16
15mins	Flat rate up to	£249.42	£75.90	£200.64
20mins	£50.75 +VAT	£291.96	£92.40	£237.12
40mins	£101.50 +VAT	£462.12	£158.40	£383.04

Student films can be submitted for a theatrical release rating up to two academic years following the end of the  course (conditions apply). The maximum film length of a Student Short is 40mins, this just falls short of the standard one hour slot for broadcast (with advertising). http://www.bbfc.co.uk/industry-services/theatrical-ratings/student-films