Revised Thesis Statement & Synopsis

Thesis Statement:

To create a 3D set that describes the living conditions in a slave cabin during the mid 1800's. This project will focus on the use of textures, lighting, camera work, and sound in order to demonstrate the common thread of the slave’s painful existence.

This visualization will convey the message that slavery was endured not by few, but by many, ultimately generating a greater understanding of the harsh living conditions endured by millions of slaves.

Synopsis:

"Slave Quarters" (temporary title) is inspired by recordings and interviews of former slaves conducted by the National Writers Project during the late 1930's and known today as The Slave Narratives . During this time thousands of first hand accounts of slavery were documented in narratives that revealed remarkable stories about the people who lived through slavery.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html

The project consists of a 3D CG set that describes life in a slave cabin during the mid 1800's. This project will focus on the use of textures, lighting, camera work, and sound in order to demonstrate the common thread of the slave’s painful existence.

In this short visualization, the camera reveals what daily life was like in a slave cabin during the 1800's, illustrated through a 3D recreation. This piece will convey the message that although we are looking into a one-room-cabin, the experience and hardships we see were those experienced by millions of African Americans. This will be demonstrated through sounds and visuals that fade in and out of the small room like memories. The viewer will hear many voices expressing first hand their experiences as slaves, and see detailed textures that reveal what life was truly like during slavery. As our narrator recalls her hardships, the viewer watches an abandoned cabin come to life with the narrators words. The viewer hears more voices recounting memories of the past, and we begin to comprehend that these descriptions are not just based on one persons experience, but many.

At first the cabin is empty and deserted, as if we are seeing it during the same time as the narrator is describing it (1936-1938). As our narrator recalls her hardships, the viewer watches an abandoned cabin come to life with the narrators words.
The viewer hears more voices recounting memories of the past, and we begin to comprehend that these descriptions are not of just based on one persons experience, but many. The narration continues and objects appear in the scene, as if the viewer is going back in time to reveal the conditions of the cabin when it was inhabited. As the narrator's describe these painful memories, light pours into the cabin through cracks in the wooden walls, and colors change in the scene. Slowly makeshift furniture forms, tattered clothing hangs from the walls, cooking utensils, and a fire in the hearth appears in the modest home. The camera reveals these harsh living conditions, as a lifetime of sorrow is described first hand by former slaves.
Finally as the camera moves out of the only window in the cabin, it is revealed that this is but one of hundreds of cabins making up the slave quarters on a plantation. These quarters reside at the foot of a hill where high atop lies the pristine masters "big house", contrasting the disheveled look of the cabins below.