PRODUCTION BOOK 03 MTH “THE STRONGROOM” Director GefGove Producer Tricia Mears Cinematographer Kyle Reid Production Designer Ma[r]co Barreto FSU FILM SCHOOL - 2011
TABLE
of
LOCATIONS
Hotel: Stage A Town Thoroughfare and Bank Alley: Bainbridge, GA Bank: Pelham, GA Plantation: Southwood Plantation Ellis始 House: Southwood Plantation
ACTORS Ellis: Paul Walling Percy: Joshua Fallon Larson:
C O N T E N T S
WEST STREET IN BAINBRIDGE, GA
HAND TRADING COMPANY BUILDING IN PELHAM, GA
BACK ALLEY IN BAINBRIDGE, GA
EXTERIOR: HAND TRADING COMPANY BUILDING IN PELHAM, GA
INTERIOR: STAGE A, FSU FILM SCHOOL
COTTON PLANTATION AT SOUTHWOOD TALLAHASSEE, FL
SOUTHWOOD PLANTATION IN TALLAHASSEE, FL
SPENCER’S BEDROOM AT SOUTHWOOD PLANTATION IN TALLAHASSEE, FL
PAUL WALLING as ELLIS
JOSHUA FALLON as PERCY
JONATHAN TABLER as LARSON
PRODUCTION DESIGN BOOK
TABLE
of
FACTS
Time & Place Characters
RESEARCH Tone Settings Characters CONCEPT
SKETCHES
Tone Characters Palette Motifs Settings Characters
C O N T E N T S
IT’S FEBRUARY 14, 1930 AND THERE IS PRECIOUS LITTLE HOPE LEFT IN THE NOT SO LONG AGO PROSPEROUS “BIG” TOWN OF BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA. THIS IS THE FIRST DAY THAT HAS FELT LIKE WINTER IN AN UNNATURALLY STICKY SEASON. UNREAD NEWSPAPERS AND UNSWEPT DOORMATS LINE THE TOWN SIDEWALKS WHERE NOW ONLY STRAY CATS MEET TO SHARE THE NEWS OF THE DAY. INSTEAD OF THE LAUGHTER OF CHILDREN SHOOTING MARBLES IN THEIR BACKYARDS, WE HEAR THE WIND RUSHING THROUGH MOSSY OAKS AND WHISTLING DOWN ALLEYS, COMPLETELY DRY AFTER MONTHS OF GRIM, GREY CLOUDCOVER THAT REFUSED TO RELINQUISH ITS MOISTURE. DROUGHT INFECTS THE TOWN THAT EVERYONE THOUGHT WOULD BE SPARED FROM THE DEPRESSION--AFTER ALL, BAINBRIDGE WAS PROTECTED, ISOLATED, AND SELF-SUFFICIENT. BUT NO TOWN ESCAPED WHEN THE STOCK MARKET CRASHED AND POVERTY DROVE THROUGH THE NATION LIKE A JUGGERNAUT. LONE ISLANDS LIKE BAINBRIDGE GOT THE WORST OF IT; TOO PROUD TO STAND NEXT TO ANOTHER TOWN, NOW IT HAS NO CRUTCH TO PICK ITSELF BACK UP. ONLY THE BARREN COTTON PLANTATION REAMAINS AFLOAT AMIDST A SEA OF BUSINESSES THAT HAVE FAILED. MEN GO HOME WITHOUT PAY OR SAVINGS AND WOMEN AND CHILDREN SIT PATIENTLY AT DINNER TABLES LINED WITH ORNATE PLACE SETTINGS, IMAGINING THE RICH FOODS THAT WOULD NOT BE THERE ANYMORE. TRAINS OF RAVEN-CLAD MOURNERS INCREASINGLY FREQUENT THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN AS THE NUMBER OF “NATURAL DEATHS” ESCALATES... TONIGHT THE RAIN WILL FINALLY COME TO WASH AWAY THE LAST VESTIGES OF HOPE.
