Filming

     On Friday 12th of December we made the drive to Bir Zekreet, where we filmed our piece in the famous "Movie Village". It took around two hours to get all the shots we wanted, and whilst we did encounter some issues it went very smoothly. The weather remained consistent, nothing was forgotten and everyone got on with what they needed to do with no issues.
   The first problem we encountered was the tripod we brought turned out to be broken on one leg, and we didn't have any tape to fix it. We mostly found ways around this, as it could still stand somewhat, but it was more susceptible to the strong winds; our second problem, in that almost all audio is obscured by the sound of the wind. This is not a massive issue, as we will just rerecord dialogue and add sound effects, but it does add to the workload.

Armour update - 7/12/14

Unfortunately, I was unable to find the supplies needed in time for filming to complete the armour I originally planned to build. Whilst this is not a huge loss, and shouldn't affect our film in a major way, I do find it a shame I was not able to finish this as it was a nice extra detail to set the scene of our film. Hopefully, we will still be able to complete other aspects we planned in order to put across what we hoped to achieve. For this reason the originally debated idea of including a background planet in the sky will go ahead, as this will provide the less subtle evidence of setting.

Production Schedule

We want to film everything in one day on the 12th of December, as our location will not be easy to return to. For this reason, we will be leaving from a friend's house at 9:00am in order to make the drive, taking all equipment and props, then hopefully filming from around 11:00 am till 2:00pm, capturing the oppressive midday sun as a reflection of the intensity of the duel as well as allowing for the technical point of keeping lighting conditions roughly the same throughout. Once we have returned, I will proceed to edit the clips together over the next few weeks, giving a lot of time for refinement and double-checking, so if we need more shots we can, as a last resort, return to re-film them. Hopefully this will not be an issue.

Casting

Although there has been a lot of changes we have decided on what we would like each character to be like roughly. There are many types of  "stock characters" in Westerns which we will basically use, but in some ways change them.

Marshal Bill Grieves

Bill Grieves will be the tough, no nonsense lawman driven by a desire for justice, much like Matt Damon's character in True Grit. He is 38, and the father of twins and has a wife. He is motivated to take down James Wesley-Adams out of a want to bring him to justice, however he will motivated in our opening scene by hatred brought on by Wesley-Adams killing his family. The idea of the change is that since we start with the end they see the product of the film and then see the journey he goes on to get to that point.

He will be played by Adrian Harder, from our group.

James Wesley-Adams

James Wesley-Adams is also going to be an unconventional villain for the Western genre. Like the real-life Jesse James, he is a veteran of a civil war who continues to resist the victorious side through acts of terror and refusal to conform to their standards. In this way it is possible for us to gain empathy for his character, reducing how 'black and white' the characters are.  This is not likely to be seen in our first scene but is important for characterisation. He is very intense and damaged character who would be willing to do anything for the cause he believes in, fuelled entirely by hatred and anger against the government because of his losses in the uprising.

He will be played by James Morrison, myself.

Shot list

Shot number	Type of shot	Camera movement	Action	Length (seconds)
1	Establishing shot	Still	Marshal walks across frame	8
2	Close-up shot	Still	Marshall stop walking	3
3	Over-the-shoulder shot	Track	Jesse plays around with gun	4
4	Establishing shot	Still	Jesse enters frame	5
5	Extreme close-up shot	Still	Jesse stares.	3
6	Extreme close-up shot	Still	Badge eye line match	3
7	Medium close-up shot	Still	Dialogue “You come to arrest me marshal?”	6
8	Medium close-up shot	Still	Dialogue “No.”	4
9	Medium close-up shot	Still	Marshal Badge off	2
10	Low angle shot	Still/focus pull	Badge falling to the ground	8
11	Medium close up shot	Still	Marshal lifts head	2
12	Close-up shot	Still	Marshal brushes coat back	5
13	Close-up shot	Still	Marshal tense gun handling	5
14	Over-the-shoulder shot	Still	Jesse tense gun handling	4
15	Extreme close-up shot	Still	Jesse staring	4
16	Close-up shot	Still	Jesse going for gun	3
17	Close-up shot/split screen	Still	Firing guns	1

