Mad Nation Part 6

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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The 6th part of Ethan Taranto-Kent's post-apocalyptic Western Mad Nation is now available.

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I actually got a pair of local guitarists to do the soundtrack. Anything throughout you hear that's synthesizer was done by myself, but they did all the guitar work. They're both very talented: I basically gave them my notes on what I wanted to hear, a copy of the movie without music, and instructions to watch my movie, and the movie Dead Man (the soundtrack for which was similar improvised guitar solos by Willie Nelson), and go with whatever they were inspired to do.

Sadly, they didn't follow my instructions exactly, in that I asked for severals tracks for specific scenes that they didn't give me, so I had to make what they gave me work with the whole movie. It wasn't a problem, really, until I reached the last scene, because they gave me basically nothing that fit it. So now, I'm waiting on them to finish the score so I can release the movie on DVD, put it online to download a complete copy, and finish posting it on Youtube. As of right now, there's four more parts for me to upload, including that last scene.
However, I met with one of them a couple days ago and we've got things going in such a way so that we'll be setting aside some time next week or the week after to finish the score. So, chances are it won't be an issue for too much longer.
 
The firefight is filmed way too awkwardly, especially at the end. Also, your main actor mugs for the camera far too much, and I hope to god that is an awful wig you for some reason have him wearing, because taking it off would fix quite a bit.
 
Southpaws said:
Some nice shots in there. But the 10 second firefight did look pretty awkward, though.
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It was quite entertaining though :) I wouldn't mind seeing more of that sort.
 
d_seven said:
hmm...can you release soundtrack separately? it would be damn fine...
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Possibly. We'll see how the recording of the last of it goes.

Southpaws said:
Some nice shots in there. But the 10 second firefight did look pretty awkward, though.
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We kinda did that on purpose. I say kinda, because a lot of details changed at the last minute with this shoot: the actor playing the guy in green, the weapons he was armed with, and primarily the location. We ended up deciding to not use the storyboards for this gunfight and wing it as far as camera angles went, because given the awkward nature of the new location (poor cover, not a lot of room to get wide angles), we felt like it should be an awkward gunfight. Aside from the fact that in the real world, all gunfights are awkward to begin with.

The subsequent gunfight sequences, and the one hand to hand sequence, are shot a bit more cinematically. The hand to hand sequence has some awkward moments too because of the cramped location in which it was shot, but we'll discuss that when I upload the next section of the movie. And no, that's my real hair, or at least was at the time.
 
No, no, that doesn't sound right. I might agree when you say "most gunfights look awkward", but a gunfight including a "cool" guy switching weapons while walking up to his opponent, shooting the pistol out of his enemy's hand, switching from left handed to right handed shooting and then knocking away his back up gun - THAT shouldn't look this awkward.

You're putting yourself between two chairs here, on the one side you say "in reality it would be awkward and shitty looking anyway, so it's actually a GOOD thing" but on film you're trying to come across as the coolest action hero of all time while still having it look awkward. That doesn't mix at all.

But I don't have a problem with that. I can figure you guys are on a budget and no professionals. I just kind of wished this particular scene would've been more fleshed out and longer. So much promise!
I'll keep an eye on your youtube channel from now on.
 
Southpaws said:
You're putting yourself between two chairs here, on the one side you say "in reality it would be awkward and shitty looking anyway, so it's actually a GOOD thing" but on film you're trying to come across as the coolest action hero of all time while still having it look awkward. That doesn't mix at all.
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Absolutely correct: we kinda got unintentionally hypocritical with this scene. The reality of it was that this whole gunfight was almost completely improvised due to the last minute location change, and we kinda got at cross purposes. The awkward angles were something of a necessity of the awkwardly shaped location, and we tried to rationalize it while at the same time have some fun with the thing and make it almost comically badass. In hindsight I wish we'd come up with something more realistic than the shooting the gun out of the other guy's hand, as that's the one thing I feel is not even remotely believable. As for the bitch slapping away of the other gun, well, that was just something we improvised for a bit of comic relief.

Southpaws said:
I just kind of wished this particular scene would've been more fleshed out and longer..
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Actually, that's the only point you raise that I disagree with: I kinda wanted the violence in this movie to be very intense and happen very quickly, thus I wanted a lot of build up and then quick resolution in this gunfight. I personally feel like the next few gunfights are much better, but this one holds it's own, although it would have been better if we'd simplified the actual action sequence a bit, made it slightly more realistic, and in general shot it a bit better.
 
InTheOnlineAsbestosSuit said:
Actually, that's the only point you raise that I disagree with: I kinda wanted the violence in this movie to be very intense and happen very quickly, thus I wanted a lot of build up and then quick resolution in this gunfight.
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I think we're on the same wavelength here, but our visions are just a bit different.

Now I'll definitely keep an eye on your channel.
 
^^^
Thanks. The music in this scene I feel is particularly well suited to it. You can hear the influence of Willie Nelson's Dead Man soundtrack the most in this scene I feel, also.

I tended to use music sparingly in this movie, partly because I didn't have much to work with but mostly because I wanted to emphasize the lack of music/background noise in some areas as well. Perfect example is in the beginning of this clip, in the graveyard. The graveyard sequence is almost half way through the movie, and marks the point after which most of the on-screen violence happens. Thus, I wanted to have as little background noise as possible, to emphasize the calm, deathly stillness of the graveyard. Kind of a calm before the storm kind of thing I guess you could call it.

Southpaws said:
I think we're on the same wavelength here, but our visions are just a bit different.

