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.
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