A grave matter

For my personal project I intend to make a documentary a bout a local man who lives in my village and by trade is a grave digger. Brother Ray as he known to all the locals is a colourful and earthy character with a very bright attitude towards life.

I intend to film Ray as he goes about his daily work and record his attitudes towards life and death and how he feels to be gravedigger. I also intend to do a little research on the history of gravediggers ( fossers as they were once known ) and give a list of famous people who have been diggers.

I feel that the character of Ray is a strong one. He's a bit of a rouge and is best described as a real life Steptoe in the 21st century. I Hope to encapsulate the true nature of Ray, if he comes over on camera as he does in life I think he will make a good character to base my documentary on.I intend to make a documentary about a local Somerset man, known as Brother Ray. Ray has earned his living from working the land since childhood his main occupation is grave digging but takes on a whole host of jobs from tree felling to stone wall building. I intend to tell a little of Rays story, how he came to be a grave digger and his attitude towards his job.

• Ray will be the main character I may also include his young apprentice (his nephew) lukerow Scarecrow as Ray calls him, and possibly a vicar from one of the churches whom Ray works for.
• I will show the day to day life of Ray and look at what is required of him as a gravedigger. As the decline in burials gives way to the increased number of cremations Ray finds himself turning more and more to alternative sources of income, I will show how Ray lives from working with the land and the various jobs he under takes in order to make his living.
• I will present the documentary with the use of interviews photographs, cut aways, and music.
• The issues I will be exploring are one mans attitude towards life and death and his role in the burial process of a person as they passage from this life on to what comes next, and also how Ray has managed to support himself all these years by using his initiative and contacts throughout the community in order to secure work.

I would like to portray Ray as the down to earth, comical and spiritual man that he is, in the face of his work Ray still maintains a constant cheery attitude to life. In the low budget Austrailian film Kenny Clayton and Shane Jacobson created a mocumentary about portaloos and plumber named Kenny Smyth the character was a funny, likable and a down to earth chap. As one reveiw read.. A mockumentary with a dash of corporate video that treads a fine line between fiction and reality, a film that is hilarious but doesn't ridicule its subjects or subject matter, and one that makes a hero out of not just an ordinary working bloke, but one who's working in something most of us shy away from: the pumping of poo.
That is that very same essance I want to capture in Ray, although in my case the subject is real life, I want to capture Ray as he is, I personally feel that documentarys ought to document their subjects as they are and I dont wish to stage my film in any way.

Filming Begins

Last week I began filming Ray, Using my own camera a cannon xm1 and a labec tripod from uni. I started shooting Ray digging one of the two graves he had to work on that week, the weather was fine and I managed to get some good footage of the grave been dug both by hand and with the mechanical digger, I also interviewed Ray as he worked and again later whilst driving around in his truck, I had a few technical problems in both of the locations.

At the cemetery the audio recording was very poor as I didn't have the right external microphone, so I had use the internal Mic which picked up wind noise and the audio levels were really low in places, In the truck I had problems with the light changes and I was unable to see the veiw finder as there was very little space, I had to point the camera and hope for the best. I found that interviewing Ray whilst driving around seemed to be the most relaxed for him , I am hoping that I am going to be able to do something with the footage in post production so I can use some of it in the final piece.

The second day of filming was thwart by heavy down pours of rain and sleet, I managed to film about the first ten minutes of the grave been prepared for burial then the heavens opened up. I did manage to get a few interviews with Ray in the truck whilst he waited for the funeral to leave. I have asked Ray to allow me to come with him again so I can once again follow the process from beginning to end and capture the moments I was unable to catch, I do hope that the weather is going to be better.