Historical Script

Link to script: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B80aLZbp6f8bM1JCU3VxTE1jMTg/view?usp=sharing


THE STORY OF THE SMALL BEAD IN THE MATTHEWS FAMILY


The family journal of Ben Matthews has been passed down from many generations. Beth Babcock, the aunt of Cameron Babcock, gained a copy of the journal from her mother and has kept it for many years. In studying and researching the life of Ben Matthews, the story of his daughter getting smallpox from a bead caught our interest. The Matthews family was a living and breathing family that traveled west to Utah all they way from Mississippi. They had much faith in God and wanted to show that faith in their actions. However along the way, one of the daughters found a small bead along the trail. She kept it with her on the trek which introduced smallpox to the family and to other pioneer families. This story contains many internal and external conflicts such as the test of diligence on the trek and dealing with sickness. While researching for our script, we learned pioneer children would look for anthills because ants picked up Native American beads like small pebbles. We also research smallpox including how it is transmitted and the symptoms so we could accurately portray them in the script.
“A Small Bead” is a story that is set during the Mormon Trek in the 1800’s. The story is based on historical facts of the Matthews family. Mrs. Matthews from the story is related to Cameron Babcock by being his 2nd twice removed cousin. The Matthews family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley  in July 29, 1847. These were trying times to the families and people heading west. The weather at times was merciful and other times was horrific. A typical family that was heading west traveled with two oxen. Handcarts were not introduced until 1856. The Matthews family was successful in reaching the goal to reach the valley.
For our story, we ended up creating a semi-fictional family with stereotypical roles. There is Sarah the young and spirited protagonist, Jack a teasing older brother, Susan the annoyed teenager and the caring, protective parents. We tried to portray each character's traits and the dynamic that this caused.
In “The Veil”, there is a young, Islamic girl who is trying to understand who she wants to be in life. Like most young girls, they want to be someone special and powerful which they should be. The girl in the story jumps around with her desires in she wants to be a prophet and then she wants to be a doctor. The reading references God and the example of a prophet. Well, the pioneers were heading west in obedience to a prophetic call to head west with the saints. The Matthews family was obedient and traveled hundreds of miles by wagon. They necessarily didn’t want to be prophets however they followed the living prophet of God at that time which was Brigham Young.
In the past few years there has been a spike in historical stories being recognized by the Academy. This year alone four out of the eight best picture nominations were based on true historical events (American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Selma and The Theory Of Everything). This shows how important it is to consider basing film on real events.

Historical Referenceshttp://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/smallpoxhttp://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/faq/smallpox_disease.asphttp://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/smallpox/Pages/Default.aspxhttp://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/smallpox-causes-treatment?page=2http://mormontrails.org/Trails/Summary/trailful.htmJournal: I. Robey, personal communication, 1985.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What to Wear?

Image
Medium Specificity T-Shirts are at the bottom of the page      The choice to be able to use any medium we desire is a thrill. I was sitting back in my school chair pondering all of the mediums that were coming to mind, film, painting, photography, maybe even interpretive dance. Then, the idea came to me like a fireball hitting Mt. Doom. I would make my own t-shirt. The medium that contains cotton and ink. Now as I was struck with that idea I overheard Dhane Taylor, a student from my TMA 112 class, speaking with a friend telling her that he was going to make a shirt. I thought he must have been hit with same fireball. Well if we were both targeted and hit, then we should collaborate and make TWO t-shirts. We collaborated and we decided to make one t-shirt, my t-shirt, say, "Since when did this (a picture of a man with a mustache) become more attractive than...". His t-shirt says, "This (with a picture of a man who has a beard). Here at BYU, there are many men who hav...
Read more

Welcome to Dinosty!

Image
Artist Statement:   Bleecker’s statement that “one can do science fiction not only as a writer of stories but also as a maker of things” is exactly what we did for this project. We didn't create a science fiction narrative in which there is an exposition, climax, and resolution. Instead, we created a kind of narrative by making artifacts from a world that doesn't exist. These artifacts reflect a society that exists in a world in which dinosaurs never went extinct. They are, in fact “totems through which a larger story can be told, or imagined, or expressed.” This is essentially the process that James Gurney went through to write his  Dinotopia  series. These books tell the story of people who live with sentient dinosaurs. This idea came to him while working with  National Geographic  archaeologists to envision ancient cities. Gurney used, among other techniques, both photographs of costumed people and maquettes (or scale models) to create elements of his...
Read more

Twinery: Hyperfocus

My link to my awareness video game named Hyperfocus : (copy and paste it in your URL) http://www.philome.la/cam_babcock/hyperfocus Artist Statement:    Is there a difference between ADD and ADHD? Yes, they have similar symptoms but a different diagnosis. What are the symptoms like and they do they affect the person? I have met friends who have ADD. They are great examples to me because they work hard in their endeavors while having a great attitude towards the future. In researching more about Attention Deficit Order, there is much better treatment now than there was in the past.     Dictionary.com defines Attention Deficit Order as  any of a range of behavioral disorders occurring primarily in children, including such symptoms as poor concentration, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. This disorder involves the physiology of the brain and his or hers environment. Now, in an article "Mental Disorder" by Andrew C.P. Sims, M.D. shares that now pat...
Read more