Here are a few shots we took and what they mean, hence the pondering of their use to the story.
Spacious Shot
Throughout our research of western film openings, I realized that a lot of shots have empty space.
They are supposed to instill feelings of loneliness in the viewer. And like I said, most westerns movies emphasize the “wild” part of Wild West. The added space helps reinforce that, since there’s more focus on the landscape than our character.
Flower Power
This shot is the favorite of every one on the team. So because property damage is illegal, we couldn’t actually dig a hole. We had to create the illusion that Charolette was barring her boss without actually doing so. My plan, which is what we do in this shot, is having a pile of dirt really close to the camera and hide the potato bag behind the pile using perspective. It isn’t perfect, but it’s the best we came up with. The flower, which is the focus of the shot, symbolizes life and innocence. The purple and white of it reflects this, and it’s the introduction to this color combination. If we were to make an entire move, I’d plan to use these colors to symbolize life. The flower being placed on the dirt where the boss will be buried is supposed to signify how close life and death are to each other, a common theme in the rest of the movie.
Contrived for the Cross
This one was a weird one. Since Emi had painted nails and we needed a close up of her touching her cross, I became her hands. Pretty much, I put on her shirt and gloves and pretended to be her hands by standing behind her and awkwardly "hugging" her. It was a mildly discomforting experience, but nothing intolerable. I think it was worst for her because she had to take her shirt off. Zach, Nico, and I turned the other way while she was doing so, like respectful gentlemen.
This shot was supposed to show that Charlette was religious, the fact that it's a necklace resembles how close the ideals of Christianity are to her heart.
Today I am traveling to STN! And tomorrow’s post will be in Tampa! I can’t wait!
Anyway, when we went to Vista View, for completely forgot that the fine people of our town enjoy running. The park was filled with joggers and bikers. We had to talk to the apex of the biggest hill in the park to find a place free of people. By then, it was already 10 am, we met at 8. From then we took all the necessary shots from the story board and did some improvisation. For example, one of the shots was a low angle with a flower in focus. That was something Zach came up with last minute, but I think it really added to the story. More on that in an oncoming blogpost.
Another problem we faced was Emi’s painted nails. They didn’t really have painted nails in the 1800s, and if they did, Charlotte wouldn’t wear them. At first I tried to chip them off, but her nail artist is too good at her job.
So instead, for the close up of her cross we had to replace her hands with mine. I’ll show how we did that in an upcoming blog too!
Aside from that, the rest of the shooting went smoothly! Three out of the four of us know a lot about video production, so we didn’t have many issues. That’s all for today, by Glorp!
I have a looming fear that the project will fall to its doom when we are at STN, though that's unlikely to happen. We got 90% of the shooting done this weekend, which is amazing. All we are missing is the editing and to get the remaining 10%, which we have 31 days to complete. But I keep thinking the product isn't good enough, despite having an astonishing product from yesterday. I feel like we are missing something big, like we didn't research enough or our opening will be filled with continuity errors. I don't know. I shouldn't feel this unsure but I am. Let's hope to god this just paranoia and not instinct.
(One of my favorite shots from yesterday)
In an attept to comfot myself, I'm going to make a plan for post.
What if we need to reshoot?
What if Zach's computer explodes?
Well, not literlly. But adobe is well known for it's ability to crash computer. As someone who expirences a time crunch every week due to STN practice, I know that computers can sometimes just give in with no appaert reason.
What if the project crashed and we lose everything?
Audio does, in fact, make the world go round. Or at least, it benefits our existence as living beings. Think about it, if a bunny can't hear a fox, how will it prevent itself from being eaten? We are beings who evolved from animals such as these, and evidently find great importance in audio. Therefor, when a landscape sounds off, we will notice it and be pulled from the story. "Audio is more important than footage" as they say.
Westerns focus on how wild the west is. It's strongly locked onto the nature of a scene more than the human part. Humans also don't talk as much as in other movies because of this. This is prefect for us because we will have someone filming audio on set, likely Nico or I. That way we can get as much natural noises as possible. Also, it's so we don't have to record foley for everything, which is a huge annoyance. As someone whos made five foley projects over that past three years, I have a strong distaste for how tedious it is.
This blog is quick because I have to go out and film today. It's 7:14 am an I have to leave at 7:30, so I should really go and get ready to leave. I'll update!
If there's anything that I love most, it's color. Film, photos, or in real life, color is always just so mesmerizing. I'll be honest, I thought that they didn't have many colors in America 1800s. From my experience, tinting clothes with plants leaves a very faint color. Most of the time it washes out. Also, if I had to tint my clothes in the wilderness, I doubt I'd have my lovely blues and purples. But a quick google search made me remember that the 1800s where the start of the industrial age. Even those in the most rural areas had access to a store with products. Dyes where cheap to make, which made them available in rural areas.