Storyboard Animatic

This is a roughly cut animation of our storyboard. It only features still images of the shots we intend to get, as well as a substitute piece of music that fits well until we can decide on or create a final song. It also lacks speech and sound effects, which we did not have a chance to yet record or find, however it does give a general impression of how our piece will flow, and, more importantly, the time it will last (roughly.) Also, it cuts abruptly, which is when the piece would cut to the title screen with a blood splatter. This I left out since we did not yet have a title screen ready, so this is solely the film parts of our piece. Knowing that this only lasts for a little over a minute gives us the freedom to experiment with shots during shooting, as we are not confined to the storyboard as a time constraint, as well as giving us a rough impression of how long we have for titles and the production logo.

Following is the length and type of shot for each of the shots, as well as the camera movement we will employ which helps to add detail to the animatic

Shot number: 1
Type of shot: Establishing shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Marshal walks across frame
Length: 8 seconds


Shot number: 2
Type of shot: Close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Marshal stops walking
Length: 3 seconds


Shot number: 3
Type of shot: Over-the-shoulder shot
Camera movement: Track
Action: Jesse spins gun
Length: 4 seconds

Shot number: 4
Type of shot: Establishing shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Jesse enters frame
Length: 5 seconds


Shot number: 5
Type of shot: Extreme close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Jesse staring
Length: 3 seconds

Shot number: 6
Type of shot: Extreme close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Badge eye line match 
Length: 3 seconds


Shot number: 7
Type of shot: Medium close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Dialogue
Length: 6 seconds
Dialogue:  Jesse - "You come to arrest me Marshal?"

Shot number: 8
Type of shot: Medium close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Dialogue
Length: 4 seconds
Dialogue:  Marshal - "No."


Shot number: 9
Type of shot: Medium close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Marshal takes badge off
Length: 2 seconds

Shot number: 10
Type of shot: Low angle shot
Camera movement: Still/Focus pull
Action: Badge falling to the ground
Length: 8 seconds


Shot number: 11
Type of shot: Medium close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Marshal lifts head
Length: 2 seconds

Shot number: 12 
Type of shot: Close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Marshal brushes coat back
Length: 5 seconds


Shot number: 13 
Type of shot: Over-the-shoulder shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Marshal tense gun handling
Length: 5 seconds

Shot number: 14
Type of shot: Over-the-shoulder shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Jesse tense gun handling
Length: 4 seconds


Shot number: 15
Type of shot: Extreme close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Jesse staring
Length: 4 seconds

Shot number: 16
Type of shot: Close-up shot
Camera movement: Still
Action: Jesse going for gun
Length: 3 seconds


Shot number: 17
Type of shot: Close-up shot/Split screen
Camera movement: Still
Action: Taking shots
Length: 1 second

Location Planning

We will be filming our piece in a place called 'Film City' in Bir Zekreet, a location isolated from technology so well fitting off the frontier theme of our piece.

The drive there will take between one and a half to two hours, so we are going to have to make sure to leave early in order to be able to film our piece during midday so we have similar lighting throughout and avoid multiple trips. For this reason we will be leaving at about nine in the morning, so we can arrive at eleven at the very latest and film through the midday. Luckily since it is winter time, the heat will not be too unbearable, but we will stock up on water anyway just in case.

The rock formations and village simultaneously seem old and other worldly, which suits our needs perfectly, providing an incredible backdrop for a western, high-noon showdown.

Another advantage of using this location is that it is very close to Richard Serra's East-West/West-East exhibition, four fifty-foot monoliths in the desert, which would truly add an extraterrestrial feeling as they do not in any way appear earthly.

