Hello, Glorp!
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."
That's all for tonight folks! Bye Glorp!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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?
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
https://alebecamestudious.blogspot.com/
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.
https://aicemediaperiod8.blogspot.com/
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.
https://gabyslens.blogspot.com/
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.
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.
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?
Cites:
https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-blog/what-was-life-like-1800s#:~:text=Daily%20life%20in%20the%2019th,to%20be%20prepared%20for%20conscription.\
https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/blackrights/jimcrow
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/CivilRightsAct1875.htm
https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/rise-of-industrial-america-1876-1900/rural-life-in-late-19th-century/
Here's the schedule I made with my group for the project.
By Feb 16th we should have:
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.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.
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)
- https://core.ac.uk/reader/76393810
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna-Matamala/publication/283213303_Opening_credit_sequences_audio_describing_films_within_films/links/562f5f4508ae4742240ac56f/Opening-credit-sequences-audio-describing-films-within-films.pdf
- https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/big_country
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