Costumes
Now that we can have colorful clothing, I thought I'd be fun to have Emi's character have something red. This would represent her strong personality, despite being a quiet character. She still stands her ground and equally as stubborn, despite not saying much. The white of the shirt under her vest is a representation of the pure intentions behind her actions, she is a woman of god and refuses to intentionally hurt or wrong people. Black shoes and hat demonstrate her need to not have her real personality shown to the world. She knows if it's shown that she's caring and kind, people won't take her as seriously as they would a man. So, she hides under a quiet and dark personality, intentionally not saying much to seem as confident and powerful as possible.
The Set Colors
As for the set, Nico is mainly in charge of that, but I'll relay the message for you. The place we are shooting in will be a plain field of grass, meaning we don't have to care about set that much aside from colors. I wanted the grass to look brown, almost dead, which will be easy to do in post. This is the area we will be shooting in. I don't want to get any trees in the shot because I've never seen them in westerns. Also, we will be shooting at 8 am tomorrow, meaning that the sky will be out and blue. Not much we can do about that.
Update on progress:
Today, Zach Nico and I went to HomeDepot and PartyCity to buy props. We got a cowboy hat, the cheapest bag of dirt we chould find, and a rope. We took a photo of the rope, but Blogger is freaking out and not letting me post them. Also, we are going to film tomorrow!
This day has been an unnerving one. I've completely forgotten that STN, the national film compaction I'm going on, is in eight days. EIGHT! I'm prepared to miss almost every class, I finished some of the work I had for the week I'm going to miss. But, I forgot to plan a day to film this project! We had a schedule but it had to get scrapped since our teacher thought we needed more time to research. Now, we are going to film on Saturday but we still have so many things to do!
Location scouting
Last weekend Zach and I went to Vista View park and found the perfect place to film. We where in a rush though so sadly I didn't get to take photos.
Getting props
Body bag
We need somewhere to keep the body without actually dragging a human body. I don't think Emi can carry all that weight.
Emi's character outfit (including hat, string, and pants)
We need a way for Emi to hide her long beautiful hair until the end, where it is revealed she's a woman. A hat is the easiest way to do this. Note for Future Renn: Please look into the history of cowboy hats.
The string is to tie up the character's hair. Back during my research, I didn't see anything on hair ties, all the hairstyles I read about where put together with hairpins, hair gel, hairnets, and other such beauty products. Meaning that this cowgirl would have to get resourceful and tie up her hair with a string.
We are trying to hold back the fact that Emi's character is a woman until the end. So, her having a skirt kind of gives it away.
Shovel
Victorian shovels didn't have plastic pieces like the kind we have now a days. They where a solid piece of metal shaped into a shovel. However, since we have a budget of $0, we can't afford an authentic Victorian shovel. Sadly, we will have to use a modern shovel, which sucks. (Victorian shovel is on the right, modern shovel is on the left.)
Dirt
Used to create the illusion we are digging without getting finned for property destruction. Sadly, none of us own a field of grass.
Cross
Emi's character is religious and we chose to symbolize this with a cross. It's going to be on a necklaces. Women in England during the Victorian era wore ball dresses adored with jewelry, so I doubt this is historically inaccurate.
Final script
I know, I know, we shouldn't be working on the script this late. But, I'm not sorry! Western films are very slow, so my group thought it would be best to adjust to this instead of having the film go by the speed we find natural.
Final storyboard
Emi is in charge of this, it should be done by today.
Wish me luck with the execution! I think this stress is going to trigger my male pattern baldness 3 decades too early.
I have read enough articles on the Victorian era to be able to know things without remembering where they are from, regardless, here is a list of resources I quickly scrambled together. I'm pretty sure everything I say is covered here.
I still had to find our characters' actual names since the entire Monday was dedicated to practice for a competition. When I got home, I slept for twelve hours, from 6pm to 6am. Back on topic, I'm not sure how we created these characters. I think they manifested in the air after talking to my group.
Emi's Character Development:
Emi's character was decided to be female from the start because she is our only actor. So, we didn't really have a choice. However, we found a way to work around that by making the plot based on her gender and doing a lot of research on how people interpreted gender back in the day. I really wanted Emi's character to be an absolute "wizard" (english.stackexchange.com 2014) just like Mary Fields. Fields really drove Emi's character, but I wanted her to be calm and calculated to balance out the "wild" part of the wild west.
