:03:01
There is not a living soul now
on Hirta.
:03:04
(Schoonmaker-Powell)
The island itself is very isolated
:03:07
from the mainland,
:03:09
way out in the Atlantic,
:03:11
really probably the last part
of the United Kingdom.
:03:16
It's interesting how, early on,
:03:18
with these images of an eagle
about to pounce on a young lamb,
:03:23
how Michael Powell lays down
the rigorous
:03:27
and dangerous life of an island.
:03:51
(Dialogue) Got it.
:03:56
(Schoonmaker-Powell)
Michael Powell began in silent movies
:03:59
and in those days
:04:01
there was an enormous amount
of experimentation with film making
:04:05
and here is one example
of the kind of thing
:04:07
that he would have learned,
I think, in those silent days.
:04:12
Instead of doing
a very complicated optical,
:04:16
as we would call it today,
:04:18
where you take two pieces of film,
shot on different occasions,
:04:22
and then superimpose them
over each other,
:04:25
I'm pretty sure
this is one of the sequences
:04:27
that he told me
he actually did in the camera.
:04:30
Imagine how difficult this is:
First he filmed Niall MacGinnis,
:04:36
standing in position,
almost reacting
:04:39
to the people who are going by him
:04:41
and he probably exposed that
at about 50%.
:04:44
Then the film was rolled back
in the camera to...
:04:47
They would have noted
how long that shot was
:04:50
and rolled the film
back in the camera
:04:52
and started exposing the sequence
:04:55
of the members of the island
long-departed passing past him.