{"id":3652,"date":"2015-04-13T15:06:31","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T15:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/blog\/?p=3652"},"modified":"2025-11-07T06:01:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T06:01:45","slug":"cochno-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/cochno-news","title":{"rendered":"update 23: cochno news"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I embarked on TDP back in 2007 often I got lost while out on field trips despite having a map. Anyone following my journey knows that the most elusive of my destinations was the site of Cochno\/Druid Stone. Of all the places mentioned by Harry Bell in his Network of Aligned Sites, at a psychic level it seemed as if the Stone was taunting me. Eight years later and it\u2019s still a lost cause.<\/p>\n

Bear with me. This is a long and convoluted plot with a large cast of characters.<\/p>\n

Last summer, a journalist called Craig Brown wrote a piece in The Scotsman<\/em><\/a> about the Cochno\/Druid Stone. He was prompted in part by the film version of The Devil\u2019s Plantation<\/em> which around that time screened three \u2013 yes, the magic number recurs \u2013 times in as many months. Previously I had explained to Craig my limited knowledge of and exposure to the Stone. So I was delighted when he told me that he had been in contact with Mrs. Elaine Marks \u2013 currently owner of one-half of the Stone \u2013 and how she hoped to meet me again, two years after our first encounter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prior to the publication of Craig Brown\u2019s piece there had been a low, mainly local level of interest in the Stone. Many months before I was invited through a Facebook group named Indigenous Archaeology in and around Milngavie (IAM) to join another group called \u2018The Campaign to Uncover the Cochno Stone\u2019 to which I contributed a few likes, shares and comments.<\/p>\n

Soon I learned that with no consultation I was made an administrator of said group. When Craig Brown\u2019s piece was published, attracting around 10,000 likes, there was a spike of Facebook requests for access to the Cochno Stone group. There was also talk among the members about a potential film about the Stone. Fine, I thought, but include me out because, practical production issues apart, I couldn\u2019t see a story \u2013 besides, the odds of an excavation actually occurring were too short and with no funding or strategy for the Stone itself and given Mrs. Marks\u2019 concerns about her garden I felt the project was a non-starter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Scotsman<\/em> article was followed by a jovial riposte in The<\/a><\/em> Herald<\/em><\/a> and a short item on BBC Radio Scotland. Clearly there was interest in the Stone but with other work commitments I had no time nor the desire to lobby for its excavation and so quietly withdrew from the Facebook group.<\/p>\n

In September I sent a card to Mrs. Marks with a copy of Craig\u2019s article and soon after we met for lunch and spent a pleasant few hours talking not about the Stone but of family matters, interior design and a new film based on the life of my late mother-in-law, Erica Eisner\/Thomas.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to late October 2014 when I received an intriguing email from Ferdinand Saumarez Smith at a company called Factum Arte<\/a> based in Madrid. Ferdinand described how he had been in contact with Glasgow University Archaeology Department and Historic Scotland with a proposal to conduct a temporary excavation of the Stone for the purposes of replication \u2013 he explained how Factum Arte and the Factum Foundation are world-class in 3D scanning, art fabrication and conservation. Would I like to be involved in some way?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cochno. Maybe?<\/p>\n

After giving it some thought, a day later I replied to say I thought his idea, to replicate the Stone with a view to an exhibition was the most exciting and viable proposal I\u2019d heard of, albeit subject to the planets aligning due to the number of parties involved and practical considerations of unearthing and scanning a 55 foot artefact on site. But, I told myself, what if?<\/p>\n

Over the next few weeks I swapped many emails with Ferdinand. Inevitably, the subject of making a film documenting the process was raised. In late November he invited me to visit Factum Arte in Madrid, a chance I wasn\u2019t about to pass on so with my curiosity piqued and with my husband in tow in early December we flew to Spain.<\/p>\n

In an unassuming corner of the city we arrived at a set of light industrial sheds where we were introduced to the staff, including Adam Lowe, Factum Arte\u2019s founder and Richard Salmon, a conservator of ancient artefacts and consultant to many of the world\u2019s leading museums who had flown in from the south of France to talk specifically about the Cochno Stone. Ferdinand kindly gave us a tour of the premises, less a set of workshops than a series of magic caves where we saw the most incredible replications of ancient artefacts, fantastical new works created from the drawings of Piranesi and bespoke works commissioned by leading contemporary artists.<\/p>\n

To say I was impressed is an understatement \u2013 having worked in set design in a past career I\u2019m familiar with what goes on in contractor\u2019s workshops so I\u2019ve always appreciated what\u2019s still known in film and TV as \u2018craft effort\u2019. I\u2019m certain if Renaissance artists had access to 3-D printing and scanning technology they would have exploited it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The following day we met Ferdinand and Richard at the airport to return to Scotland. A site visit had been arranged with John Raven of Historic Scotland, Kenny Brophy of Glasgow University Archaeology Department and Donald Petrie of West Dunbartonshire Council to determine the viability of the project. We duly arrived at Cochno Road on the eve of a huge storm, the so-called \u2018weatherbomb\u2019 of last winter. In sheeting rain and sleet we gathered at the site of the Stone which during the summer months is hidden by tall bracken. Now with the land bare, I got a glimpse of its scale \u2013 and was slightly alarmed by the few trees firmly rooted on it, causing speculation of permanent damage.<\/p>\n