Nico Development:
Nico's character was really just manifested from thin air. I asked Nico and him. He wasn't really sure where it came from. I think we just needed a conflict in the story, and we developed Nico's character to have something happen. Aside from that, the personality and such was created in post #9, where I suggested to the group that Nico's character should have a bad relationship with his father but still love him. Never having told his father until his disappearance, making the decision to kill Emi's character even more conflicting.
That's all for today folks! Sorry if this post is very disoriented, I'm next to an individual who won't stop talking about his rectal canal. It's pretty distracting.
Here is the script to our film opening. Also, our characters are yet to be named since I'm a picky little baby and want them to be historically accurate. I plan on researching that tomorrow. For now, the characters are named after their actors. Nico is playing the son and Emi is playing the cowgirl. Okay, that's it, enjoy the script! Also, good night.
Hi Glorp! It's a lovely Saturday morning, and I just spent the last hour and a half procrastinating on writing this blog. Acceptance is the first step, as they say.
Story:
Our story for the film as a whole is about a cowgirl who accidentally kills her boss. In an attempt to compensate for his death, she travels across the Wild West to find his son and lets him decide whether or not to take her life. The son, conflicted, wants revenge but chooses to let her live. The cowgirl's pacifist philosophy rubbed off on him.
Protagonist backstory:
Kind, quick-witted, and quiet, our protagonist was born in the New World, inside a city in New England. The protagonist's family ran to the Wild West in hopes of bettering their financial situation. The protagonist grew up learning to be self-sufficient in the west, picking up her dad's skills in herding and shooting. After the death of her husband, she decided to join the workforce. Hired by a wealthy man for her impeccable cowgirl skills, she quickly learned how brutal working can be. Her boss was very aggressive; any attempt to calm him down would fail. During an especially tense burst of anger, the cowgirl failed to save him from death. She felt wrecked by guilt and quickly left everything behind to find the man's son.
Clothes:
The protagonist wears pants sometimes, while riding horses, but most of the time she spends it in a dress that stops right below her knee and stockings. She also wears men's clothes on top of that, like a vest. Her long hair is almost never tied up and out of her face. She not only enjoys the feeling of having her hair free, but she also uses it as a statement. "Look at me, doing things men do all while not eradicating my femininity."
It feels weird talking to a nameless void, so, in an attempt to make this blog my own, I decided to name the reader Glorp. I hope you, the reader, are okay with that.
Edit on 2.23.25:
I created the name Glorp when I woke up one morning with that word echoing in my head. I assume my brain created it in a dream I don't remember. I thought it was funny, so I added it to the blog. Just now realizing that I don't know if "glorp" has another meaning. Urban dictionary told me it has several other meanings, but none of those are the definition I imply when I call the reader Glorp. I just think it's fun to say.
Hi Glorp! This blog is not just a measly research blog, no. Oh no, no, no, my dear friend. This blog plans to answer all the questions my little snotty-nosed gremlin-toddler brain has. And since my grade relies on also researching a media theory, I'm going to do that too. These blogs have no word limit; be prepared for the most in-depth data you've ever seen. I woke up this morning with a wack ton of energy, and I'm going to USE IT!
Question #1: Were female cowboys (cowgirls) a thing? If so, where they riddiculed or insulted for being women?
First, what is a cowgirl/boy? Western movies gave me this vague idea that they were just people who rode horses, maybe traveling long distances and lassoing wild animals. No, that's not accurate. It turns out that they are people who own and tend to livestock. ¹ Back then this required the skills often seen in western movies: sharpshooting, horse breaking, and herding cattle. Rodeos were later created as a way to show off these skills and entertainment. From here, a cowgirl is the wife or daughter of a cowboy who learned the same skills as her male counterpart. ¹
A very brief Google search led me to a page of cowgirls, outlaws, and gunslingers. A briefer skim convinced me all of them were "not to be trifled with" as heck (english.stackexchange.com 2014). Here's my favorite one from the list:
Mary Fields (1832 - 1914)
The page never states if she's a cowgirl, outlaw, or gunslinger. I assume she's a gunslinger, since she never owned land (so no livestock) and never reportedly did anything illegal.
The most striking thing about her is her color. No other women on this page were Black, and from what I can find, she's the first African American to work in the postal service. Journalofantiques.com (2025) describes her as "a pioneer of the Old West as the first female African-American Star Route mail carrier." Saloons back in the day (late 1800s) often served the purpose of being a social area for men to relax from work and family life. They had a sacred place to interact with other men. A woman in a saloon would mean a violation of that idyllic manliness and therefore a threat to male dominance. As such, women were usually not allowed in the main area of the saloon and were usually segregated to another room. Back then, this separation protected women from judgment and the men's desperate need to have an area dedicated to their disgusting quantity of body hair and beer. ⁴ In Montana, a law made areas dedicated to women in saloons illegal. ⁵ However, Fields was such an "epic fella (english.stackexchange.com 2014) that the mayor of Cascade made an exception for her.¹ She was allowed to drink, smoke, and hang out with men as she pleased.
