How would you say your final Western shoot successfully mimicked the original and how would you say it deviated? Please use appropriate film language when describing the different areas of production.
True Grit
My final western shoot successfully mimicked the original in some parts, but deviated in other parts.
The scene our group decided to mimic was the opening scene of True Grit, which consisted of six characters. We decided to shoot in 4 different places: Fei Ngo Shan, Victoria's house, in an alley behind Victoria's house and Sai Kung country park.
In the original western shoot, there were 3 scenes: outside a house in an open area, inside a house, and outside a saloon. We decided to go to Fei Ngo Shan because there was an open area there where you could see mountains and hills from far away, which was exactly what it was like in the original film. The only thing we encountered was the weather. It was foggy and misty on the day we were shooting, up high in the mountains we couldn't see anything, which was disappointing. However, in Victoria's house scene, it worked out perfectly because she had a room which had everything we needed to film. We could mimic the film by hanging the props on the walls and it was set up nicely just like the original scene.
In the alley scene, we shot it during nighttime, because in the original scene, it was also shot during the nighttime outside a saloon. In order to mimic the atmosphere of the original scene, we decided to go to an alley where it was dark. However in the alley there were cars parked there, and since there was no way to move it, we just decided to work with it. After the gunshot, there were crowds of people coming out of the saloon in the original scene, but since there was no saloon, and we didn't have enough people, we just decided to ignore that part. We used the Sai Kung country park scene as the saloon, because there was a restaurant there with many people. Since the space was limited, we could not shoot in the way it was shot in original scene. The tables and chairs were modern, not western, and since it was so loud there, we could not record our voice, so at the end we ended up using voiceover to add the dialogue.
We also successfully mimicked the scene by using the costumes that we had. We tried to mimic the mise en scene used in the original scene as best as we could, by using same colored shirts, since it symbolizes the characteristics of the character. We did this by going to the drama studio and borrowing clothes, and we also went out and bought some of the clothes ourselves or borrowed costumes from people that already owned them. We used makeup to mimic the western look of the characters. Since the characters stayed continuously in the sun everyday, we had to mimic the scene by using bronzers.
During editing, we went down to the cross-country running track to capture a shot for the background for the opening credits, because we wanted to give the introduction a western feeling, just like the original shoot. However, we did not watch through the whole film carefully enough, because there was a missing gunshot sound.
The acting mimicked the original scene well, because we used facial expressions just like the original shoot. We also use props, for example Victoria's baby in the first scene, and added baby crying sounds during editing, which also successfully mimicked the original western.
Overall, our group mimicked the original shoot well.
Fistful of Dollars
This group, which consisted of Oswin, Erica, Tiffany, Daniel, and Alex, were very successful at mimicking the original shoot. I thought that the location was chosen very well, as it was almost identical to the one from the original shoot. There was an open space, with few buildings next to it.
This group also mimicked the costumes and props well, they used the same colored clothing, and used the same props. The only issue was that the original scene had a horse, but it was not possible to get a horse. The use of visual effects and sound effects also mimicked the original shoot at well. The sounds created a lot of suspense, while the visual effects enhanced the scene and made it look more like a western film.
The audio voiceover worked out in some parts, because the lip syncing was matched, but the voiceover was a little unrealistic, and it was easily noticeable as an audience.
Overall, this group mimicked the original shoot very well.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
This group, which consisted of Enrique, Ian, Gabriel and Daniel, were also successful in mimicking the original shoot. The location was chosen very well, and it mimicked the original shoot, because it was in an open space. However, in their shoot, there were trees and bushes blocking some of the shots, and there was a off-horizon shot, which did not use the rule of thirds, which deviated from the original shoot.
This group used mise en scene on the costumes, which also mimicked the original shoot. For example, Daniel, who was the Bad, had a black jacket, black hat, and black boots, which clearly symbolizes negativity, badness and evilness, while Ian, who was the Good, had a white shirt and a white scarf, which symbolizes innocence, and goodness.
The sound effects used mimicked the original scene very well, because it was dramatic, and intense music, which created a lot of suspense. However, some of the sounds were out of sync, for example the gun shot at the end, which may have ruined some of the suspense.
Overall, this group mimicked the original shoot very well.
3/10 to Yuma
This group, which consisted of Sirena, Isabelle, Dominic and Hugo, mimicked the original shoot well. They had a hard time finding a good location, because the scene was set inside a saloon, which had a staircase and a door visible. In the end, they shot in school, outside the drama studio. The main problem was that the set they filmed at was outdoors, while the original was indoors (inside a saloon). We were able to see the sunlight, which deviated from the original shoot.
Since this was shot outdoors, there was a lot of background noise, such as buses or wind noises, which made it hard to hear voices. It would have been better to do a voiceover to get rid of the background noises. However, this group set up the set well to mimic the original shoot. Hugo used a box to step up on, which leveled the actors to the same height. This was unnoticeable as an audience, which was very effective.
Overall, this group mimicked the original shoot well.
