Flannan Isle - An AS Level film project

In December 2007 Jeremy Wright and I went to The Mumbles in south Wales to film the lighthouse there. This was for an AS Film Studies practical project; a 2 minute film segment showing understanding of film language. This is what we came up with. The poem is a shortened version of Wilfrid Wilson Gibson's 1912 poem, Flannan Isle: http://www.snapsandbytes.co.uk/poem.html

More info about the 'last great mystery of the 19th century' here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1061335

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Flannan
• Isle
• AS
• level
• mumbles
• lighthouse

[MrGreendaymaniac]

i recon they saw a ship and ran teward it and didnt come back

[SimplyPaul]

@MrGreendaymaniac I've heard sillier explanations :)

[umyafzal]

How big would that wave have to be to kill the keepers? The island itself is quite high.

[SimplyPaul]

To quote from Wiki: The coastline of Eilean Mòr is deeply indented with narrow gullies called geos. The west landing, which is situated in such a geo, terminates in a cave. In high seas or storms, water would rush into the cave and then explode out again with considerable force. Nicholson speculates that McArthur may have seen a series of large waves approaching the island, and knowing the likely danger to his colleagues, ran down to warn them, only to succumb himself as well.

[babathespider515]

Real cool! Thanks for putting my favourite poem to video :)

[SimplyPaul]

My pleasure. It's a shame I couldn't use all of it, but we were limited to 2 minutes and 25 shots so we had to drop a few of the verses. It's an awesome poem; one of my favourites too. This year (A2) I'm working on The Jabberwocky :)

[sylvdlcr]

(Part 3) all three abducted by aliens..thats why no bodies ever washed up on the mainland, and a good explanation on the light and clock being off. We hear about aliens spaceships being seen all over the world...this is a perfect spot or them to abduct someone and not be seen by anyone...just a theory!!!!!

[sylvdlcr]

(Part 2) the mainland as they say normally happens, so i dont think they were taken into the ocean by waves, besides what r the odds of all three of them going in the same way...the theory of them taking off on a boat doesnt hold up because none of them were ever heard from again. Who turned off the light from the light house if they were washed away at sea. Maybe the power went out so two of them went out to investigate and put on the coats. the third one heard screams and rushed out

[sylvdlcr]

(Part 1)They r on an isolated island..No one around for miles in either direction...the perfect spot for the unknown..wonder what the sky looks like there at night on a clear night...the stars....maybe a spacecraft landed there...known to disturb electricity upon their presense...lights shutting off and on...that could explain why the clock stopped running, no one there to restart the clock after it went off...the light house wasn't on either....they disappeared...no bodies ever washed up on

[sylvdlcr]

What is this piece on the music...i've heard it before...but i don't know...the name of it ???? Anyone know

[DrusillaC]

Thanks for the video - congrats on doing a great job! I've loved this poem since I first read it many years ago at school. Wilfrid Wilson Gibson managed to convey a sense of real awe and mystery and it's a poem that once read isn't easy to forget.

I don't suppose we'll ever know what happened to the 3 men, though it's interesting to read everyone's ideas on the subject. I wonder what Gibson himself thought?

[iNoobCA]

yes, i may sound like a retard, but i have read of this story a while ago, like i think it was once every friday night, the 3 men would play their musical instruments, but there would be no-one there because the men were invisible (that's the retard part)

[bpatrice49]

Honestly I am a very rational and even minded person but the flannal isle mystery still remains just that: a mystery. I do not believe the freak wave explanation really does enough to silence the huge mystery this whole event is shrouded in. To me I think something must have happened between the three men that night. Had there been no signs of disturbance, the oils kins all missing and the gate unlocked the wave explanation would do just fine. As it is I am not at all convinced

[comaiom]

@bpatrice49 ah yes for some reason i have never considered it the other way round before! that theory does make much more sense, still the clock thing is rather weird...