Going Back in Time

After conversing with Professor Pasquale, he gave me some insight on how to make my idea flourish.

Originally, I wanted to focus on the German architecture as it stands today. While it is very beautiful and unique, I realized this might lead to a stale modeling project. He urged me to focus my attention on the founding of the town.

According to some locals in Colonia Tovar, the Germans were actually tricked into coming to Venezuela. They were promised land with established houses and agriculture, however they were met with miles of jungle. Since there was no way to get back to their homes in Germany, they were forced to start a new life with a very clean slate. Despite this difficult situation, the Germans prevailed and created one of Venezuela's most stunning hidden gems.

Professor Pasquale offered the idea to take the audience back to 1843, showcasing the struggles the German immigrants went through. This meant finding images or drawings of the buildings in Colonia Tovar during that time. Here are some reference photographs I found from a paper by Sixto Laya Gimon.

Colonia Tovar in 1895

San Martin de Tours church today and in 1895

Cafe Muhstall, formerly known as La Casa Benitz, today and in 1895

My end goal is for people to feel the blood, sweat, and tears that were put into the town. The first four shots would capture the struggles through sounds of the jungle and men hacking at trees with axes. The bird shot symbolizes immigration and the jungle represents the feeling of being stuck with no resources. These shots would lead up to pretty shots of one of the buildings in Colonia Tovar.

Storyboard

• Closeup of Wings of a bird, wind brushing through feathers, sound of wind and fog

  • Alternate Shot could also be full bird flying

• Jungle noises from the amazon, footsteps on leaves and twigs, worm view of large amazon tree, leaves rustling, spinning camera to help feel lost in the jungle (like in apocaplyse now)

• Shot of tree falling, sounds of men grunting and axe hacking, maybe slight sound of children crying

• Men hammering , shot of small detail of building

• Final building being fully revealed, can also shoot any additional details