Also, let me note that she was six feet tall. I'm 5'2, and from my knowledge, the lack of proper nutrition and health services in the past made people shorter. Meaning that the amazing individual known as Mary Fields was probably a tower of badassery compared to the people around her. Should I have been born in the same time and place as her and met her, I would be terrified. I'm sure the mayor of Caacad felt the same. All jokes aside, Mary Fields was probably allowed into saloons and such because she behaved and had the height of a man. Demanding and quick to anger, tall, intimidating. I assume she never let people tell her what to do. She probably had to play a masculine role to be seen as equal to men, hiding her femininity to protect herself from ridicule. Which, to me, is depressing but makes sense. Back then, women were seen as weak, needing to be protected. Though that's not the case anymore, through the writing of my character, I should show this suppression of femininity. Something else that's a shock to me is that Fields is wearing a dress. This brings me to my next question.
Question #2: Why were women restricted to dresses when they had to do a lot of housework? Wouldn't that be inefficient for pulling weeds and stuff?
This one is piggybacking off the last one. You'd think that, on a farm where an individual is almost completely self-sufficient, there'd be a priority of efficiency over visual appeal. Why did women still wear dresses if they spent the day milking cows and pulling weeds? Especially in the supposed heat of the western landscape, what's the point?
To answer this, let's start with what they wore. As undergarments, women wore a chemise (thin dress made of cotton), pantalette (image on the left), and petticoat (skirt). This was worn for modesty and hygiene purposes, since underwear as we know it wasn't a thing back then. I was under the assumption that women just didn't wear anything related to pants, so a pantalette really stood out to me. Most women wore a corset over this and then a dress of choice. But some loosened the corset or didn't wear it at all while doing domestic work. Also, according torecolections.biz (2023), women shortened their dresses and skirts a few inches to make manual labor easier. I think a big reason they didn't wear pants is for modesty and because it was just the standard for women to wear skirts.
Here, I planned to make a smooth transition into women's independence. But I can't think of anything because I need water and don't want to get up from my comfy chair. With the expansion into the western part of America, pioneers had very limited resources and people. Therefore, as long as you had the skills, you were needed to work. Gender was given no regard. As my mom put it, "There was no time to be sexist; cows had to be herded." One thing the western genre did get right is that laws didn't really apply in the lawless Wild West, so women joined the workforce when men couldn't. Sadly, women weren't entirely equal out in the west. "There were plenty more men than women out west, and many of them paid handsomely for female company." (historyhit.com, 2025)
Question #3: I know the center of America isn't all desert, so why is it portrayed that way in westerns?
I've been to the north and south ends of Texas; it's not that hot. Especially not enough to be deserted! So what gives?
When I wrote these questions, I wrote why I'm asking them (the statement above) and then googled for answers, opening only the sites that look genuine. Then I assume things from there. But with this question, I was just completely wrong. Every site I opened called Texas, California, and the general West a desert. I genuinely just got the geography very wrong. That is very embarrassing. I'm including this in the final draft, though. Why? Because it's my blog, and I can do what I want. Don't judge.
Question #4: Did people actually have a southern accent as we picture it today?
In the 8th grade, when I was learning US history, I genuinely wondered if the people in British colonies like Jamestown had British accents like we know today. Where did the American accent come from? Where did the southern accent come from?
I found this video; it answers one question of the 20 I just spouted.
So, according to this video, the original accent wasn't British; it was American. The British accent was formed by those from new money to differentiate themselves from old money. Over time, that accent became the British accent we know and love today. This was a complete shocker. I honestly thought the Americans might have created a different accent from the British to separate themselves from the country after the revolution.
Southern accents also originated as a way for people to distinguish themselves. "...wealthy British traders started dropping the 'r' sound from their speech as a distinction...of their class" (magoosh.com, 2025). These British traders then went to the New World and participated in the slave trade, picking up a little of the accents from enslaved African Americans over time. Especially once African Americans won their freedom and became a part of the working class. The white workers alongside them picked up their accents. Later events like the Great Depression would change immigration patterns and solidify the southern accent into southern culture. This means that your character not having a southern accent is completely historically accurate if we tie it into her backstory. As long as she grew up around people without a Southern or British accent, we are set. This way our actor won't have to fake an accent and possibly mess up her performance.
