| EAST INDIES Anthropological film showing life in Formosa - eating, crafts, work, making hats, traditional dancing. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tape Master: | 6707 | |
| Catalog #: | 371800 | |
| Clip Number: | 371800-1 | |
| Orginal Film: | EP 22 | |
| Timecode: | 01:09:36 - 01:12:28 | |
| Location: | Formosa | |
| Year Shot: | 1920 (Estimated Year) | |
| Audio: | No | |
| Color: | No | |
| Headings: | DOMESTIC LIFE: Traditional (Native Cultures) LOCATIONS/SOUTHEAST ASIA: Taiwan (Formosa) | |
| Description: | EAST INDIES Anthropological film showing life in Formosa - eating, crafts, work, making hats, traditional dancing. Scenes of children in Botol-Tobago(?), Formosa (now Taiwan), 1920s. (Chinese make up the great majority of the population, but the island's indigenous people are Malays.) Group of children playing in and beside a small platform w/ 3 open sides and a grass roof. LS group of boys c. ages 6-8 climb up ladder into another miniature house on stilts. MLS boy & girl (c. 10-12 yrs old) squat on floor, eating, floor in this shot is c. halfway up screen. MS the girl. Kids squatting on either side of long boat, drawing designs on it, a communal art project. The ground is completely covered with big rounded stones. MCU the bow of the canoe, which curves upward to a sharp point; it is decorated w/ intricate patterns that look like carving but I believe are actually all drawings that turned out like trompe-l'oeil; pan down to an older boy drawing on other side, then a young one in FG. Next, map of Pacific Ocean w/ the continents on either side; a dot appears for San Fran., CA, then a line is drawn across ocean to Taiwan. Closer map of Taiwan, w/ a place called Botol-Tobago marked in the southeast. Next, MCU boys squat on the rocky ground, chiseling miniature canoes, using primitive-looking tools. MS boy poses holding his canoe, turns it to show the hollowed-out inside. CU boy smashing little circular things on a stone, using smaller stone. Bashing a c. 1" wide strip of something. MS boy fastens this strip around bottom of a cone made of more strips; completed versions sitting around; 2 small kids watch. MLS same scene; 2 larger boys who have made these cones pick them up and put them over their heads (each has a small slit to see through); younger kids watch. MS the boys sitting there w/ their heads covered w/ cones! Wide shot beach; 2 lines of girls facing each other bow up & down in unison, whipping their long hair over their faces and back again. Closer shot row of girls. Still closer shot looking along row of legs, w/ the girls' heads going up & down. Next, shot of the girls doing same ritual/dance (or maybe just trying to dry their hair!), but it's dark all around them. Don't know if this means they've been keeping this up until nighttime or if it's just an exposure problem. Native peoples, Asians, toys, crafts. | |
WPA FILM LIBRARY
