Secondary Research
For A Few Dollars More (1965)
The legendary western 'For A Few Dollars More', for me, is one of the greatest western ever made, as it did so many things differently that completely reinvented the genre due to its sheer innovation and mastery. The character of the Man With No Name played by Clint Eastwood, is a huge inspiration when writing 'The Lonefret', as the main character called 'Ed' follows many similar characteristics as Eastwood's mute character. Another element of the film I have taken inspiration from is the musical pocket-watch that plays an integral part in the story. In 'The Lonefret' a pocket-watch is used to amplify the sound of the guitar.
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
The second influence on the 'The Lonefret' is from one of my favourite westerns 'Bone Tomahawk', I really admire this film as it takes the western stereotypes and turns them on their heads. Such as one of the lead male cowboys has their leg broken throughout the entire film, and how minimal the use of music is really added to the pure shock of the film. Another point I admire about 'Bone Tomahawk', is the fact that it's a hybrid of two genres, the western and the horror genre. Another point I admire about this film is that the pacing is very slow and the story takes its time. The majority of the shots are either long shots or mediums, and the shots last for a while. I feel this style would really suit 'The Lonefret'.
Prince - America Music Video (1985)
The official music video for 'America' by Prince, is a large inspiration on the heroic imagery of the main character in 'The Lonefret'. In the music video, Prince wears a long duster coat and a wide brim hat accompanied by an electric guitar. When I first watched this music video, I really admired the blending of two different times, the old west and the electric age. Prince's outfit had a very powerful look to it, therefore I decided to dress the main character in an outfit inspired by The Artist.
Captain EO (1986)
The short film released in 1986, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, called 'Captain EO', follows a ragtag group under the leadership of their fearless leader Captain Eo (Michael Jackson), the group travels around the galaxy turning evil people into good, through the power of dance and music. Upon viewing this short film, I really admired the essence of music and dance curing evil, this idea stuck with me when writing the script for 'The Lonefret' as in the script the music played by the guitar at the end of the script turns the brutal gunslinger into a man with morals.
Crossroads (1986)
The film 'Crossroads', directed by Walter Hill, follows a teenager who under the mentorship of a blues legend learns to become a master blues guitarist. There is fascinating mythology in the film, about selling off your soul to the devil to be able to master the guitar. I really loved this concept of having to sacrifice something to play the guitar, therefore when the main character in 'The Lonefret' finds the guitar and plays the string, his horse vanishes. The main character loses his horse, in order to play the guitar, the horse is also a sign of masculinity in the old west so losing it makes the character somewhat vulnerable, it also shows how much he is risking to play the guitar well.
At the end of the film 'Crossroads', the main character has a guitar standoff with another player. Upon viewing the scene, I came to realisation that some of the shots when the characters are playing the guitar are shot strategically to not show that the actors aren't really playing the guitar tunes. Due to the actors, I am planning on using for 'The Lonefret' not being able to play the guitar, I'm going to have to plan out the scenes where they play the guitar very carefully. A simple resolution around this is to only show the character playing the guitar from their back and to also only stay in close up so not too much is shown. This is waht I will attempt to do for the scenes where the guitar will be played.
Another inspiration from the film Crossroads is the opening scene where we see the character of Robert Johnson play his guitar facing away from the camera. This was done in the film because Robert Johnson was known to play his guitar facing away from people, so no one could see how he was playing. I found this as a great solution to an issue that has risen for when blocking a scene in 'The Lonefret', where the character of George plays an epic guitar solo however the actor playing the role doesn't know how to play the guitar and he doesn't have enough time to learn before filming, therefore we will use the same blocking used in the Crossroads scene by only showing the back of the guitar player. This still visually shows the character playing the guitar, without even showing it.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
A very personal film to me 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?', directed by Joel Coen is an inspiration as to what I desire the colours and the visuals of 'The Lonefret' to look like. The film was the first motion picture to be colour graded completely digitally, which gave the film a unique sepia-like look with deep blues and a yellow washed out look. I will try to emulate this colour grade in the post-production process. In addition, the film has been described as being misanthropic and nihilistic, which I really admire. The road trip style story shows the stupidity and bad habits of the human race and also delves into religion and how most so-called miracles can have understandable explanations. This is all played for laughs, and I am a fan of this style of comedy. Therefore, I will attempt to implement this absurdist style into the story of 'The Lonefret', such as how exaggeratingly sad the gunslinger character becomes when he loses his guitar.
Another element in the film I admire is the attitude towards racism. One of the films underlying themes is how black people were mistreated in the 1920s-1930s. There is a particularly epic Klu-Klux-Klan scene which is very ominous and of a huge scale. When I first saw this film at a very young age, this was my first real experience of such hate towards a person of a different race, so this scene has really stuck with me through the years. I have taken inspiration from this, as in 'The Lonefret' it follows two characters of a different race, one white American and one half-phillipeno half Cheyenne. At the end of 'The Lonefret', the two different characters come together and respect each other through the power of music.
A final piece of inspiration taken from 'O' Brother, Where Art Thou?' is a particular scene where the infamous blues guitarist Tommy Johnson plays the guitar at a campfire. The scene is all lit completely by the campfire with some backlighting from the moon, I find this scene visually very intriguing and calming. In 'The Lonefret' in essence, I pay homage to this scene, in which the main character sits at a campfire in the woods and rests on a tree just like Tommy Johnson, he looks across at his guitar then drifts off to sleep. The scene will emulate the same visual and relaxing tone as of the one in the Joel Coen film.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
In a more recent film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, features a story following a gunslinger robbing a bank. There is a particular camera movement within this scene that has stuck with me for a while after viewing, the transition is a sudden whip pan to the left then back to the main character. I really admired this whip pan and wrote a particular section in the script to emulate this scene. I will test this camera movement out with the Director of Photography to see if it fits the scene and doesn't come across as obnoxious.
Prince - Crimson and Clover (2009)
The song 'Crimson and Clover' by Prince has influenced how I want the final guitar solo to sound. The guitar solo begins at the 2:27 mark, the guitar solo will not be the same but will have a similar sound and tone to it. The person who will be performing the solo is a musician whom I have worked with before and is reliable and always delivers the best of work. I really want the guitar solo to represent the message of the story and the conflict the characters have been through, the solo will be very funky and impressive but also have a dramatic and melancholic tone to it as the two characters exploring the solo are going to through immense change, change as they have never seen before. Therefore, I feel the solo has to be very powerful and represent the change as msuci should help convey the emotion of the scene rather than distract form it.
True Grit (1969)
The end credit scene of 'The Lonefret', is inspired by the ending of the legendary western 'True Grit'. I really wanted to pay homage to the style of the ends credits from the John Wayne film, therefore I got a big western font and made it a primary colour and added a drop shadow similar to the one used at the end of 'True Grit'. I feel this style of font and how the text scrolls up into the screen is an archetype of the western genre, and would inject the audience with nostalgia to the many westerns they like, such as 'True Grit'. However, in the final stages of the edit, I found that this type of ending didn't work with the story at hand, therefore, I decided to cut to black and not have the word "The End" at the end.
True Grit (1969)
I have also drawn inspiration from another moment in 'True Grit'. There is a scene where the main character Rooster Cogburn gets drunk and pulls the cork out a liquor bottle and starts to drink. I really like this aspect of the character as it shows a weakness he has; alcoholism. The character of Ed in 'The Lonefret' comes across as a flawless outlaw, with no issues (other than killing innocent people). Therefore, I felt like making the character of Ed drunk a fair bit could help flesh out his character and make him more of a broken and weak character. In the research tab, you can see the making of the flask that will be used in the final film.