ELLIS EDWARD SPENCER Born: 8 october 1898 Missing: 14 february 1930
• A devoted husband and brother • Born of the late Evelyn and Ellis George Spencer, Ellis believed in an orthodox approach to life. He was a solemn, logical man who never put himself before others and counted family greater than gold. This was evident after the death of his father when Ellis Jr. took over the great but happy burdon of raising his younger brother, Percy Spencer. Ellis Spencer Jr. loved the exact science of numbers and worked as an accountant before the legendary crash of 1929. He married his sweetheart, Doris Enn, who was with child at the time of Mr. Spencer’s disappearance. He supported her to the very end.
PERCIVAL GEORGE SPENCER Born: 5 November 1904 Died: 6 June 1942
• An American Hero • Born of the late Evelyn and Ellis George Spencer. Percy looked up to his brother, Ellis, in the absence of a father, for strength and guidance. Forever the younger brother, all Percy acquired from Ellis Sr. was a middle name and a gold watch. He never lost the ambition to achieve a lifestyle of wealth and extravagance. This early drive led to a troubled adolescence, which included incarceration. Right after the disappearance of his brother, Percy moved to New York. In being the only remaining Spencer, he took on the responsibility of caring for his brother’s widow as well as the child he called his own. Thanks to a surprisingly fast success in the city, Percy was able to leave a legacy of wealth to support Doris and her child long after his death.
HORACE LARSON Born: 22 april 1881 Died: 28 december 1943
•Dependable Till the End• Horace, who prefers the title of Larson, lost his mother at childbirth and was orphaned at the age of seven. He became an apprentice to notable ship-builder of the Toledo Shipbuilding Company. He worked his way up and eventually earned the position of assistant to the chief engineer of the American Ship-building Company at the age of seventeen, from there, he worked in a handful of similar positions for short periods of time. After accusations of fraud and theft within the business, however, Larson fled south where he was eventually arrested outside of Atlanta, Georgia. He spent the next years incarcerated and passed his time in prison building weaponry for the war effort. He was released due to good behaviour in October of 1924 and lived quietly on his own for several years until he was stricken by pneumonia. No family survived him.
VIRGIL DENMANN Born: 5 january 1854 Died: 6 january 1953
•A Quiet Man• Virgil Denmann is the last of the Denmann clan that originally made their fortune in tobacco during the founding of the thirteen American colonies. Virgil is named after his grandfather, William Virgil, who moved his family to Georgia to begin cotton farming—which boomed before the American Civil War leaving the Denmann family with great wealth and power. His brother, Calvin, passed away serving in the army during the Great War, leaving debts from his gambling habits to his brother. Smartly investing the familymoney in his brother’s debtors companies, Virgil turned despair into profit. After the death of his second wife, Emily, Virgil kept to himself, preferring the peace of the country, and the ocassional company of his kin.
DORIS SPENCER Born: 2 february 1906 Died: 4 april 1988
•Wife and devoted Mother• Doris was known for her radiant smile and loving nature. She grew up with her two older sisters, Marylyn and Eleanor, on a cattle farm run by her parents, Theodore and Beatrice Taylor, who still reside in Doris’ home-town of Chattenooga. Doris had always been at the top of her class from the time she began elementary school up until college. She attended university in Georgia until she met and married Ellis Spencer when she dropped out and moved to Bainbridge, settling down to focus on starting a family. Doris was pregnant at the time of her husband’s disappearance. She spent the remainder of her life in New York with her son under the careful eye of her brother-in-law, Percy Spencer.
CONSTRAINED
EDWARD HOPPER
TAMARA LEMPICKA
TOWN’S STREET
BANK
BANK ALLEY
HOTEL
HOTEL ROOM
PLANTATION
SPENCER’S BEDROOM
ELLIS SPENCER
PERCY SPENCER
LARSON
VIRGIL
DORIS
BOY SECURITY GUARD BANK TELLERS BANK PATRONS TOWNSPEOPLE HENCHMEN
ELLIS
OLD FASHIONED PERCY
LARSON
METHODIC VIRGIL
DORIS
Beautiful
TOWN’S STREET
BOOKKEPPER
CASHIER
14 FEBRUARY
SOUTHERN TRUST
CASHIER
ACCOUNTS