'Texas Trails of Justice' - Final Evaluation

Final Edit- Texas Trails of Justice:

Overall, I'm really happy with how the final edit turned out. It definitely met my expectations and it looked like how I originally intended. The things I am most happy with is the soundtrack and shot types. In my opinion, the soundtrack was a key part of the film. It really built the tension as the film progressed. Most of the shots used in the film were meaningful and were not picked at random. For example, the opening shot was a great way to introduce the location and the main character, Lucas. Another example is during the conversation between the characters, we had a lot of low angle shots to show they both have power and authority. But by the end of the film, we used low angle shots of Lucas and swapped Santiago's shots around to only have high angle shots of him to show he is weak and vulnerable. In my opinion, the only thing that disappoints me and that we could have done better is done something about the noise of the wind. It was very loud and irritating in some places. Luckily, the music and sound effects cancelled it out and it was unnoticeable in some parts.

After the premiere of our film, we got a lot of helpful and useful feedback. Most of the feedback we got was good. A lot of people found the film very intense and loved how the tension built. I think this was due to the soundtrack which was also well received. The camera shots and the way it was filmed was mentioned a lot as well as the close ups during the standoff. The close ups really built the tension during the standoff said multiple people, with one saying 'the sweat was a nice touch'. Some other things mentioned were the sound effects really fit the film, as well as the costume design and practical effects with someone even saying 'it was something I wasn't expecting'.

Some of the feedback we received was negative and most were about the wind and the length of the film. The wind was an issue we also weren't happy with, but we tried our best to sort it out in post-production by turning it down and adding sound effects over it. The length of the film was also mentioned a lot. Some people said the standoff could have been shorter whereas others said the dialogue could have been cut down. I personally think the standoff was a perfect run time, if it was too short there would have been no time to build the tension between the two characters. When I was editing, I thought the dialogue didn't feel too long, but now people have mentioned it, it could have been cut down to only a few lines. Another thing that was mentioned was the weather, two people said it was too dark for a Western Film. I personally disagree, I thought the weather was just right and having filmed on a sunnier day wouldn't have changed much.

Overall, I prefer the '90 second short film' to the 'This is Me' film. I enjoyed filming and editing it more and it was a lot more fun working in a group than on my own. I used a lot more editing skills which has enhanced my skills for the next project. I also loved premiering the film, everyone got to see it and give feedback, whereas for my 'This is Me' film I have only uploaded it to my blog. Going outside of college and filming was also very exciting as it was the first time I had done it.

Research and Planning:

For our Primary Research, we sent out a survey to our class asking opinions on the western genre. We asked ‘on a scale of 1-10 how would rate the western genre’ with the average score being 6.1. We then asked ‘what is your favourite western film?’. This question really helped us with our influences as we could see what our classes favourite western films were. One answer we got was "Once Upon a Time in the West because it pioneers lots of film techniques.” This helped me with my film analysis as I went home, watched it and then analysed it for my blog. And finally, we asked "When watching a Western, what would you expect to see?". This again really helped us as we used the answers to include aspects in our film. The most common answers we got were ‘guns’ with 50% suggesting it and cowboy outfits and hats with an overall percentage of 30%. We took these answers into consideration and featured them both in our film.

For our Secondary Research, we researched into the Western genre, context and audience. I think researching into the western genre was our most effective piece of research. For the western genre we researched themes, tropes, characters and the use of cinematography. Researching into western tropes helped us out the most as we picked 5 out of the 9 we researched to include in our film. This consists of Cowboys and Gunslingers, a Frontier Setting, Stand Offs, Outlaws and The Lone Hero. We researched further into these 5 tropes to see what to include in our film. I also think researching the use of cinematography in westerns helped us out. A lot of filmmakers use long shots to try and capture the vast and barren landscape of the Wild West, as well as extreme close ups to try and capture the characters' expressions as much as possible. Researching into cinematography gave us a good understanding of what shots to use in our film to try and fit the western genre.

Overall, I think our Primary Research was the most effective. It really helped us get a grasp on what people wanted in our film and all our answers were extremely helpful. If I was to do the project again I would definitely do a focus group. I would have made a rough version of the film and showed it to the class. I would have gotten similar feedback from the final edit meaning I could have gone back and made it better.

The influences for this film were ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ and ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’. Both are directed by Sergio Leone and considered by most the best westerns ever made. For Lucas’ outfit we were inspired by Clint Eastwood’s character ‘The Man with No Name’ who wears light coloured clothes and a poncho. For Santiago’s outfit, we were inspired by Frank played by Henry Fonda who wears dark clothing showing he is the villain. The end credits for the film was inspired by 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'. They burst on screen in bright yellow text with a western sound effect playing as well as an upbeat western song. For the standoff, we were inspired by both films. We decided to use a lot of extreme close ups of the faces and the guns to show the characters expression and the importance of the gun. When filming the extreme close ups we decided to use a spray bottle to add sweat to the characters face as this effect is used in both of the films to capture the intensity of how the characters are feeling during the standoff. The pace of the edit was more inspired by 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'. In the film, the camera moves back and forth between the two characters quite quickly whereas in 'Once Upon a Time in the West' the camera stays on one character for a long time then switches to the next. Overall, our influences helped us choose what type of shots to use and how to dress the characters.

Professional Practice:

I definitely think we could have done better in our project management and time keeping. We only filmed for one day which was a mistake. We should have had a day free to film anything we had missed or didn't look right. For example, the ending to our film was originally going to be Lucas' walking into the distance with the credits rolling in front but we had to cut it out due to the camera looking smudgy. This lead to the ending changing to Lucas' shooting Santiago and then cutting straight to black. So for our next project, we could improve our project management skills by filming over two or three days. On the other hand, our communication skills between the group were great. For example, I was the director and actor in our film and trying to communicate to the camera operator was tricky as I wanted to see what the shot looked like as well as act, but we overcame this problem and communicated well to get the shot right. I thought working with Premier Pro was very tedious but once things started coming to together I was very happy and excited. Another thing I struggled with was learning to use the editing software and trying to remember it, but once time moved on I started getting the hang of it. I'm most proud of removing the building in the background. When I started to edit, I thought it was going to be quite complicated but after watching a tutorial video it was actually simple. Some other things I learnt were transitions, fading audio, how to put in text and much more.

Looking Forward:

For our next project we are doing another short film. Hopefully, it will be much longer and we will be allowed to use more dialogue and characters. My targets for this project is to improve on sound and lighting. I'm hoping for a workshop on these skills so I can use what I learn for when filming. Also, if I end up directing the next project, I would prefer not to act in a big role. This is due to struggling to see what each shot would look like as I mostly was in front of the camera.