Our imagined narrative incorporates two significant events: Hurricane Sandy and the restoration of Jane’s Carousel. Because Hurricane Sandy caused destruction and tragedy for numerous people, the restoration of the carousel brought comfort and a little piece of joy to many affected. We created a storm that was inspired by Hurricane Sandy as a metaphor for the struggles people may face during their lives. In order to portray a timeline of those emotions, we orchestrated three images representing a woman’s fight for survival. We took many elements into consideration such as the color scheme, Photoshop, and angles to create the desired mood and tone. The scenes take place during the nighttime to create a more ominous feel.
IMAGE 1
In this first shot, the woman is running away from disaster. The carousel is meant to represent safety. In order to portray that, we purposely kept the background dark illuminating the carousel. As the water starts to creep upon the carousel, we tried to convey a sense of urgency and panic as though her time is running out. The lights from inside the carousel emanate a warm glow and viewers should be able to distinguish danger from safety. We chose to do a faraway and long body shot to show movement.
IMAGE 2
In this second shot, the woman has reached the carousel and her safety is on the brink of her hands. She is pounding the glass, desperate to get inside. We photo-shopped a crack in the glass to display how frantic the woman is. We chose to do a medium shot of the body to showcase her body posture (fist pounding on the glass.) With the rain drops coating the glass, it is not long until the water will completely submerge the carousel. Only those inside the carousel will survive.
IMAGE 3
In this last shot, the woman has made it into the carousel. The carousel is completely restored and she has survived. Her pose on the carousel and her joyful expressions are meant to convey the relief and happiness of being alive. We chose to do a close up shot of her full body in order to capture her emotions on her face and body posture. Although disasters such as Hurricane Sandy caused destruction and took much happiness from numerous people, we hoped to portray the ending in a more positive light. Rather than dwelling on the negative, we combined the survivors and the restoration of the carousel as an embodiment of “it gets better.” It can pertain to any struggle or difficulty in which viewers find themselves in but eventually break through and find happiness.
