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Title: CLAY WALL, the

Reference number: 7966

Date: 2007

Director: d. Duncan Marquiss

Sponsor: Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen

Producer: Rosie Crerar

Production company: [ Brocken Spectre]

Sound: sound

Colour: col

Fiction: fiction

Running time: 12.00 mins

Description: A stylized horror film about a young man’s desire to escape himself. Bored by provincial life he concocts a hallucinogenic ointment that causes visions of lycanthropy and tender sexual violence. The film draws on adolescent rites of passage and the history of witchcraft in rural Scotland. [synopsis from "New Films, New Talent: Best of Scottish Shorts 2007]

The Clay Wall is the first short film by artist Duncan Marquiss. The Clay Wall is an artist's film and video project funded by Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council and was produced for Brocken Spectre by Rosie Crerar. It has been exhibited at the Changing Room Gallery, Stirling, and the Dicksmith Gallery, London. It is also screening at festivals.
[information from website http://www.brocken-spectre.comm/shortfilms.html, last accessed 28/5/2009]

Credits: cast William Ruane, Danielle Stewart

sd. rec. Chris Campion
focus puller David Liddell
camera ass. Stuart Ewen
1st ass. d. Deva Smith
art d. Jade Strachan
costume and make-up designer Hanna Clark
construction man. Colin MacInnes
stills ph. and additional costume design Kimberley O'Neill
production runners Stuart Cadenhead, Lindsay Goodall, Heather Rolls
art dept. ass. Toshiyuki Kobayashi, Eona McCallum, Andy Wake
m. Duncan Marquiss
online ed. Ian Ballantyne
sd. mix John Cobban
d. ph. Kathleen Friend
ed. Aldo Palumbo
exec. p. David Smith
w. and d. Duncan Marquiss

Thanks to Aboyne Academy, Aboyne Caravan Park, Torphins Golf Course, RSAMD, Robbie Allen at Scottish Screen, Moira Jeffries at The Scottish Arts Council, Mick and Anne Marquiss, Storm the Dog and Sandra Halliday

An Artists Film and Video Production supported by Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen

Shotlist: The Clay Wall is a stylized horror film about a young man’s desire to escape himself. Bored by the stillness and order of provincial life he concocts a psychedelic ointment that causes visions of lycanthropy and tender sexual violence. Filmed in Deeside in the North East of Scotland where director Marquiss grew up, The Clay Wall draws on adolescent rites of passage and the local history of witchcraft in the area. The film revisits empty locations thought to once have been the meeting places of witches, these places are now haunted by teenagers conducting their own nameless rituals.