Brokeback Frontier.

Well as it turns out, I’ve accidentally remade ‘Brokeback Mountain’.

The short ‘cowboy’ film I had shot was planned to be more of a technical exercise than an actual structured film. My primary aim was simply to see if I was able to capture some, fairly, nice-looking footage.
The reason for this came after Michael and I had assembled the first cut of Love, Mugs and Stickmen. Although, it had a fairly structured story, characters etc. I was (admittedly) a little disappointed with the actual style of the footage. It just didn’t look as nice as I had wanted. This is not to say that I wasn’t happy with the film –as everyone had done a great job on the project and put in so much of their efforts into the film.
I simply wanted to see if I even could get some nice looking footage. So many student films are small, personal and claustrophobic; it would just be nice to see something that opened itself up a bit. Not that all student films are any less impressive because of this, it often makes them better.

So I assembled a loose form of story in which to base this (plot-less) tech-practice. The story was essentially as follows;
A couple of outlaws in the American West (Frontier) have been on the run from the law for a long time. They are stretched to breaking point and begin to argue about something (which was always meant to be unknown to the viewer). During this argument one of the two shoots and kills the other. We then jump to the not-so-distant-future, where the killer of his friend regrets his actions so much he contemplates suicide.
It was later decided to add a letter from the law enforcers, giving the character more incentive to kill his friend –with promise of a pardon.

Now, for myself, I was extremely pleased with the footage and the way it cut together, and I loved the music score that Graeme composed (it was really great man).
The back focus was off in parts, as was the aperture, but on the whole I was really pleased with the cut film. I had a fantastic time filming it, although at times very difficult as I had nobody to aid me with the camera. This was something that I really kicked myself for; I was constantly thinking “This would be so much simpler if somebody was with me from the course”. My own fault.

Critical reception
I had not actually realised the similarities to Brokeback Mountain until I was on set with the ‘actors’. Then it became pretty much the joke of the day, as you can hardly make a film about two male cowboys up in the mountains together seem anything but a bit Brokeback-like. But it wasn’t enough to ruin it for me.
Andy, on seeing the film, naturally picked up on this ‘Brokeback Mountain Vibe’ and for this reason, amongst others, I don’t believe he liked it. His opinion was that without sound (which we couldn’t record anyway, as we had no mic) it was simply just Brokeback Mountain. This, I think anyone, with a single brain cell, can understand but I have to admit that my confidence was a bit shaken by this.
Granted, I had never intended this to have much of a story (in fact it ended up with more of a plot than intended), however, I felt and still feel that what story (if any) that comes across is decent enough for its purpose.
I had shown the unfinished film to somebody I know, and unfortunately it was received by them with laughter at points. He hadn’t actually seen Brokeback Mountain and so did not get the ‘gay cowboy’ parallel. Yet, the apparent homosexual connotations that seem to come across in the film were literally laughable to him, and the person in question is by no means an immature man. This, apart from depressing me slightly, got me thinking. Even without the Brokeback reference some people can’t actually get past a heterosexual love between men, without thinking it to be homosexual.
There is nothing in this short film that actually confirms that the two characters are gay men, but because they seem care for each other deeply people automatically think they are. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with homosexuality, far from it, but the characters were never scripted as homosexual just very close male friends.
But the cowboy thing doesn’t really help the situation.
I realize I’ve gone slightly off subject here so I’ll attempt to return to the point.

The film is anyhting but a masterpiece, story-wise or technically, but I am still happy with the way it is shaping up. People may not like it at all, and some may very well detest it (as much as you can detest a 5 minute film) and their perfectly entitled to.
However, I put effort and work into this short film, as did others. It was not necessarily planned or executed with complete ease. But for myself I’m happy with it.

If anyone would like to see it, just ask Graeme or myself.
Alternatively, you can check it out from the library under ‘B’ for Brokeback Mountain.

Showlight

When we were first informed that we would be attending Showlight over the weekend I must admit it took the edge off the excitement for me -not being a big fan of missing out onmy weekly break. However, I was still looking forward to the experience.
Gavin, Paul and myself were stationed on camera for the first two days of the event. On arriving at the BBC I'm not confident that many people at the BBC were aware of the specifics of the Showlight Event -and indeed our involvement in it. However, after we were acquainted with our two camera 'mentors' everything started to fall into place.
I was fairly intimidated, at first, by the look of some of the (more advanced) equipment but on closer inspection it quickly became apparent that the basic operation of the kit was the same to that we had already used. And for the kit that we hadn't encounter at all before, we picked up their operation pretty quickly.
I really enjoyed the event on the Saturday, when the real work kicked in. It was a really useful thing to get to experience a different kind of shooting. In contrast to our usuall single camera short films there was far more pressure and immediacy to the production. That little bit of extra pressure to get framed and focused up before the director cut to your cam was quite a nice change in pace.
Although I still prefer the (slightly) more relaxed pace of single camera film shooting I found that I enjoyed the Studio system a lot more than I thought I would.
I was slightly dissapointed that when I circulated round to 'Vision' that all I could do was sit in a chair and wathc the event unfold -But it was nice to get a rest after camera.

Paradise Now.

I thought it was really quite interesting how the two characters were portrayed as fairly average and normal people. It turned out, for me, as a real surprise when the film revealed them to be, essentially, terrorists.
I think if we had been told who these men were at the very beginning most people would assume that they were ultra extremist monsters. However, the film really showed the human side of how the two main characters thought, felt and justified their beliefs. They were also portrayed as very likable at times.
It was interesting to see an almost role reversal between the two friends. As Said starts out unsure whether or not to go through with his friend is convinced they are doing the right thing. Yet, at the end of the film the two men have completely switched opinions.

I think the film showed a realistic and empathetic portrayal of how some perfectly normal people are lead into terrorism.