At age 20, Thomas Ellis was already a war veteran, having served in Bragg's Army of Tennessee. By 22, he had been wounded once, a POW once, and near death from dystentary once. He was detailed from his company (which was in Tennessee or Kentucky at that point--I forget which at the moment) to come home to the Brooksville area and serve in the Cow Cavalry. I want to work that part into the documentary somehow...to me, it is the personal stories that really make history so exciting!
Several days later than I expected, I got the T.B. Ellis diary in the mail! It turns out that it is really more of a memoir than a diary, but happily, it still serves my purpose. Not only can I use quotes for the Brooksville Raid (here's a foretaste--Sgt. Ellis and a fellow soldier backed their horses for several miles as the Yankees advanced!), but as he was also at the Battle of Fort Myers, I might use quotes for that engagement as well. At 11 pages long (legal paper length), I read it quickly in one sitting. I am looking forward to reading it with more care in a few days and incorporating it into my narration. At age 20, Thomas Ellis was already a war veteran, having served in Bragg's Army of Tennessee. By 22, he had been wounded once, a POW once, and near death from dystentary once. He was detailed from his company (which was in Tennessee or Kentucky at that point--I forget which at the moment) to come home to the Brooksville area and serve in the Cow Cavalry. I want to work that part into the documentary somehow...to me, it is the personal stories that really make history so exciting!
0 Comments
Thomas Benton Ellis was a young man during the War Between the States. He was also a member of the Cow Cavalry and one of pickets at the Brooksville Raid. I discovered from reading someone else's research that the University of Florida has his diary. Accordingly, wanting to be able to persue the entire thing, rather than just tidbits, I contacted the curator of the library yesterday. I did not expect an immediate answer, so I was pleasantly surpirsed to get an email from the curator after lunch yesterday, requesting my mailing address. I promptly sent it and in reply I was told that the typescript would be sent today! I hope to get it tomorrow. (If not, Monday will have to do.) I plan on drawing multiple quotes from the diary to expound on the Brooksville Raid and make it more 'real'. I have been attempting to do the same with the other two battles that I am addressing. Progress is being made! RachealOr so I call it. I am not storyboarding (which I will probably end up doing later; I believe it is recommended even for documentaries). I am simply going through the narration, paragraph by paragraph, and writing in what visuals I think would go well with it. For example: the very opening scene after the intro and title. Here I am making a general statement about what the story is about and where it is set. Reading it, I visualized to myself an open blue sky (maybe with the tops of some trees). Over this I want to bring in (how exactly I haven't decided) pictures of the men I'm talking about. Then I want to switch to a map and pull out over Florida. However, the more I think about it, I'm not sure I should switch--it isn't that long of a paragraph and the jump from a blue sky to a map might be jarring. What do you think? I want to use plenty of variation without over doing it. I also want the whole thing to be congruous and unified in theme. I plan on using b-roll of sky, trees, swamp, and cattle throughout the entire thing, along with plenty of maps. After all, you can't have a historical documentary without maps, can you? I have had a few crazy ideas for b-roll too, but I think I'll keep those up my sleeve for now :) RachealProgress has been extremely slow the last two weeks. I was sick and now my Grandpa is seriously ill and very likely not going to make it. However, I fianlly got around to transcribing the recording I made during my meeting with Mr. Hendry. Besides that I have decided on a few other narration adjustments. I cannot say that I have had any major break thrus...what I have gotten done is hardly worth mentioning; but at least I have done something... Racheal |