Destroy all strict, boring outlines.
Nothing is sacred and everything is subject to mutiny.
Nothing should have to follow the lines of a rigid square.
Comedy is a virtue.
Laugh at yourself.
Laugh at those around you.
Laugh at things that shouldn't be funny.
But you don't have to laugh all the time.
I love action, speed, and dynamic images.
I love to try to save everything I can.
But if it fails, be ready to chunk it.
Heartily eat the shit out of life and spit out the bits and chunks that should have made it.
All that is held sacred will falter.
Essay:
The beating of hooves on the ground could be heard out in the open field. A chill wind was blowing through but the temperature was acceptable. A time keeper called out a two minute warning, telling me it was time to wrap up my warm up. My horse was sparkling clean and we were dressed in our colors. After a few more fences, we finished the warm-up and proceeded to the start box as they called out the one minute warning. I checked my stop watch and set it; my heart was pounding uncontrollably - from the excitement, worry, and the previous warm up. The horse was standing by the start-box, me on his back, tightly gripped on the reins, waiting in anticipation. My feet wriggled in the stirrups as the time keeper counted down from thirty seconds to the final ten seconds.
The sweat was rolling down my face now. The horse was anxious with me, unable to stand perfectly still. At the last ten seconds, I walked towards the box and at five seconds walked in, slowly turning around as I heard "five, four, three, two, one" read out to me. At one, my heart dropped and with a "Go!" from the time keeper, the powerful legs of the horse took off, departing from the fence of the start box, cantering the first 20 yards to the first obstacle. For the duration of the ride, all I remember was the thunder of horse hooves and my voice in a combination of yelling and praising the horse, along with my legs pushing and pushing his strong legs forward. I remember I had to yell in order to keep myself breathing.
Finally, at the last obstacle, I could feel myself pushing and pushing and as the horse's nimble legs took off from the ground, sailing over the jump, he landed and my heart felt elated, knowing it was just a calm canter the finish line left.
Storyboard:
It seems this plot is written based on the idea of anticipation and nervousness. I don't really see how it deals with memory. Besides the overall message from the movie, I think working and filming with your horse would be a great experience. Assuming you have a lean, english jumper, I can see some interesting effects coming from rapidly changing shots of close-ups of the horse, to close-ups of you, or whoever the actor will be. I think playing with lighting and shadows on your horses body while its breathing heavily would be very powerful. An assuming your horse jumps well, I think seeing some cool angled shot from beneath the horse as it executes the jump would be amazing.
ReplyDeleteI like the imagery of the horse's movement, that is really fascinating to me. I'm interested to find out if you are going to use a real horse, or if you are going to have to abstract the story a bit to make it useable. either way, I think the shots will be really interesting. I'd like to see a lot of camera tracking, and if you do use a real horse, I'd like to see shots of the horse's legs. Kassey's idea about cutting from the horse to you would be really interesting. I'm excited about this!
ReplyDeleteI can see the relationship between horse and rider and the emotions felt during the race guiding your story, creating a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Depending on how you set up your shots you could create an interesting dialog between you and your horse.
ReplyDeleteI know the story is about you and your horse, but i infer that the fact that this takes place during a race drives the story from beginning to end. Having a bunch of riders is too expensive, and many times, less is more. Fully develop the environment that this takes place in with faint sounds of other horses in the background.
Lastly, quicker cuts and more interesting angles would definitely aid in giving the memory the pace of an actual race.
i like the proposed visual comparisons between the horse, and its human rider that you mentioned in the refined outline, i think this could be played up and will be a very powerful device in your video, and it seems that all the rest of the scenes have been very considered, even down to the length of the cuts and the speed of the audio. Im not necessarily interested in horses, but i am interested in them in the instance, with the suspense and thrill of them racing. Im anxious to see where this goes, you seem to have definite ideas, and the ideas seem rather strong.
ReplyDelete