Finally, the Media Theory!
My group predetermined the media theory of gender performativity theory by Judith Butler. Personally, they are one of my favorite philosopher's I've read so far. I don't agree with everything they say, but their newest book (Who's Afraid of Gender?) is still very interesting. Butler's theory is the idea that gender is not a concrete part of human existence; instead, it is socially constructed and forced into individuals from a young age. A book I'm reading right now, Gender and Our Brains, talks about neuroplasticity. I'll be honest, I haven't finished the chapter yet. But I'll still try to explain what I learned to the best of my abilities. A world champion chess player has a different brain than a professional bus driver. Some parts, maybe the prefrontal cortex, are bigger on some sides than others. This is because their brains have adapted to be insanely good at what they do. This is called neuroplasticity; the brain adapts to it's situation. For all we know, gender could cause the brain to create a the gendered brain. Oh, yeah, also brains are probably gendered. PET scans show men and women have structures of different sizes. This doesn't mean one is smarter than the other, it's a little complicated to explain. Applying this media theory to our film opening might mean having a character that ignores the gender roles she was put into. She can behave like a man but keep her hair long, sort of like a protest against her gendered roles. She'd likely act like Mary Fields, independent, strong, and powerful. We can see this theory in my first two questions. Cowgirls and women had rights so long as they were skilled, but their scarcity in the west and judgment from their peers forced most into roles as housewives. This would be the performance part of Butler's gender theory. The interesting bit, though, is that even if my character behaves in a manly way, she is still subscribing to the gender roles in a society. Maybe not the ones she was born into, but since those around her were raised to see two boxes, she will still be categorized into one or the other. Even if that's contrary to her wishes.
Well, my eyes are starting to sting from the blue light of my laptop screen. I think I should call this a night. Goodbye Glorp!
Edit: I fixed a few grammar mistakes on 2/15, but this blog was posted on 2/14.
Resources:
Question #1:
1. Cowgirl by choice - cowboy by choice. (2024, September 4). Cowboy by Choice. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://cowboybychoice.com/cowgirl-by-choice/#:~:text=In%20the%20late%201800's%2C%20the,horses%2C%20and%20tending%20to%20livestock.
2. Carter-Lome, M. (2023, November 25). Women of the Wild West: 10 Famous Cowgirls, Outlaws, and Gunslingers - The Journal of Antiques and. The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles. https://journalofantiques.com/features/women-of-the-wild-west-10-famous-cowgirls-outlaws-and-gunslingers/
3. What is a polite substitute for badass (used as a noun)? (n.d.). English Language & Usage Stack Exchange. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/117457/what-is-a-polite-substitute-for-badass- used-as-a-noun
4. Volkert, K. (2021, February 3). Old “Ladies’ Entrance” Signs Blur the Lines Between Gender Bias and Bar Ephemera. Hidden City Philadelphia. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://hiddencityphila.org/2021/01/old-ladies-entrance-signs-blur-the-lines-between-gender-bias-and-bar-ephemera/#:~:text=Working%2Dclass%20bars%20and%20saloons,and%20their%20sense%20of%20masculinity.
5. Montana Women’s legal History timeline. (2018, October 16). Montana Women’s History. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://montanawomenshistory.org/research/legal/
Question 2:
1. Recollections. (2023, February 20). Pioneer Clothing: What women wore in the Western Frontier. Recollections Blog. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://recollections.biz/blog/pioneer-clothing-what-women-wore-in-the-western-frontier/
2. Roller, S. (n.d.). What was life like for the pioneer women of the Wild West? History Hit. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://www.historyhit.com/women-in-the-wild-west/
3. The incredible perseverance of the woman pioneer (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-incredible-perseverance-of-the-woman-pioneer.htm
Question 3:
1. Aaron. (2022, June 12). Why Sonoran Desert is the icon of the Wild West. TheTravel. https://www.thetravel.com/sonoran-desert-is-part-of-the-wild-west/ Wikipedia contributors. (2025, February 14).
2. American frontier. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_frontier
3. Wild West with Ray Mears - Deserts - CUNY TV. (n.d.). CUNY TV. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://tv.cuny.edu/show/wildwest/PR2003992
Question 4:
1. Mental Floss. (2015, June 22). What did the original colonists sound like? - Big Questions - (Ep. 36) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7tZFqg2PqU
2. Pool, J. (2021, April 7). The Southern Drawl: Breakdown of an American accent. SpeakUp Resources. Retrieved February 14, 2025, from https://magoosh.com/english-speaking/the-southern-drawl-breakdown-of-an-american-accent/
Media theory:
1. Rippon, G. (2020). Gender and our brains: How New Neuroscience Explodes the Myths of the Male and Female Minds. Vintage.
This was the first time ever I met with other people outside my group to discuss our ideas. The plan was to help each other improve our stories and production.
She wanted to start with the ending scene of the movie to make the viewers question how the individual got to the state she's in. I thought that concept was so cool. The idea is to start with the protagonist recovering from plastic surgery and then flatlining, then cutting to a few years prior and letting the story begin from there.
I only had two concerns. One, how is she going to recreate a hospital? Ale assured me that she can do it in her room with the use of close-ups. I told her to be very careful and meaningful with her shots, as that could go wrong very quickly. Two, how will people understand the surgery is cosmetic, and do people even die from that? A quick Google search told us that the mortality rate for cosmetic surgery is very low, but people still die from blood clots. She never answered my other question; I think we got distracted.
God, I really hope that's how her name is spelled. She's been in a class of mine almost every year since 2020, and I still don't know her name. That's a huge failure on my end. Anyway, Addison wanted to do a psychological thriller. The entire opening was basically just following a woman while she buries her husband's body. She and Ale had the same idea in the sense that they started with the last scene of the movie.
I told Addison that she basically just wrote a short story for a long story and that this doesn't have to just be the end. The woman can be insane; this scene can be an implication of that. What if her husband is very much still alive and loving, but the woman thinks he's hiding a big secret. The woman wants to kill her husband for her belief that she's defending herself from him. This opening can be about her daydreaming about that. Sort of like The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, where the narrator is unrelatable and tries to justify an unjustifiable murder.
Gabby planned to do a coming-of-age story about a girl who escapes her room while her parents are arguing. The idea is to have the girls room reflect her personality. Her parents argue because her little brother is dead.
I asked Gabby several questions. How old is the brother? Why did he kill himself? What exactly is in the girl's room that reflects her personality? She didn't have an answer, so we came up with them together. The brother should be in middle school, maybe 8th grade, since most people were absolutely miserable in middle school. He could've always been an outcast, in school and out, and at home, his family didn't want much to do with him. So, he must've felt helpless and like a burden to others, therefore thinking that suicide would be doing others a favor. As for the girls room, I suggested having childhood things covered by this girl's new identity once her brother died. To represent her loss of innocence and a side of her once he left.
Vicky's Part
Sadly, I didn't write down her blog URL. Should I remember to ask, I'll update this post with her URL.
Vicky didn't have an idea in stone. But she wanted to make a dystopian that drew inspiration from The Giver. A society that selects a few to have a special, important job. Little do the people chosen know they'll soon have to fight something big and intimidating.
I told her it might be difficult to make a futuristic dystopian; she said no, because we live in a very clean, idealized, and gentrified city; it'll actually be very easy. I said she was right; I didn't think about it that way. Then I told her, What about the powers? She needs special effects for that; it may be hard to do. She said that in the worst-case scenario, she'll only talk about it but never show the powers themselves.
My Part
I didn't have much to say, but since we were running out of time in the classroom, I quickly made something up based on my research. A woman in a western, she is a cowgirl, even though it is very much frowned upon at that time. She is a pacifist on a bounty, and escapes people trying to catch her.
Addison recommended showing how women in the western landscape were perceived. As servants to their male counterparts, and then introduce the cowgirl. Then we were told to pack up and get ready to leave; the bell was about to ring. So, I didn't get many suggestions on improvements; however, we will have more meetings, so hopefully I'll get more advice soon!
Hello! This is a quick research blog over the actual history of the 1800s. That way, I know what is true from the movies I watch and don't unintentionally spread misinformation.
In 1803, America expanded with the Louisiana purchase. As the century came to an end, people began settling down and the land that was once unfamiliar became home. Around this time, the telegram and trains where invented and perfected, it connected people across the country. Also, Jim Crow Laws became controversial as the abolishment of slavery war rearing near. This brought in millions of immigrates and increase a demand for labor.
Housing ranged from country side to cites. Cities aren't common in the western genre though, so I'll focus on rural living. Urban areas where also uncommon back then, but expanded quickly. Many settlers flocked to the plains, due to the Homestead Act, but most were forced into debt and migration because of drought. They arranged themselves into Granges and Farmers' Alliances, which fought poor economic conditions and even founded the short-lived Populist Party in 1892. Life as a homesteader in the 1800s was hard and unkind. There was no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no modern medicine. Farming, cooking, and surviving required manual labor. They grew or hunted their own food, made their own clothes, and huddled on winters with little food. I found a video that show how self sufficient people had to be back then.
