It’s early morning, and I’m in the back of a blue (maybe white?) car counting the dots on the blue patterned seats, watching the yellow sun making everything look like a memory, and looking down at my red sparkly shoelaces that never stay tied. The morning sun plays tricks on the trees, bathing them in golden light and making them feel famous for just one sparkling moment. Then the sun hides behind the clouds and it smells like rain and moldy car and everything looks dull and muted again. My mom should be a celebrity; chain smoking in her faded tan leather jacket and flashing that Farrah faucet smile at all the people coming in the motel. That jacket always smelled like McDonalds, cigarettes and old perfume to me, but I don’t think the men that she smiles at think so. Stomping back to the car, she miraculously applies her L’Oreal “pink parade” shade of lipstick without smudging a bit. I can’t remember how we got to this gas station, or where this car came from, or where my dad is. I just stroke the worn-out, matted texture of my stuffed dog Pongo and think about the smell of greasy hot dogs that floats in from the gas station. I close my eyes, and it’s the previous night. Shades of nighttime blue bounce off of the car and back onto the freeway and off my mom’s face. Another gas station, but this one looks holy, it’s red halo lighting up the sky for miles, confusing the stars. I can taste the sour taste of sleep, and I have to take another pill with a name I can’t pronounce to keep from throwing up in the car. We’ve been driving for days, I think. I close my eyes real tight, trying to recreate the florescent halo on the back of my eyelids. My mom and her friend Debbie run into the store, laughing and fading in and out of my focus. I open my eyes again and there’s an arrow with billions of round yellow lights pointing to a half lit “MOTEL” sign, and it might as well be home, I’m so tired.
* everything will be shot from the child in the backseat’s perspective, but the child will never be shown
* the emotional response I want to evoke is one of loneliness and nostalgia
* montage of cuts to describe the early morning sequence. Close up on trees, motel sign, child’s shoes. Early morning sky.
* shots framed by the car window
* textures include stuffed animal texture, teased hair, sparkley shoelaces
The imagery is extremely striking in this essay. You've included little things like the "halo on the eyelids" that no one ever thinks about until someone brings it up. It's an extremely relatable story in the fact that everyone has been to the gas station on a trip and everyone's had nausea on a car trip but because of the use of colors and the kind of sudden skip between locations, it definitely puts it into a dream world.
ReplyDeleteI feel very lured in by the visual appeal of this essay. And knowing your personal style already, images appear in my head.... of your mom, but a more trashy version haha, and those photos you have of trees silhouetted. I can see this film having a more retro, yellow tint to it, and I see everything as being kind of old. I think you have some great ideas within the car of alternating shots from inside the car to outside the car. I'm curious of the flow from your moving car shots to the still interior shots. You maybe able to experience with panning and camera tilting within the car to mimic the movement outside the car. Also, you may need some very visually strong costumes and/or textures within the car because lighting maybe very hard. I think the shots during the day, hopefully a very sunny one, will create a good, natural lighting. And the night lighting from the motel and gas station signs will be very fun to play with also. I'm just concerned with how you will light the interior of the car at night, which you may not even have included/need.
ReplyDeleteI think this film is going to look dazzling when you include all the colors from the sunlight on into the night. Definitely too me back to those long back seat car rides in my days. I like the detail you use to explain the textures. I want to see how you will make those come alive in your film.
ReplyDeleteI think many people can relate to this; the sense of wonderment and the thrill of adventure to a small child. You focus on the fimilarity of your mom and your dog in such a strange gas station. Be sure to convey that visually. Guide the viewer's eyes and contrast these bright colors, like your mom's lipstick, with the dull scenery.
ReplyDeleteThe smell of gas station hot dogs that overpower the smell of gasoline, for me, is very important conveying the gas station fully. Think about how you can convey that visually.
I like the idea of only seeing the child's perspective, and the idea of the montage for the morning sequence (yet, i think that this could be utilized throughout?) don't know.
ReplyDeleteElements i would push would be the jacket, your mother's hair, gas station/hotel environments (hot dogs especially), and surroundings on the highway throughout the trip.
Lighting inside the car can come from a variety of sources. I would try those lights you can put up in your closet, that just stick to the wall, you push them in, and they light up. The cheaper and the brighter, the better. Go to Home Depot and play around in the lighting section.