Mairi MacLeod and the Metagama
Mixed animation techniques, Scotland, 1998
Made by children of Barvas Primary School, Isle of Lewis, with the guidance of Jessica Langford
Language: English and Gaelic
Colour: Colour
Running Time: 5 minutes
Short synopsis
Two Canadians come to the small village of Barvas on the Isle of Lewis to track their long lost relatives.
Long synopsis
A Canadian couple drive up a steep hill to the small village of Barvas, unsuspecting of the rich history they will find there. After checking into a bed and breakfast, they sit down for tea with an old woman and her granddaughter. The old woman speaks in Gaelic and her granddaughter translates. As they talk, the Canadian woman explains that her own grandmother came from Barvas, and emigrated to Canada. She shows a picture to the old woman, who remembers the story of the Canadian's grandmother, Mari MacLeod, and her decision to leave Scotland on the émigré steamship, the Metagama.
As a girl, the old woman had helped Mari on the croft, and she taught her to weave and spin. But life was hard then, and when Mari's husband saw an advertisement for a free trip to Canada, they took the opportunity, believing it would mean a better life for their family. The oldwoman never saw Mari again, but she does know another MacLeod and quickly unites the Canadian with her Scottish cousin. They all share whiskey together, toasting all of the migrants that left on the Metagama.
Background information
From 1996 to 1998 animator Jessica Langford visited 16 village schools across Scotland and worked with the pupils to help them make a short film. This film was made by 25 school children aged between 10 and 12, who attended Barvas Primary school on the Isle of Lewis. Many of the children had relatives that lived in Canada, their parents having emigrated there in the 1920s, so they decided that this was what the film should focus on. The characters in Mari Macleod speak English and Gaelic because the residents of the Isle of Lewis also speak both languages. By reflecting these regional differences in all 16 films, Jessica Langford was able to capture the rich diversity of life in rural Scotland.
To create Mari Macleod the children worked together to develop a script, design storyboards, research the history, operate the camera and record the soundtrack, including a traditional walking song. Throughout the project, Jessica Langford encouraged the film-makers to become aware of their surroundings and observe each detail. This relationship to the environment is evident in Mari Macleod through the detailed depiction of the landscape and the exterior shots of the guest house. Some of the animated drawings, for example, are designed to reflect the patterns of tweed, inspired by the local tradition of weaving the fabric. The film also uses claymation for which the children constructed models. The film uses sound in a very clever way. The dialogue, voice-over (starting in Gaelic, and then being translated into English), the songs sung by the children and the different sound-effects add to a very rich soundtrack to accompany the different animation techniques used in the film. Although there is a lot of dialogue, the characters aren't synching their mouth movements to the spoken words. This makes it much easier to animate, as the synching process is one of the most difficult ones in animated films.
The film, made in only two weeks, took 1st prize at the Bradford Animation Festival (under 16's category) in 1997.
Teaching materials and additional materials
The teaching materials have been developed by practising teachers to provide a springboard for your own work with your pupils. Feel free to use and adapt them appropriate to your pupils' needs.
There are also some stills and additional materials, provided by the film-makers, that can be used to develop your work with the film and deepen pupils' understanding of the process of film-making.