Hygiene was bad, diseases were a common feature, and medical care was rare; consequently, there was a very high rate of child mortality and a low life expectancy. Hardships included lack of food, extreme weather conditions, and wild animals. Self-sufficiency and resilience characterized rural life, but it isn't at all how the western genre romanticizes it. From what I've seen, the wild west has always been a symbol for strength, independence, and moral righteousness. Maybe this romanticism is the right thing to do though. I mean if viewers wanted to watch a western, they'd want to see a man on his horse shooting his gun and saving the town. Not a mother struggling to help her children survive winter. This research was definitely eye opening, I'm considering trying in incorporate this into my video opening. Maybe having the protagonist's struggle find food or overcome sickness be a part of the plot.
That being said, here is a list of things I want to look into should I ever have the time:
- How did people speak back then?
- How did they dress? What where the dress differences between lower and upper classes?
- What were women allowed to do? I know they stayed home and worked, but where they allowed to mount horses? Do dresses even allow for that?
Here's the schedule I made with my group for the project.
By Feb 16th we should have:
Decided on a final story
Finished the script (Nico's job)
Made a shot list and a storyboard focused on the cinematography of the piece (My job to make the content, Emi's job to make my drawings easier to understand)
Have a fat quantity of research on the western era and genre (My job)
Planned where to shoot and when (Zach and Nico)
Drawn out costumes (Emi's job)
By Feb 23:
Planned a day to film that fits everyone's schedule and accommodates the needs of the place we are filming at.
Bring the costume designs to life (Emi's and my job)
Make or buy props (Nico's job)
Zach, Nico, and I leave to a national competition throughout the beginning of March, so we decided not to plan anything that week.
By March 16th:
Finish editing completely, including color grade and foley as needed. (Zach's job)
Made title graphic (my job)
Get feedback from friend
With this schedule we should have over a week to spare before having to submit our project. I think this is best because if anything goes badly, we have a week to adjust. Also, in the best case, we'd have a week without any work!
For this blog, we were told to only give three examples of movies, but instead I wanted to give 3 ideas for things I could do. I think I'll end up taking a little bit of inspiration from all of these movies and techniques. But only time (and my teammates' opinions) will tell. Also, my team decided to do a western!
#1 Just a Bunch of Wicked Cool Graphics
A Fistful of Dollars
Of the credit sequences I've watched, most of them were graphics, and this one is no exception. Moving images with text next to them and music playing overtop. I skimmed a case study done by Melis Inceer from the University of Pennsylvania on credit sequences; from what I can tell, most movies have this regardless of the genre.
I referenced this credit sequence specifically because I love its use of color, just red and black. I think something limited like this is very visually interesting and could be seen as a metaphor that shadows the rest of the movie. The repetitive use of horses and guns seems to be a theme between the credit sequences of this genre, and this sequence is no exception. I mean, horses and guns everywhere! I really like it, though. The silhouettes I've found are especially powerful.
Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968)
Another coincidence like this one is Django, Peroare a Coffin's sequence, except it has more color and uses fewer silhouettes. The use of more color makes the credit sequence feel like it carries less weight and that the movie itself is a little bit more lighthearted. I really need to talk with my team about the tone of our opening. Should we choose something satirical, this should be a good route to take.
#2 Vaguely Metaphorical Video and Some Text
The Big Country (1958)
As I was looking through another case study, one sentence in the conclusion stood out to me.
"...opening title sequences are becoming key elements which often set the atmosphere and introduce the audience to the film."
Essentially, a film credit should have the same look and feel as the movie it's for since it is the introduction before an introduction to the film. A great example of this is The Big Country (1958). Its opening sequence is just a lot of shots of forms of travel in the western era, horses and trains, with graphics over it. The name of the movie and the use of wide shots of terrain imply that the movie is about how big the western landscape is. The typography or images aren't unique either. Seeing as this movie was released in the golden age of western movies, I'm assuming that the opening graphic is just trying to say, "Hey! Look at me! I'm a profitable movie!" And the scores reflect this too; it has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. People like love movies.
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
Another title sequence similar to this one is For a Few Dollars More (1965). This one is a wide shot of a man on his horse in a vast western landscape, then the man gets shot off his horse, and the text begins passing in and out. The thing that caught my eye, though, is the way the graphic shows up on screen. It wiggles up from it like worms emerging from soil. I find it really memorable.
#3 Video, BOOM! (Insert Cool Match Cut with Graphic Here)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
There was only one example of this I could find, but it is still very noteworthy. There is a lot that happens in this opening, as it introduces the movie's character. One thing I'd like to point out is the way that the credit sequence combines the opening of the movie with its credits. It does a match cut just over the video itself into a drawing of the character and some text. I don't think I've seen much like it, and it makes everything feel very stylized. Only thing, should I mimic this, I'd add music and the clips to the beat of the music. That way they'd feel more impactful and intentional.
