It's All In The Details

Why are Disney parks so immersive in comparison to other theme parks? Well, besides their layout which helps the theming process, it was Walt's attention to details in the original Disneyland that set Disney parks apart from any other attraction in the world, there was simply nothing like it; I would argue, there still isn't. When designing Disney parks, the company's engineering department creates everything from the surrounding landscape, the background sound (both diagetic and non-diagetic), even the smells in the air are manipulated to create an incredibly immersive experience. Guest visiting Disney theme parks step onto another world, the same goes for audiences watching Disney or Disney Pixar movies. There are so many details in Disney Pixar movies that Jon Negroni made a theory as to how they all connect (the Pixar theory). The Walt Disney Company's attention to detail in all their projects is remarkable, they understand that details create a more immersive experience for audiences & guests, that uncanny attention to detail is something I want to incorporate into my opening film.

Today I created the props I will need to shoot my film opening, I made a list of all the possible things I would need, rolled my sleeves up, and got building. The first prop I did was a big community sign you can see in the last two frames of my storyboard, the sign is meant to help the researchers identify the community (for example, "Oakland Reserve: Y7Y"), it's meant to be subtle since the children aren't supposed to know the experiment is being conducted. For this sign, I used cardboard and spray painted it black and white. Because it has to be modern and somewhat contemporary, I decided to make the white marble-like to the best of my ability, following the trend of neighborhood signs made of rock. I didn't finish this specific prop because of the letters, I'm having trouble deciding how big and what font they should be, after all, it's the details that matter. I'm going to my local craft store during the week to pick the letters.

The second prop I created is the experiment papers, which will be both in the Y7Y file inside the cabinet and spread out in the table as experiment's cross out classified information late in the sequence. I want to film these papers up close, so I paid close attention to what I decided to include in them. As much as I would love to type out the entire study so that I had more freedom in my shots, I simply don't have time, so I visited the American Psychiatric Association and looked for a study on race (at least then the content would be somewhat relevant). I found a study titled "Breaking the Cycle of Mistrust: Wise Interventions to Provide critical feedback Across the Racial Divide" which the APA has listed as a sample template for psychological studies. I used the study as a template for my prop study. However, in order to avoid copyright infringement, I changed all the text in my prop study to dummy text which I generated from https://www.lipsum.com/; the paragraphs which are actual English, I retyped to fit the context of the film. 

These are the rest of the props I worked on and a short synopsis of how I created them:

3) Stanphord University Logo: I used canva.com to get a basic idea of what the logo could look like. After I decided the logo layout I liked, I designed in Google Drive by using Google Drawings; I got the torch from a free stock clipart site (free of copyright) and exported the olive branches from a previous logo I had designed. I later downloaded it in a transparent background. 

4)Y7Y folder: I wanted the folder to have Stanphord University's logo on it so I tried MANY methods to get it on the folder's front. After forcing the folder in my printer, I quickly found that my printer does not print on cardstock folders, the image was automatically cut in half and rotated. Then I tried printing the logo on a normal paper and using alcohol and heat to transfer the ink to the folder, I found out that doesn't work too. Lastly, I printed the logo on wax paper and tried to transfer it over to the cardstock... To little surprise, it did not work! I then decided to just use "Y7Y" on the cover and give the folder an old look. To achieve that look I smeared dry mud-clay onto the folder, adding some vaseline in places to enhance the dirty look. I imagine that after being locked for years on a dusting cabinet in an old basement the folder would look pretty dirty and dusty, therefore I also lightly coated it with baby powder so that it looks dusty when it's taken out. 

5) Photo's from the first experiment: This prop is a work in progress! I have to get many shots that would have been taken from 1945-1965. I began to shoot some generic photos of signs displaying "Y7Y" and then edited them in photoshop to appear old and grainy.

6) Experimenter Notes: For this, I used notepaper and hand-wrote notes on them. I wrote about the first experiment'd beginning, middle, and the experimenter's thoughts on it. I used VERY butchered cursive because I imagined that's what an educated professor at Stanphord would write like. I crumbled the paper and then pressed in a book to help make it look like it was perhaps thought of as having little value but rather needed to be in the file. 

Me getting ready to spray paint the community sign!