Screenplay

The screenplay for 'The Lonefret' can be found here.

I wrote the screenplay for the short film I am going to direct called 'The Lonefret'. When writing the screenplay, I wanted to keep it short and sweet as from previous experience the majority of people who watch short films they only watch the first few minutes. I started to write the script after taking many elements of inspiration from other films, people and events, all of that can be found in the 'Research' tab. After, 15 drafts the complete screenplay was complete. After altering the script, I would then read through it and mark with a pen which elements work and which don't, then I would go back to my computer and alter the script until I see it as complete. After 15 drafts I decided the script was complete because there was nothing else I could take away without confusing the narrative. I learnt this from a great Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away".

Locations

I believe that locations are crucial to pulling off a western, such as the iconic 'Monument Valley' is synonymous with the western genre. Due to the set back of not being able to travel to America to shoot the film, I had to find locations that are easily accessible and still maintain that authentic untamed frontier look. The photographs above are location recce shots, the majority of the short film will be shot in the woods surrounding Birch, on the outskirts of Colchester, the remaining locations are in Langham, Essex. Upon viewing the locations, during the winter, I decided that filming should halt until springtime because I feel having many leaves on trees and flowers out would add to the essence of untamed wilderness that I really want to come across in the short film.

Costumes & Props

From my email conversation with director S. Craig Zahler, I took his advice regarding looking at real old west photos to determine costumes and props. On the left, is infamous gunslinger 'Wild Bill' who dresses very sharply and seems very dirt free. This has inspired the look of 'Ed', in my short film. On the other hand, the picture on the right is of 'Chief Black Coyote', who dresses very simply, and looks quite rugged but still maintains a smart look. This look has inspired the second character, of 'George'.

I designed and created the costumes with help from my Grandma. For the main character, Ed, I wanted him to have a very unique outfit. I decided to keep his outfit to consist of just two colours only, yellow and black. I feel the two colours contrast very well with each other and give off an original look that many won't associate with the gunslinger look. The outfit design's main inspiration comes from the character of Ed himself, he's arrogant and the only person he's ever cared for is himself. Therefore, I decided that this character would dress very well and would keep himself clean. From there I decided that Ed liked to look good as he shed blood across the old west, this ignited many ideas as to what his outfit would include. Overall, the complete outfit includes: A wide-brim fedora, black shirt, golden tie, black belt, holster belt, black jeans with mustard striped down the side, well-polished oxfords with yellow laces and all of that is topped off with a large leather duster coat. The two contrasting colours convey the gunslingers two personalities and in a way foreshadows his change at the end of the story, the black shows that he is a bad person and kills mercilessly, however, the yellow shows a bright side of the gunslinger and across his outfit the bright looks as if it's taking over the black. Foreshadowing his bad ways will exit after the credits roll. The main inspiration on the outfit for Ed is from the musical legend Michale Jackson. In a music video for his song 'Come Together', he wears this outfit seen on the right and I feel the two-deep colours of yellow and black give a great contrast. I then came to a realisation that the contrast of colours will be a great visual expression of Ed's contrasting emotions.

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For the character of George, I needed to create an authentic Native-American look. To do this I researched into what members of the Cheyenne tribe wore back in the old west, from my findings I discovered that the majority of the men wore leather waistcoats, a button up long sleeve shirt and just plain trousers. In order to complete this look, I needed to purchase a black wig and a leather waistcoat. With the wig, in my research, I found that most men in the Cheyenne tribe braided their hair into two pigtails, therefore I got the hair braided to maintain the authentic look I desired. Due to the wig being relatively cheap, it didn't look too real without a hat, this leads me to add a stetson I already owned on top of the outfit. I feel the hat makes the wig look very real. The actor who will be playing the role has black short hair, therefore this wig will look even better on him. There is a small issue with the outfit, which is that the waistcoat is very large which means the actor will have to wear a jumper underneath the shirt to better fit the leather waistcoat. I also feel that visually, the waistcoat is very interesting due to its colourful beads, badges and especially the fringes that sway about as the person moves. The colour of the shirt, trousers and hat are all different shades of Khaki, which is a very common colour worn by Native-Americans in the old west. Khaki also conveys a very western feel due to the colour resembling a desert. The inspiration behind this outfit is a character called Cheif Yellowhawk from the film 'Hostiles', the simplistic look of this character allowed to use it as a foundation to build upon. I feel it's good to not stick to racial stereotypes when it comes to a Native-Americans costume, therefore George's outfit is a mix of tradition and simplicity.

This is a replica 'Colt 45 Peacemaker', that comes with six dummy rounds. I decided to choose this revolver as it is a very iconic resolver to be used in the wild west, also the name 'Peacemaker' describes the character of Ed as later on in the story he brings peace instead of bloodshed with his 'Peacemaker'. The faux leather holster was very cheap but looks the part which I am very happy with. The shoelaces are used to wrap around the leg when the holster is in use.

Here are two props, the tomahawk/hatchet belongs to the Native-American character 'George', I really like the old and rustic look of the hatchet as it looks as if it has been used for a while and I feel suits the character very well. The other prop is an axe which will be used by the Lumberjack, the axe is very large and again has the same rustic look at the hatchet. The axe is also held by the main character, which later gets thrown away for the electric guitar.

This pocket watch was purchased very cheaply and I made sure to get it in black so that it would fit the same colour scheme as the electric guitar, therefore the two props will have a visual connotation. I then got my dad to use some white paint and paint on an outline of the electric guitar, again to reinforce the strong relationship between the two crucial props.

This is the electric guitar that will be used as one of the main props in the final film. The guitar is supposed to look completely out of place from it's surroundings, therefore I believe that the black and white colour scheme suits that very well. I also clean the guitar and will polish it more to give it more of a modern vibe. I purchased a white strap to match the guitar's colours. I believe the colour white is very clean and slick, it will most definitely stand out in a wild west environment.

Upon looking back at the costume for George, I realised that the clothes looked too clean and new. Therefore, I decided to research how to make clothes look old and weathered. I found out that the use of steak knives, sandpaper and tea can result in an old and weathered look. Focusing on the shirt of the costume, I started to use a steak knife to tear and slash the surface, I was really happy with the result. Secondly, I decided to use the sand-paper which took off the thickness of the fabric and also roughen it up a lot. Third and finally, I laid out the shirt and boiled some hot water and mixed tea bags within it. From there I took the wet tea bags and then dipped and smeared them on the torso, armpits and back. This was done to emulate the look of sweat on the shirt.