Not Yer Typical Western - Written By Ethan Liles & Shyla Liles, Directed By Ethan Liles - Review #1

LINK TO {Not Yer Typical Western} - Written By: Ethan Liles & Shyla Liles, Directed By: Ethan Liles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymab95f4KGU&t=201s

Not Yer Typical Western is literally not your typical western movie where a middle aged white protagonist takes you to his journey through character and moral development, rather we follow a Latina gunslinger trying achieve the greatness while also opposing the one who wants to bring her down. 

I usually do not watch westerns as it is not in my taste but the originality caught my attention. 

To not sugarcoat the whole work of Ethan and Shyla's, I will also point out a few directorial and technical errors, as well as the feedback which I will underline that it is subjective. Feedback is just a tip and not an error it is absolutely up to the director's and/or writer's wish to be changed or let it be for artistic purposes. 

To get started I will review this work in few categories. 

Writing/Directing

Cinematography 

Sound Design/Music 

 Acting 

{Writing And Directing} - The sudden start of the music and the tense scene of Windella and Jordan opposing each other already hooks you into the story. Close up of the eyes is a typical western shot which I really loved and made the movie easy to categorize within the genre.

To point out an error that I believe also a director is aware of, is that some of the shots are extremely blurry throughout the short. In some segments focus is misplaced, especially where the the outlook of the scene could have been exquisite as the shot is chosen correctly. 

For example Windella's eyes look sharp and focus in place but In Jordan's it's completely lost 

 

I don't want to continue more on this because this paragraph is for writing and directing, so I will merely mention it few times.

To go further in with directing, I usually love when actors move around and act with their body throughout the dialogue or the action. The scenes didn't lack the motion, but in some parts it was visible to the eye that one actor stayed mostly still and another really moved around and got hooked into the story. This is not usually an actors fault, more so it's something a director should fix, constant motion and even a little movement makes the audience pay attention to what's going or will go on. 

The scene when Windella wakes up, she looks up straight to the people in front of her. It would be better if she looked around frantically right when she raised her head and checked her surroundings. This would come off more natural from someone whose supposed to be an experienced gunslinger. 

During a lake scene, we see duke eating an apple and talking as he chews it which makes the whole interaction very organic, on the other hand, Dallas asks philosophical questions as she looks around and thinks more deeply. In my opinion when an actress can really express the nervousness well it will be better if she also displayed it throughout her body language, like maybe anxiously playing with a grass or being more in motion with whatever she's holding in her hands. The actress was very good at coming across as someone who's doubting her surroundings and is worried of how everything will turn out. As a director one should be able to use the frame to its full potential, stillness makes the frame boring which makes pacing become more slow and dragging. This short didn't had any problems with pacing, as it was really entertaining and fun but, since I'm breaking down scene by scene I might point out few things. 

The scene where Windella limps because of her wound is also a great shot but the subject is very far apart. This is subjective but I would place the camera really close to her hand (character enters screen right)  exactly in where she tries to keep the wound from bleeding while she limps, sound up her footsteps and then show the whole far apart and falling down action, that way audience would know that the character that is coming is major and something terrible has happened to her. 

Now onto one of my favorite scenes {Windella Wakes Up} 

I loved the monologue of where she explains how she got injured and who Jordan is. 

There was such an effortless flow to the writing in that scene that watching this short three times felt incredibly easy. Now I have to admit that in some parts the dialogue was a little under the nose  (Example of the lake scene where Dallas asks what the purpose is) It would be great to just reword some phrases or LEAD UP to that question to come across more natural rather then to straight up ask it, since even the character finds that question a little uncomfortable. 

Comedic montage was really silly and made me smile several times. 

Also wonder what he ''drew'' here. 

Whole chasing the robber segment got funnier each time I rewatched it, only thing was that it got blurry and focus was nowhere to be found. It's predictable to make such mistakes as an Indie artist, director or cinematographer, it's also a budget thing which I, and the audience sure can understand. 

And the last but not least, this minor thing. I know at first glance this is nothing, but if indie filmmakers are planning to send their work in short film contests, judges are always looking at such minor details to judge or compete with others work. Some contests are judged with points and in technical categories like Composition, they would easily make you lose points for these things (Unfair but what can we do) 

{Cinematography}

The way frames were shot was very enjoyable, I have some of my favorites, even though in some of those scenes focus is lost and/or is pointed on the wrong object. 

