Blair Witch Meets Ilkley Moor

Teenagers created a film and music production which was broadcast
over the internet and to mobile phones back in May 2007.

A group of young people travelled on a bus to Ilkley Moor, but their
driver mysteriously disappeared and they had to find out what had
happened to her. Sounds like a scene out of The Blair Witch Project,
but this was an Interplay project which helped young people in danger of re-offending.

The film and audio work of the eight young teenagers, aged 13-16, culminated in their work being broadcast as a ‘podcast’ over the internet and to people’s mobiles.
Each week they were given ‘clues’ as to what happened next in the story
with the aim of creating a series of one-minute, broadcast-quality,
‘cliff hangers’. The group had access to Interplay’s state-of-the-art
recording studios and filming equipment and had been taken
on location to the moors around Ilkley to get ideas for the podcast
and to record and film the series.

The aim is not only to teach them about filmmaking and sound
recording but to allow them to work alongside professionals so that
they can learn new skills within a climate of artistic rigour and
guidance.

“The project enables them to tell their own stories” Sally Fletcher,
Interplay’s Community Director explained. “There is a lot of interest in
podcasting at the moment and these days ‘community’ isn’t just
about where you live. For young people their everyday contact is
through the internet and by phone and this is the way in which they
communicate with each other.”