Now I'll definitely keep an eye on your channel.
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Glad to hear it. Particularly because we've shot 4 more Mad Nation movies since this one was completed in August. Each is 3-8 minutes long, and functions as it's own story and a chapter in a larger one. And as much as I loved making the first one, I can confidently say that these next four were better executed, shot better on better equipment, and in general are an improvement. Which is good: I've always thought of the feature as being the introduction into a series that would get progressively better in all areas.

And also, we're going to shoot another one this Wednesday, a sixth a week from today, and maybe a seventh if we get some cooperating weather some time soon.
 
I kinda like how hero talks in the background about staying calm in the fight - that was kick ass :).
 
I showed this to a filmmaker friend of mine from Richmond, Virgina, he really loved it, but he said it was weird watching it because you look a lot like him, he also decided to have me write him a post apocalyptic script for him to make.

the fun begins.

edit: hey, my 1000th post, neat.
 
Is the shotgun used in this movie Blank only, if so where did you obtain it? The internet seems to mostly yield guns from the 1800's and WWII along with a fair amount of modern pistols in blank only. I've only seen one Blank only shotgun on the net and it is more fit to an 1800's theme, whilst I've been searching for fairly modern Civilian/Police Weaponry.
 
If you allow me to make an assumption; if it were a blank weapon, why would he have chosen to only ACT like he's shooting it?

I say no, this is a real shotgun. Either that or blank shells were too expensive at the time.
 
^^^
You are correct sir: it's a non-firing prop. Blanks are not that expensive if you order them online, but I was doing this in a city neighborhood and couldn't use them even if I wanted to. That being said, I'm looking for a replacement shotgun for this character that can fire blanks. I do own some firing shotguns, but none of them are quite right for the character.

BurntAluminum said:
Is the shotgun used in this movie Blank only, if so where did you obtain it? The internet seems to mostly yield guns from the 1800's and WWII along with a fair amount of modern pistols in blank only. I've only seen one Blank only shotgun on the net and it is more fit to an 1800's theme, whilst I've been searching for fairly modern Civilian/Police Weaponry.
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Blank firing guns, other than modern and ww2 pistols, are a little tricky to come by unless you know where to look. If you're looking to buy them, I don't know where off hand, other than some prop houses in LA that sell and rent them. I personally don't bother: I just buy the real guns, since they usually are almost the same price, and reload my own blanks or buy cheap ones on www.midway-usa.com. However if you're in Europe or other gun-unfriendly places, this might not be an option. My advice would be look into your state/country's laws regarding what you can posses and then go with it from there.

MaToX said:
I kinda like how hero talks in the background about staying calm in the fight - that was kick ass :).
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The original drafts of the script were a lot more influenced by Film Noir classics: the voice over was one of the few Noir elements that made it into the final cut. I don't usually like voice over but I felt it worked for this movie.

UnidentifiedFlyingTard said:
I showed this to a filmmaker friend of mine from Richmond, Virgina, he really loved it, but he said it was weird watching it because you look a lot like him, he also decided to have me write him a post apocalyptic script for him to make.

the fun begins.

edit: hey, my 1000th post, neat.
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Pretty cool. Always glad to hear about more people making post-apocalyptic fiction. Keep me posted as to how things go, I'd be interested to see how things come out.

And start keeping track of where there's abandoned buildings and clear-cut sand pits around you: the biggest problem I had with locations for this movie is that people would tear them down and build new houses on them before I had the chance to film there.
 
InTheOnlineAsbestosSuit said:
Blank firing guns, other than modern and ww2 pistols, are a little tricky to come by unless you know where to look. If you're looking to buy them, I don't know where off hand, other than some prop houses in LA that sell and rent them. I personally don't bother: I just buy the real guns, since they usually are almost the same price, and reload my own blanks or buy cheap ones on www.midway-usa.com. However if you're in Europe or other gun-unfriendly places, this might not be an option. My advice would be look into your state/country's laws regarding what you can posses and then go with it from there
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I generally use blank guns because it's easier to get permission to fire them on someone elses property.

It would probably be a good Idea to invest in a real shotgun as well, as it's possible to convert shells to blanks, or just buy them as blanks, though I don't know of a website that sells blank shells, just shell conversion kits. Unless this is a completely different shotgun, be careful carrying a Sawed off around unless your location has more lenient rules on sawed off shotguns and AOW's (I've heard of area's with 16 inch minimum barrel length laws, it could possibly apply to your state)

I've enjoyed your film so far and would certainly like to see more.
 
BurntAluminum said:
It would probably be a good Idea to invest in a real shotgun as well, as it's possible to convert shells to blanks, or just buy them as blanks, though I don't know of a website that sells blank shells, just shell conversion kits.
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Your googlefu is weak, young grasshopper.

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/AMM010-5.html
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/AMM018-5.html

BurntAluminum said:
Unless this is a completely different shotgun, be careful carrying a Sawed off around unless your location has more lenient rules on sawed off shotguns and AOW's (I've heard of area's with 16 inch minimum barrel length laws, it could possibly apply to your state)

I've enjoyed your film so far and would certainly like to see more.
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It's not a state issue: federal US Law states that any shotgun with a barrel shorter than 18 inches qualifies as a Short Barreled Shotgun, or SBS, and is illegal without a destructive devices license and a $500 tax stamp. The same applies to rifles, except the limit is 16 inches. It's a non-issue with my gun, however, as it's not a firearm at all, but a non functioning prop.

But either way I'm glad you enjoyed the movie, and if you're a gun person, you'll get a kick out of the next few as well.
 
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