Opening credits analysis

Because this opening is from a television program that is parodying the western genre so the tropes and conventions are more pronounced; this is the style of credits we want to produce, since our storyboard totals only a little over a minute. Specifically, we want to have the same silhouette characters and name appearances with blood splatter. The silhouettes are enigmatic, parallel to the characters in most westerns, and are also extremely stylised, like many spaghetti western films. The colours used are very appealing and complimentary, which add an ill fitting happiness to the opening. This seems contradictory to the theme of the film but this juxtaposition but this is what makes it interesting and appealing. The background splatters connote disorder and conflict, whilst each of the silhouettes either introduces a character or symbolises a theme of the film, such as guns, the sheriffs badge or the hand. This is an interesting and conventional opening credits to a western that will lend itself well to our piece. The silhouettes and images used are cognitive of the genre, such as revolvers. However, we want to have silhouettes of things that fit the genre well, and since we are making a sci-fi opening this will be things like spaceships and planets.
If this proves too difficult or time consuming to orchestrate we won't make it, but it is our aim to improve our piece with it.

Titular analysis

Modern Westerns tend to have a very minimalistic title screen, a simple white title against a black background. The design is appealing as it suggest a simplicity to the film, which is what we want, as well as the film being grounded in reality, not packed with lots of information and high-octane fight scenes. They are also appealing to the eye due to the contrast between the black and white, while also suggesting a serious nature to the film and a dark, foreboding tone from the very beginning. This is what we will be modelling ours off of, such as these:

However, we want to style our title like in this format, as it is neat, attractive and is now common to the western genre. However, the style of our font we want to be like these, in that the text sizing makes a square.

This is neat and appealing to the eye as well as being a western convention.

Our finished title screen includes the white text on black background, as well as an old looking western themed font that suggests the genre. The simplicity, as already mentioned, is appealing and sets the tone for the rest of the film, whilst the black and white contrast is representative of the dark nature of the film.

Gender Roles

Our film, especially the opening, is very stereotypical in that it features only male characters in both the roles of hero and villain. This is less because of an active choice and more that we wanted the actors in our film to be people in our group, and the only female in our group did not want to be in the film.

We did originally consider a female lead since very few westerns have one, and this would be an interesting and unusual difference. Most westerns only feature females in the roles of a wife, sister, mother or prostitute. Since we wanted to create a non-generic film, this would be a great way to subvert the genre. This proved impossible, but this way with both male characters the film will appeal more to the male dominated audience we are catering our film towards. Despite this, I feel that the film should not be stereotypical in its portrayal of women. Westerns, like the majority of films, tend to portray women as weaker than men, or inferior. They are rarely full characters or serve any important part of the plot, and this is something I would want out film to come away from (which we unfortunately cannot do in the opening.) For example, I would want our film to pass the Bechtel test. Whilst very simple and not a particularly effective test for sexism, yet only 56% of films actually pass it.
Male characters in westerns are abundant and almost always promote the idea of the archetype strong, courageous and emotionally reserved character. The 'Man with no name' trilogy, for example, depicts Clint Eastwood's character throughout as calm, mysterious and effective in combat, adhering totally to the stereotypical view of male protagonists. Some however have characters motivated by revenge, duty or honour, such as Tombstone or Hang 'em High. Still, this fits with patriarchal values of men as only driven by personal desires such as wealth or revenge, or living up to the 'expected' values of men like honour and duty. Our film would not follow this, as we believe it is more interesting to have a different take on the normal roles, and will instead show weakness in the characters, such as Marshall Bill Grieves having emotional trauma due to the loss of his family (although he still has a degree of revenge in his motivations), whilst James Wesley-Adams will be spiteful and emotional, not a common trait, especially for villains.

Armour progress, part 1 - 3/11/14

Today i began work on the chest piece of armour, loosely following instructions from this forum post.

I will be using this foam to create a back piece, and will add details later on by cutting the shapes i want raised out of a different piece (of this foam) and gluing them down.

Measuring and detailing the sizes needed, from my waist up to my shoulder and then down my back to my waist again, then around my waist and chest, i cut out a square piece that ended up as around 20 inches by 48 inches.

From here i cut a hole in the centre of the piece large enough to fit my head through and sit comfortable on my shoulders. It is  a rough cut, especially at the back, but this hole will be covered in the final piece by the coat and neck guard.

After this i made some more measurements and cut indents on either side for my arms to fit in. These turned out to be a little too small, so judging mostly by eye i trimmed them down some more, especially at the back, to allow more mobility of the arms. again, this part is scruffy looking but will be covered up by the coat (or, can be tidied up at a later date if need be.)

