IPP Progress

Not much to say that has happened this week. I have done no filming, or sighting. I have, however made a contact with my second location to document and am calling tomorrow, to make further plans.

As for the documentary itself, the script is nearly finished, the incredibly first draft anyway. I spent the majority of the weekend, reading, researching, writing, thinking and thus developing my draft. I have also planned the next few weeks and made a schedule. Lots of filming ahead of me. It is almost October and at least two thirds of my doc needs to be filmed outdoors, if not more.

New Jefferson Tree photo, what is this red thing?

I plan to go back to the Jefferson Tree location this week to further the investigation with my good friend Amanda Hope, however we both got sick after our last venture out there and aren't 100% yet. But I have learned that the tree we thought it was, may not be the right one, Apparently the tree we need to find is hidden somewhere in the maze at the park. Not sure if I believe this, but its worth a look.

I also plan to go back to St. Andrews next weekend to re-shoot and do a little research of my own with my guy. Sounds like a great date! Haha, just kidding, but you never know.

Till then,

~ Jenn

The iPad

Being a lucky CreComm student that I am, the ad majors are even a luckier bunch to receive iPads for the year, shared with a partner at no additional cost. This past week, was my week with the iPad and I have to say that, that I keep messing up on my normal keyboard now when I type. The keys from a PC to a Mac, to an iPad are in totally different places. Other than that, I prefer the iPad for note taking for its convenience and simplicity. Hey, it's nice not to have a white screen looming at me either.

As for the apps, I'm not all that big into the app world. I had no idea even where to find the store once I got it. Once, I figured it out, I downloaded a few, like yes yes Angry Birds ( I thought my son would be the coolest five year old if he knew how to play it). I downloaded this ridiculous app called Capture which allows you to place a ghostly image into any photo on your iPad. Haha! Can you say cheese? It's totally corny and I would never make anything for real with it, but I did play around with it one lunch hour last week.

I am pleased to say that I found a great branding book off of Kindle that I want to purchase, although for the life of me I can't remember the title, nor can I check it out now because... I don't have Wi-Fi :(  So pretty much at home, I don't get all that much use out of it, and at school, I don't really have time to browse apps.  However, I'm sure that will soon come to an end once we start developing the ideas for our own e-book apps as part of a major collaborative assignment. Sounds exciting!


Just in case you didn't know




~ Jenn

Ghost Hunting Day 2

So this time, yea kinda.

After last night's experience at our second location, Little Mountain Park, I think I want to pursue this spot and film it with a little twist. The general idea has changed to go in a direction that no one has ever thought (that I know of....)

I was told by a credible source at Muddy Waters Tours that in order for the documentary to work, I have to distinguish between legend and facts. So, this is exactly what I am doing. And after last night's encounter, I truly believe there is something at the park, but not what we were expecting.

First, we seeked  out the old St. Norbert Monastery, I've never been and was told by Muddy Waters Tours, that is is extremely active.  The Monastery itself is fenced off but the grounds are open, so we ventured the grounds. As we walked near the river, the fog cascading off the water was so luminous that I had to film it. Unfortunately, the camera light wouldn't pick it up, it was too dark. It was upsetting, because I was already there with the camera, but couldn't see a thing. Maybe I'll go back, maybe not. I'm not sure if I want to pursue this story, but I'll lock it in the vault for safe keeping.

~ Jenn

Ps. Going out to check out story number 2 today!

On Location Part 1

So I went out to two locations today, the St. Boniface Museum and the Jefferson (KKK) tree location. I went without a camera, just to scout out these reportedly haunted sites. I brought my digi cam with me to test out shots. Unfortunately ( I am baffled by this) I can not upload these photos to my computer. It appears that they don't exist. I don't understand it, because the images are right there on my camera. I've never had this problem before, so i suppose I will just have to re-take the photographs.

The first location, the St. Boniface Museum, is now somewhat a sanctuary to nuns and the convent that used to reside in the old building. Founded in 1845 the building also used to be a childrens hospital and a Catholic school, which later converted to an all girls Catholic boarding school.  I completely forgot while on location to check out the nearby cemetery which inhabits gravestones that date back to the 1700's.
(I will be returning next weekend)

The second location, at Little Mountain Park, is a secluded off-leash dog park that is fairly steady with visitors. The haunted place, I set out to find was a very old cottonwood tree with one erie branch that hangs near the base of the tree. This one branch stands out from the rest because it lays almost completely parallel with the ground below. The park, including the tree was part of the village, Mount Royal over 100 years ago. The park has remnants of a quarry that once existed.

Taken from Google

I have to say I was unimpressed at both locations with the lack of any sort of feeling that I could have encountered.  The only thing that I feel to be odd, is the lack of photos that I can produce in light of my day.

PS. It was insanely cold on the grounds near the tree at the second location.

Ghost Hunting Day 1

Not really....

Today, as the first step of my IPP (Independent Professional Project) a classmate and I adventured out to case study #1, St. Andrews on the Red Anglican Church. The church built in 1848 is one of the oldest historical sites in Canada. The supposed paranormal activity at this site is astounding and in so, has become my first story to tell.

The church has open visiting hours annually from May until, well.. this weekend. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to grab some footage! It wasn't bad. The inside of the church itself isn't really all that cool and pretty small. Except for a stain glass window which is said to be the original from 1881. I filmed it.

We filmed the entire grounds. Nothing really creepy happened, seeing as it was before dusk. Although we did encounter weird 'hammering' type noises that seemed to mirror our every location. There were a couple of times while filming we would look at each other and say, "did you hear that?" Most likely our creep outs were caused by the fact that we knew we were on haunted grounds, but that's okay...

However, in regards to my footage, I spent two hours filming 15 minutes of boring shots! But, that's the way it goes. This documentary is a long process, as it should be, but still totally fun. Exploring the grounds, research, interviews, and reenactments! Now this is right up my alley.

I knew filming just randomly would help heat things up in my mind. I have so many questions. Like why all these children died in 1894, Manitoba archives here I come!

~Jenn

Ps. I met a women on the grounds while filming who told me of another legend. It is said that if you run around the church three times you will see something paranormal and even possibly... disappear.