When selecting a time and location for this project, I knew I wanted it to be something personal to me. And so when researching possibilities I decided to take inspiration from my family tree. Maryland, the 1860s post-civil war right by the Mason Dixon line dividing the north and south. This time in my opinion is the perfect time to set Blood Wedding as the sense of conflict was rife, similar to the conditions where and when Blood Wedding was written and set: in Spain pre-civil war.
When breaking down the characters, I knew I wanted the Bridegroom’s family to have fought for the confederate side (South) and the Bride’s family to also be sympathetic to that cause. In contrast, I wanted Leonardo to have unionist ties but also to have been involved in one of the many vigilante gangs that took advantage of the chaos of the time. I think this would provide the perfect opportunity for Leonardo to be somehow linked to the murder of the Bridegroom’s family members.
I decided early on that I wanted the forest scene to be set in the cornfields and as a result for the Bridegroom’s family to live on a plantation. My reasoning behind making this choice is that when talking to my mum about the family history in Maryland at this time she said that the soldiers when coming home from the civil war, used to hide in the cornfields before returning to ensure the coast was clear. People also apparently used to hide their silver in the fields. I affirmed this with my research. I also loved the eerie atmosphere a cornfield could provide as well as the sky scope it had to take advantage of the moon character.
However, the cornfield location had its limitations. Due to the nature of a cornfield, it was decided that it would be difficult to find somehow get a variety of shots other than following the characters in the maze. For this reason, I decided to research battlefields that used cornfields in the civil war and I found an image of a tree from the battle of Antietam (which took place in Maryland) and this sparked a new trail of thought. Upon further research, I discovered that this battle was one of the bloodiest battles in the war and started with the men hiding in the cornfields before storming into the battlefield. I also found another inspirational photo of a lane taken in 1877 used in the war called Bloody Lane as 4000 men were thought to have been killed there within 30 minutes. Both of these images proved to be very valuable when doing my visuals later in the process.
Having made this decision as to where the forest was to be, I then began to think of the other characters in this scene and how they could fit into the concept I wanted to portray. I thought the beggar woman could be an ex-slave traveling from New Orleans who was involved in voodoo. When doing further research into this topic I discovered a woman called Marie Laveau who was born in the early 1800s (exact date unknown) and was known as the voodoo woman of New Orleans. She heavily influenced me when looking at the beggar woman’s costume with elements such as the headscarf (Tignon) and as well as the black scarf. Some images also depicted Laveau with a snake around her neck. I thought that this could be an interesting addition if I were to make a white snake symbolize the moon. That way Beggar Woman could have conversations with him. I do not intend for the snake to talk but more for the Beggar Woman to have a conversation with herself acting as if the snake is talking to her the words of the moon, I think this will further add a creepy edge to the character, making the magic more believable.
As for the other characters in the scene such as the Bride and Bridegroom, I took huge inspiration from a photo I found of my ancestors of the time at their wedding taken in the mid-1850s. The Bridegroom in particular was inspired by this. I wanted him to be in a suit that was suitable for the time. As for the Bride I wanted her to be in a white dress which I think would have been above her price range as I see her as more of a lower-middle-class character and the Bridegroom as more of a middle-range middle-class character. In my eyes, I see the groom as purchasing this dress for her as he wants her to look presentable for the wedding. However, I thought it would be thought-provoking to add the red trim to the dress. I see this addition being something that the Bride would do. Red was seen as an impure couple so by adding the pure white dress I thought it would give a sense of conflict. I was also influenced to incorporate colour by Queen Victoria’s wedding dress (1840) as she wore a white dress with a blue sash, I loved the stark contrast.
As for Leonardo, I wanted him to be wearing less formal clothes to reflect his lower-class status but I also still wanted him to look presentable. I chose to put him in a blue/grey shirt as he had Northern ties and the North fought in a blue uniform with more grey tones whereas the south fought in a definitive blue. Lastly, for the woodcutter I wanted them to be recently released slaves who commented on the whole situation. I thought it was an interesting commentary to make both them and the beggar woman/ moon/ death all black versus the cursed Bride, Bridegroom, and Leonardo. The magic almost would act as revenge for the enslavement post-war and for how they were still being treated post-war.
I decided early on that I wanted to scene one as my feature scene as I wanted to design the Bridegrooms home. For inspiration, I researched plantations that would have been around in the mid-1800s. Many were far too Palacious but I managed to find one called Mount Lubentia Plantation built in the mid-1700s. I took huge inspiration from this in my tech drawings. I particularly like the porch as I knew I wanted the neighbor conversation to take place there as everything takes place on a porch in the South. The actual tech-drawing I am quite proud of. Upon reflection, I now see that the measurements are too big in comparison to the drawing but this is easily fixable for the portfolio as I used vector works. It was also the first time I used imperial measurements in comparison to metrics. At first, I found it difficult but now I would say that I am confident in imperial which makes me feel more prepared for the industry.
Having done the tech drawings, I then went on to make the model. Due to time restrictions, I was unable to fully complete the model such as the roof, porch, and tree. But I am proud to say that I did include removable walls which I have never done before. As for the rest of the model process, I found printing the railing, fences, and windows on acetate to be a very effective technique. If I were to do this again, I would try and be more efficient with my time management as well as make the stairs out of a thin card rather than paper as it was too flimsy. As well as attempt the detail for the ironwork on the porch in both tech drawing and model (I would use the acetate method to apply this to the model as it has proved most effective this time with other features).
Then lastly I did my visuals. I tried to use two different techniques for my visuals, one being hand-drawn but enhanced by photoshop and the other being photo-bashed. I preferred the photo bashed method as it looked more realistic however I am glad I tried both methods as they highlighted to me, that I need to work on my hand drawing in the summer. In presentations, it was made clear that both had room for improvements and I could not agree more with such as the cornfield being in the foreground too much as well as the white picket fence in visual 2. And the inclusion of more trees in visual 1 with the addition of a moon, change of light direction, and more shadows. The whole thing also needs more of a blue tinge. All improvements I hope to amend before the portfolio.
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