This is the piece as it is now, the bottom held being the back (with the square arm holes) and the top being the front piece (rounded arm holes.)

I am a little on the fence about having the whole thing as one piece, and may choose to replace the back with elastic straps further down the road. if not, however, the foam will be worn like a poncho and the sides then buckled together to hold in place.
A lot of work is to be done, and hopefully at the weekend i will have a chance to continue working on it, perhaps even finishing. Firstly i have to cut out armour details to be glued on, and will be using this as a reference:

Once cut out, i will sand the edges slightly to give it a more realistic look, then glue the pieces down onto the base i have. after this i will add the neck guard, which is thicker and i may use a different foam for, depending how it turns out. once the pieces are all together, i will spray paint the entire piece with a base layer of black, then cover the gaps between the armoured pieces with tape before spraying the armour again with dark grey. once the colour itself is done, i will apply stencils to the chest area, and finally use a soldering iron to add battle damage to the armour to make it look worn, as well as lightly sanding the stencils to give them a faded look. Finally i will touch up any paint where needed, such as the battle damage, and then it should be complete.

These are, roughly, the images that will be adjusted to make the stencils (as both are fairly complicated for a block image stencil.)

Film Ratings

In this post i will discuss the differences between American and British film ratings and where we would like our film to fall.

BBFC

U

Standing for 'universal' a U rating means the film is appropriate for all ages, with little to no content that can be deemed inappropriate for children.

PG

'Parental Guidance'. the majority of children's films actually fall into this, as it is given to films that contain some justified violence, make mild reference to sex/drugs and/or contain what could be considered disturbing scenes (to children under 8.)

12A

Introduced in 2002, these are films considered unsuitable for children. Children under 12 can only watch a 12-A film if accompanied by someone over 18. They can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, infrequent strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed.

12

Suitable for only those aged 12 or over, unlike 12-A, it cannot be viewed by anyone under 12. It has not been used for cinema releases since 12-A was introduced, but a 12-A film will usually have this rating for home release.

15

Suitable only for persons over 15.  they can contain adult themes, hard drugs, regular use of foul language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail. Can also contain sex scenes, as long as they are not extremely explicit in nature.

18

Suitable for only those over 18. They do not have limitation on the foul language that is used, hard drugs, explicit sex references and detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Explicit sex scenes, if justifiable, are allowed, as well as strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence. Sexual violence can also be permitted provided it is not erotiscized or excessively graphic.

MPAA

General Audience

Suitable for most audiences, contains little to no offensive or explicit content.

Parental Guidance

Contains some material that could be deemed unsuitable for children. Some parents may find the content to be unsuitable whilst others may not have an issue with it.

Parental Guidance 13

The most common rating nowadays, a strong warning to parents that the film contains content unsuitable for children under thirteen, and potentially content they may not want teenagers to be exposed to.

Restricted

Contains content unsuitable for persons under 17 and they may only be admitted if they are accompanied by a person over 18. along with NC-17, this is the only rating with any restriction on viewing.

No Children under (or including) 17

Nobody 17 or under is to be admitted to see an NC-17 film with or without accompaniment. More common than expected, a lot of 90's gross-out comedy films like American Pie fall into this catagory. There is a lot of stigma to this rating as many films previously rated X were re-assigned as NC-17.

The British ratings are clearly more detailed in what exactly they can and cannot contain, and the American system appears to be more based upon circumstance, with much looser guidelines. Our film would fall into a PG-13 american rating, or a 12/12-A or 15 at most, as this would allow us to cater to a larger movie going audience without sacrificing too much in terms of dark/violent content, fairly necessary for a western to be enjoyable. However, films do not always need Tarantino-esque violence or constant cursing to feature dark themes, and we would hope to achieve that with our film.

Western films and their age ratings (as stated on the BBFC website):

- A Fistful of Dollars (1964) - 15
- For A Few Dollars More (1965) - 15
- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966) - 18
- Unforgiven (1992) - 15
- 3:10 to Yuma (2007) - 15
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) - 15
- True Grit (2010) - 15
- Django Unchained (2012) - 18