Malham

As part of the project to create a film for a piece of specially composed music, I had the idea to visit Malham in North Yorkshire for its impressive scenery. Malham is famous for its limestone geology creating massive cliff faces and cutaways in the landscape. The concept of the film is that of history. The music was influenced by the Lindow man, a preserved body found in the peat bog of Lindow Common. This made me think about how the history of man is insignificant when compared to the history of the earth. Yet occasionally the two are linked. Malham and Gordale Scar seen in the photograph are the result of earth's history eroding and changing the landscape through the ages. Such changes are rarely witnessed by man, but the same force of water that has huge effects on the limestone has very different effects on the peat. Over thousands of years it does not erode or decay but preserves, and ultimately it is man who has the most detrimental effect on both landscapes in an insignificant time.

The Lindow Man

This is a project that I am involved with for the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland called Vanishing Boundaries. A piece of music has been composed about this fellow you see here. He is approximately 2000 years old and was discovered in 1984 in Lindow Moss bog in Cheshire.

Similar remains have been found throughout northern Europe, and several more have been found at this particular location. The Lindow remains are widely regarded as the best examples of peat bog remains found in Britain and at the time cause such a big stir and level of excitement among archaeologists and the general public.

I am still awaiting to hear the piece of music but already I am thinking about some visual styles that can be used. As these ideas and research develops I will post more on here. Picture courtesy of The British Museum