INTRODUCTION
- When I began the brain storming process, I only had a vague idea of where I wanted to go with my film.
- I knew I wanted it to be something local, and something meaningful.
- I decided on a drama. It will be a feature film with many different characters and story lines that intertwine
- Will be a feature length film with a relatively large budget
- Shot on-location
SETTING
- Gainesville, Georgia – April 6, 1936
- Gainesville is a small southern town. One where everyone knows everyone (or at least anybody who’s anybody as my grandmother would say). An hour south of the North Georgia Mountains, Gainesville places a lot of stock in their country club and Lake Lanier.
- On this Monday morning, at 8:15, an F4 tornado touched down in Hall County. Simultaneously, another tornado touched down…
- the two met, barely missed church, destroyed downtown area
- below is a picture of the monument that survived, and is still standing in the middle of the square downtown today
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The 1936 Gainesville tornado (part of a massive tornado outbreak across the Deep South that also heavily damaged Tupelo, Mississippi) is generally regarded as the fifth deadliest in U.S. history. Extensive recovery efforts involving many local, regional, state, and national resources eventually rebuilt Gainesville, culminating in the 1938 dedication of the new city hall and county courthouse by President Franklin Roosevelt.
*information found at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/tornado/about/
PLOT and CHARACTERS
The story line is going to be modeled after movies such as Traffic and Crash. It will tell many stories at once – each of them individually gripping and personal. All characters will be somehow intertwined.
- Tornado begins ripping apart residential areas as they make their way to meet and head downtown
A family gets separated
- Mother, two boys, one girl
- Girl is a school aged child who is at school when the tornado strikes
- Father (Mr. Cooper) is always at work, not very involved, owns Coopers Pants Factory
- Father barely survives, family is reunited
A professor at Brenau and a young college student are having an affair
- Professor is mid thirties, married with children.
- Young woman is African American, twenty years old
- Both feel love for each other, but would never voice it.
- Young woman is not disillusioned, she knows the realities and consciously chose to engage in affair
- Professor is extremely handsome as well as intelligent. He is in no way predatory, but kind and nurturing. He thinks the world of this young woman.
Young college student’s brother works at Coopers pants factory
- Cooper’s pants factory was hit by the tornado, then caught on fire
- Somehow, brother and Mr. Cooper survive together
- Brother is factory worker
Professor’s wife
- Works at the local elementary school
- Ends up caring for and ensuring the survival of Mr. Cooper’s school age daughter
In the end, all come to Cooper’s Pants Factory in what used to be downtown Gainesville. Everyone looks around, recognizing what has happened. Some people’s stories are happy endings, some continue to be tragic. I’m not sure how it all will play out yet.
The destroyed Cooper Factory
CAST OF CHARACTERS
- Will be a mixture of A-listers and unknowns in order to bring in money and interest
- Casting decisions have not yet been made
MUSIC
Instrumental music not necessarily of the period will be used for
- Dramatic moments
- Climax
- Intense emotional scenes
Popular music of the 1930’s will be used in
- Scenes with a radio on
- Scenes used to clearly depict the time period, like the opening
COSTUMING
Costumes will be very much of the period in every detail from hairstyles to jewelry.
BEHIND THE SCENES – Things left to consider
- Director
- Camera styles/techniques
- Editor
- Producer
- Music Producer
- Costume Designer
Allyson: This is a great, great story, and you’ve clearly thought a lot about how to put it together effectively. I don’t think you’ve added much here since your oral presentation, however. Be specific about the music—at this point you could have at least one or two selections in mind. You might also consider weaving some of your technical components, which you haven’t outlined in detail here, into your summary of the film’s narrative. You could probably do that very effectively with your two scene selections. In general, though, I think your plot is complicated enough to justify putting it up front, as you have done. I’m just suggesting that you take advantage of all the filmmaking tools at your disposal to tell the story as vividly as possible.
This movie sounds really intense especially because the horrific disaster really happened. I also like how the characters are connected.
I think you’ve a great choice of the story based on a significant natural disaster. I also really like your idea of putting multiple perspectives which makes the story even more interesting.