Recently I’ve been lucky enough to travel to one of the most beautiful parts of the United Kingdom; the north Norfolk coast.  I’ve been coming here since I was little but only recently it has taken on a new light and ethos in terms of filming potential.  In the last few months, I’ve been lucky enough to preview all five discs of the BBC Ghost Stories At Christmas series (the fifth of which will be published tomorrow) released over the last few months by the BFI.

These beautiful and timeless Television shorts have a strong connection to Norfolk.  Though M. R James largely set his stories in Suffolk, both Lawrence Gordon Clarke and Jonathan Miller chose to film and relocate their stories to the broads (the latter using beaches at Waxham for several sections of his film as well as Dunwich in Suffolk).  Norfolk has that feel of being untouched by the storm of progress, lending it an eerie yet beautiful patina.  These were latched onto by both the directors whose films make full use of the its vast landscapes, Gothic architecture and local superstition.

Having been immersed in these stories over the last few months, the desire to film one of my own has been ever growing.  Due to my limited amount of technology and being a lone filmmaker without a single other person to work with, achieving the same quality of film has been hard.  However, aside from stressing about my own film, I’ve managed to track down some of the locations of the original films which has been a delight and and a perfect lesson in location film work.

Visiting the Holkham estate was a real treat as it boasted location work from  A Warning to the Curious (1972).  Just compare the locations then to my photos (on the right) of the now and even over 40 years later, there is a sense of something mysterious and oddly desolate.  The last comparison is taken from a place called Wells Next The Sea which was also used in A Warning To The Curious.

Finding the Hotel where Paxton and Dr Black stayed was a particular highlight but this made me realise even more that I wanted my ghost story to not just be a homage or copy of the glorious originals.  Capturing the same atmosphere is one thing but being original should always be filmmakers aim.  My ghost story is filmed in a little village on the coast called Cley. It has a wonderfully isolated feel and the visuals captured so far are better than anything I’ve done.

I’m aiming for A Cottage By The Sea to be finished and up by the week of Halloween so do check it out!  For now though here’s a still  from the film.  Hopefully it’ll give some indication of what spookiness is to come.

Adam.