Today we met with one of the ladies at the Digital Media Center. She told us all the basic things we need to do before actually making the movie. She advised that we gather all of our media, the pictures, the video, the music, and write the script before going to the DMC again to put our movie together. She also gave us some websites we could use that would not violate copyright. She then told us that we should storyboard our ideas before constructing the movie. She also said that when we were ready, the DMC would be able to teach us how to put the movie together and how to edit it.
After that, we had a meeting to decide the next steps we will take on our project. We decided to all get a Dropbox so that we all have access to the same information. This will make the sharing of information easier within the group. We also decided that we would talk about the Dowling’s life and the Battle of Sabine Pass for about one minute to a minute and a half and use the rest of the five-minute film to talk about the statue and how he is remembered. We feel that focusing on his memory and will provide a different perspective from other sources out there. We also discussed the possibility of having talking heads in our movie. Some possible people for the talking heads are Edward Cotham, author of Sabine Pass: The Confederate Thermopylae, Dowling’s great-great niece or some member of the Dick Dowling Camp.
We split up the work according to themes, instead of tasks and each person is responsible for gathering the information, the visuals and writing a portion of the script related to their themes. Adam is going to be working on Dowling’s life and the Battle of Sabine Pass. Kat will work on the construction of the statue and what was happening around 1905. I will be researching the time in between including when the statue moved locations. Finally, Stephanie will work on the restoration and rededication in the late nineties.
We agreed to have our scripts finished by April 8, so that we would have a change to revise them before meeting. The group will meet April 11 to finalize the scripts and to determine how we will proceed with making the movie.
If I missed anything, I am sure the other members of my group will include it in their posts.
Gaby, welcome to the 21st century! You just had to get a gmail account, you are gonna love it! Thanks for setting up the meeting with Jane at the DMC, she was very helpful. Looking forward to getting all of our scripts together and seeing this move come together. Using the resources from the library assignments should help you a lot with your research. Good luck!
Hey Gabby–welcome to the world of gmail! It will change your life, we all promise. I really appreciate you taking the more awkward time period, and I know that it might be a little bit harder for you to find documents, etc. My first library project included an article from the Houston Chronicle (sometime in the 1930s) about the dedication of a monument at Dick Dowling’s grave in St. Vincent’s Cemetery, so you might want to start there. Let me know if you need any other help!
Re: possible talking heads, a little Google searching that I did revealed that Ann Ivins passed away in 2004. I contacted Ed Cotham in the fall so he is aware that we are working on Dowling, and I can give you his email address if you are interested in interviewing him.
Hey Gaby,
I thought I left you a post, if I didn’t I’d like to rectify that now. Thanks for getting the blogging started! The movements of the statue should be very interesting and could be a potential place to draw out the “memory” of Dowling that we are hoping to explore. Maybe while you’re looking you could find the reactions of various local organizations to each move and how those reflect on the memory of Dowling by each organization. I hope this helps and I look forward to reading your first draft on the 8th!
-Kat