While debating the logistics, several thoughts crossed my mind. Foremost \u2013 could Mrs. Marks be persuaded to grant permission? Having alerted her to this new proposal I knew she was reluctant \u2013 understandably \u2013 to allow access to her three-acre garden. How might she be assured? It was a thought shared by Donald Petrie and at time of writing, a matter still to be resolved. A second thought came as I scanned the horizon in the direction of Faifley, the housing scheme close to the site whose occupants were supposedly the reason for the Stone\u2019s burial in 1964. How could the site be made secure during the process?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My last thought I didn\u2019t relish because it meant facing up to the perennial problem of a film. I confess my heart sank a little as I contemplated what it would take to produce and direct a film of sufficient weight and depth that would do more than just merely document the process. Or avoid becoming yet another factual TV doco with all the requisite elements, namely presenter-led with the standard measures of \u2018jeopardy\u2019 and \u2018human interest\u2019 typically demanded by broadcasters. Moreover, I wondered, how best to fund a film about an obscure 5000-year-old stone buried in a remote corner of Glasgow?<\/p>\n

I know what it takes to develop, finance and produce a film. That is, of course, suspending my view of film as an elevated hobby or passion like building matchstick palaces say, or circumnavigating the globe, the former being relatively cheap while the latter is ruinously expensive. These days thanks to cheap kit and software, film can be both. In the cheap scenario, however, what costs is time \u2013 the amount needed for physical production with no crew or any of the support enjoyed by high budget productions. It also requires experience, another form of time invested, often over decades, to acquire the skills and sensibility of how to tell a good story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While musing on this, I reflect on the time spent producing The Devil\u2019s Plantation<\/em> where in the course of its making I earned far less than minimum wage. But even the lowest budget film needs hard cash: apart from camera and sound kit and computers and software, there\u2019s expendables such as data cards, plus the cost of travel and food and even the electricity bill to consider. And that\u2019s before you get paid even the most meagre wage.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s every filmmaker\u2019s challenge. So how do you get paid for your graft? Access to public funding is limited by T&Cs and is generally oversubscribed. The same applies to broadcast. Looking at the guidelines for STV\/SDI\u2019s recent initiative This is Scotland<\/em><\/a> I note that the budget, pegged at \u00a330K for a broadcast half hour, suggests little or no crew, or at least a crew on the current agreed rates of pay. There\u2019s always crowdfunding of course but as anyone who has gone down this route will testify, to fund a film by this method is a full-time job between shooting promo pilots, writing pitches, offering incentives and by making yourself permanently visible on social media with no guarantee of ever reaching your target.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Recently I had the dispiriting experience of going through the public funding grinder with my latest project, Voyageuse<\/em><\/a>. After many weeks of negotiating with a partner organisation (the CCA, Glasgow) to back my project and meeting\/calling\/emailing Creative Scotland, I spent four weeks form-filling followed by a three month wait only to receive a two-line rejection email. I mention this only because I\u2019m aware I\u2019m not alone in this experience of \u2018engaging\u2019 with \u2018enablers\u2019. Of course, not every project will secure funding \u2013 nor should they \u2013 but my regret is the time \u2013 a precious commodity \u2013 wasted on such an unedifying exercise.<\/p>\n

More positively, I’ve decide to make the film anyway by exploiting what I already own and by self-funding. It\u2019s an ambitious undertaking and one that will keep me busy over the coming months. If you\u2019re inclined, you can follow the project on my new blog<\/a> and on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Where this leaves the ongoing Cochno Stone project, only time will tell. Naturally I would love to be part of it because if nothing else I\u2019d like the story of the Cochno Stone to have a happy ending and also as a tribute to Ludovic McLellan Mann, David Marks and all of those with a spirit of adventure. As I write, Ferdinand is about to go down the same funding route I chose, so I wish him well. At least the Stone\u2019s not going anywhere anytime soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I embarked on TDP back in 2007 often I got lost while out on field trips despite having a map. Anyone following my journey knows that the most elusive of my destinations was the site of Cochno\/Druid Stone. Of all the places mentioned by Harry Bell in his Network of Aligned Sites, at a psychic level it seemed as if the Stone was taunting me. Eight years later and it\u2019s still a lost cause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[48,50,51,74,77],"class_list":["post-3652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-cochno-stone","tag-craig-brown","tag-creative-scotland","tag-factum-arte","tag-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5101,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3652\/revisions\/5101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elementalfilms.eu\/devilsplantation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}