Failed rescues - thoughts from producers etc.
Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 4:29 pm
Me again, thinking out loud.
I was wondering if further progress or thought has gone towards this idea... not so much how the lady ends up in the quicksand but how she fails to get out of it.
I know any grim outcomes pretty well cover that, but what I was thinking is when these failures happen as a result of mechanical difficulties.... the breaking branch, the snapped vine or rope, the inability to get a good grip or be able to get a hold of same... and the way these could be shot.
A classic of this is from Mr. Bogg's classic (and still to be filmed... hope, hope) Fight Without a Winner. The two ladies are so busy fighting they fail to get to the vine in time to save themselves... one sinks, the other is almost under and gets ahold of it, only to have the leaves come off in her hand.
WAVE did a cool bit with a breaking branch in their early DiD series... granted, the quicksand wasn't great and the actress didn't execute it well, but the idea of almost getting out, then the branch breaks and she plunges back in is worth a revisit, I think. Snapping vines and ropes (either by accident or by a bad guy or gal cutting them) are classic peril... lady hauls herself out from shoulder to waist deep only to have the rope/vine snap and she plunges up to her chin and certain doom definitely has its appeal... Also trying to grasp at a branch overhead and being unable to get a good grip on it is another one.
As for execution, I'm not really sure how one can get a branch/vine/rope to break at the right time. Camera angles I can see... the overhead cam would be great for some of these if one had the branch in the foreground and the helpless victim beneath it trying to grasp it... and failing to get to a vine in time is simply a matter of getting or making a vine as a prop. The actresses take it from there.
Again, just me speculating... but what do you folks think?
I was wondering if further progress or thought has gone towards this idea... not so much how the lady ends up in the quicksand but how she fails to get out of it.
I know any grim outcomes pretty well cover that, but what I was thinking is when these failures happen as a result of mechanical difficulties.... the breaking branch, the snapped vine or rope, the inability to get a good grip or be able to get a hold of same... and the way these could be shot.
A classic of this is from Mr. Bogg's classic (and still to be filmed... hope, hope) Fight Without a Winner. The two ladies are so busy fighting they fail to get to the vine in time to save themselves... one sinks, the other is almost under and gets ahold of it, only to have the leaves come off in her hand.
WAVE did a cool bit with a breaking branch in their early DiD series... granted, the quicksand wasn't great and the actress didn't execute it well, but the idea of almost getting out, then the branch breaks and she plunges back in is worth a revisit, I think. Snapping vines and ropes (either by accident or by a bad guy or gal cutting them) are classic peril... lady hauls herself out from shoulder to waist deep only to have the rope/vine snap and she plunges up to her chin and certain doom definitely has its appeal... Also trying to grasp at a branch overhead and being unable to get a good grip on it is another one.
As for execution, I'm not really sure how one can get a branch/vine/rope to break at the right time. Camera angles I can see... the overhead cam would be great for some of these if one had the branch in the foreground and the helpless victim beneath it trying to grasp it... and failing to get to a vine in time is simply a matter of getting or making a vine as a prop. The actresses take it from there.
Again, just me speculating... but what do you folks think?