My thoughts on how to do that would be to use a sort of backlit background image, and then something like christmas lights around the buildings. Maybe they could illuminate some lone figures. I don't want it to be full of people, I'd like it to be more like the ghost of Coney Island. I grew up very near to it and it sort of figures very strongly in my mind.
Here are some of my favorite images of old Coney Island, mostly from postcards:
I would also like to use elephants in some way, because I always think of the elephant, Topsy, that they executed there in 1903. The elephant had killed three people- one was her somewhat abusive handler, but the other two were just people visiting the circus. To me, that event sort of captures the strange sadness that I feel when I think about Coney Island. There's a very famous thirty second clip of the actual event, filmed by Thomas Edison. They electrocute it, so its not actually gory or anything, but it's still an elephant dying, so don't watch it if you don't feel like seeing that.
Sorry to post such a downer of a video, but in a weird way its one of my favorite short films. I'm not happy that this animal died, obviously. I don't think it's "cool" or anything. I just think that from purely an aesthetic point of view, its kind of poetic and beautiful, especially because it's totally silent. It's also bizarre to me that this event would not only be filmed, but withstand the test of time and become moderately infamous. The issue of animal rights doesn't seem that pressing to me as long as human rights are being violated, but I can still recognize that this is animal cruelty, and that it's a kind of tragedy. I have no doubt that this event is probably part of what inspired the mother character in the movie Dumbo.
Anyway, I'm still working on my preparation sketches, but that's what's going through my head right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment