Trelissick in a Box

The working title for this project is wide open to interpretation. Rather than going the obvious route of using a cardboard box, I started brainstorming other types of boxes. I planned to create a film in a documentary style for this piece of work. I had already started focusing on the documentary style of presenting work last year with my two film projects, as I am attracted to this genre.

Through researching Trelissick, its gardens, grounds, facilities and history, I planned to acknowledge The National Trust’s long guardianship of the vast estate. The National Trust is the longest tenant for the estate, taking over the care taking in 1955. My research included informal interviews with the volunteers that work at Trelissick, reading on-line articles about Trelissick and viewing some of the programmes and YouTube film footage about The National Trust. As I have been a past member of The National Trust, I was already familiar with their preservation work and conservation ethos, but it was interesting to learn more about their environmental concerns and wish to embrace more eco-friendly sustainable energy strategies.

.For planning, at first I thought of an old fashioned music box – perhaps with a twirling toy ballerina that could segue into a young woman twirling with abandon in the actual gardens. The problem was finding and purchasing such a box. Also, I was not sure how else to proceed with this idea and I was not happy with the premise. My children have a wooden toy treasure chest that would be a suitable container for mementoes and old photographs. This box became the focus for my narrative to accompany the film footage. I wanted to stress the on-going guardianship of Trelissick by The National Trust.