CITES:
(All should be imbedded into the blog, if something fails, here are the links to everything in the order mentioned)
Today I met up with my group and we discussed what we our project will be. It didn't take long to decide on futuristic western sci-fi. Sounds crazy, I know. I think that idea is way too far fetched, so we decided to just research two separate genres, western and sci-fi. From here we will pick one of the two.
#1 Rango
A weird film for sure, not traditional Western at all. It starts with Rango trapped in his cage. We see how he feels about the encloser he is in and how he spends his time, as well as a little bit of foreshadowing. The entertaining thing about this is that Rango is the only person in this scene, yet he is talking to objects as if they where people. The opening ends with Rango's encloser breaking open and leaves the audience and Rango with a big question; what to do now?]
Rango opening:
In (TITLE HERE), the creators of the movie talk about how they wanted to make something that broke the bounders of westerns and animated movies. You can see this in the the character design, characters are asymmetrical and far from Disney's cute animated animal style. The creators also wanted to play on western tropes in fun ways, which doesn't show up until later in the movie. This is ideal for me, I want to create something unique and intriguing.
The documentary:
#2 A Fistful of Dollars
I never watched this movie, I don't watch a lot of westerns. However I think it sets the conflict for the rest of the movie pretty well. Two families that hate each other in a crime ridden town, a nameless man plots a way to exploit both families, he releases a captive of one of the family's (the Rojos) and then confronts that family. The movie ends with the man killing the Rojos.
A Fistful of Dollars opening:
This movie has a very simple opening that says more about the main characters surrounding that the character himself. The Man just watches what goes down, he never attempts to step in. An approach like this may be simpler for me, since it's far more focused on world building. Western genres are characterized by the landscape too, so a focus on that might make my job easier too.
#3 The Bladerunner
Moving on to sci-fi, the plot of The Bladerunner is mostly focused on the struggles of the protagonist as he attempts to hunt down Replicants (bio engineered humans). The films opening is rather abstract at the beginning, it starts giving questions the viewer questions throughout.
The Bladerunner opening:
I assume this is a staple sci-fi movies, just giving the viewer thousands of questions until the movie answers them. I also assume all those questions are what keep the viewers hooked. If we do go the sci-fi route I'm sure our opening will have this confusing sort of story too.
Hello! This blog is just a little research for possible genre matched with a few ideas and reflections for my project.
#1- Western
Western genres began in dime novels in the late 19th century, but films of the genre quickly got a solid ground in the silent era of film.² They where popular and very common for a while, but audiences began to feel the movies became predictable. It was only until after the widespread use of synoicous sound in the 1940s that western films were reviven.¹ The western genre has existed for a long while, meaning it's had time to developed tropes and niches. Depending on how the tropes are written, this can make or break a movie. For example, the noble outlaw is almost always the main character. A stoic, strong, and morally righteous shadowy figure.³
If I pick this genre, this will mean I'd get to research about life in the late 1800s. The clothes and the set would have to be planned to every last little feature. The little nerd in my brain can't wait to make vast spreadsheets and long historical essays. Should I make this film, I would definitely write something akin to Lego Batmen. Batman started out as a total loser who didn't want to leave the house, but had everyone convinced he was really cool. Over the movie, he learns to let people in and grows a chosen family.
Clip of Batman being a loser:
Clip of Batman being cool:
I think having a character like this would be a really fun twist on the western trope of a lone rider.
Coming of age films have always kind of existed, there isn't a traceable history them. However there is a traceable decline to their production. It seems the golden age was in the 2000s. That was before fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian movies took over the content consumed by the teenage demographic. There seem to be very few movies about growing up in the 21st century.¹ Coming of age movies tend to be focused on a teenager changing over time. Usually takes place in or around high school, and deals with a lot of concepts like learning to be one's true self or getting over a first love. ²
If I where to do the genre, I'd go one of two ways.
One: I do something focused on current everyday life. Maybe following a teenager who feels like a fish out of water. They aren't allowed to have a cell phone, so they just constantly feel left out. This one might be a bit depressing though, which isn't up my alley.
Two: I go all the way back to the 50s or 70s. I'd research how they lived back then and maybe do something akin to Grease or Footloose.
I intentionally picked two genres that have been oversaturated. This is because I'd love to put a creative spin my work. The motivator behind this approach is Rango. It is a movie that combines fantasy elements and animated animals to a western landscape. The character designs are full of personality and play on western tropes.