Another thing I also want to point out is that a camera is visibly sometimes very shaky (13:25-13:33) which I assume was handheld and shot without a tripod (I'm not sure just an assumption) to avoid such things I would suggest even a very cheap tripod, or a second hand gimbal to get the static shots. 

On terms of lightning, I have no idea who did this scene but it was one of the best choice because of the set and the most importantly lightning, it really went well with western theme and didn't feel like out of place at all. Short films usually have a really hard time stabilizing the lights or not managing at all but this scene really overshadowed the rest. 

Since most part of the short was shot in daylight, I can't really say much.  There were some parts where in editing brightness got turned up a little which caused the expressions to be covered. When shooting in daylight playing with brightness can be a lot of risk, especially when the genre has its specific color grading, this is an easy fix so can't say more. 

It could also be Youtube messing with the file. 

To add a small feedback is that a little more color would be great. Color grading in visual filmmaking sets the whole tone of the project. Tells you what kind of scene it is, what kind of movie it is, even gives a hint how a character is feeling. Western is already a very bold and visibly unique genre of filmmaking, it literally has its own color grading. While the costumes and props set the tone, a little more vivid coloring could help in segments where it lacked the most, like in these: 

To expand more on the blurring issue, I assume it wasn't visible when the scenes were shot. The reason for that may have been that those shots were checked from the camera itself. To fix those issues I suggest getting USB memory card reader, After shooting all the scenes, take out the SD card and check it in the computer before the cast goes home. If the focus is out of place or misplaced reshoot those scenes, how many times it takes. This is just a really cheap/budget friendly advice, professional filmmakers use several tools/monitors to check whether objects and subjects are in place or not. 

(This last scene particularly got me suspicious because focusing on the sword is an awesome artistic choice and insinuates his character, but on the video his face is blended and comes up smudged. I don't know if this was intentional, if it was then it is a great choice but the execution is a little mess. Though it still remains my favorite shot.) 

I understand that for some indie filmmakers asking to retake the scene several times can be uncomfortable and tiring, but that is a director's job and that's how movies are made. It's very rare to get everything at first chance and never do it again. Some directors scrap off the whole scenes just because they do not like it anymore while editing, so to avoid such things it's better to retake several times while the cast is there. 

{Sound Design/Music} 

I enjoyed the music the most! It really looked like it was carefully picked and went well with the whole short film. 

On the other hand sound design had its issues, in some places the background noise was louder the dialogue, (Lake scene, during the talk of Dallas & Duke) and in some the actors voice was static and fuzzy, which might have been because of the microphones. In the budget which I assume (again) was really small, It still turned out wonderfully. Considering the fact that this short was filmed a year ago, I'm sure the director - Ethan Liles - improved a lot and updated the equipment. 

Overall cinematography was good and entertaining despite its issues, which may be caused by the budget and inexperience. The talent in the crew is loud and visible I'm sure everyone in the team will improve in time. 

{Acting}

Love whoever picked Windella's actress [Krissa Hosto]. she really expressed the boldness and cockiness that the character radiates, I loved how the accent felt very natural and far from being forced. all the dialogue flowed effortlessly from her and felt like she was giving the expression to each and every word. She was also moving around a lot which I liked (lol) I would like to see her in more projects and in different roles! 

Onto another great actor, Jordan [Carlin Campbell]. The mannerisms was so spot on for someone whose supposed to be antagonist and overconfident, insecure about his place in the world and greedy for power. He also added a comedic side to the story which was entertaining. Both Windella's and Jordan's accent was very satisfying to listen because of how naturally it came from them. neither of them paused or talked with commas during a dialogue ( Talking with a comma refers to a type of acting where an actor delivers lines without any emotion or expression just for the sake of finishing a sentence, I don't know if this term is used in American lexicon but it is common in my language and its Theatre industry to point out the lack of artistry) 

Dallas [Isabella Dickmeyer]  & Duke [Robert Montgomery] duo was funny, I love characters that have age difference, unlike the lead and antagonist these actors were a little awkward in front of camera and made it visible that they might not be used to it yet, but both of them are not lacking of expressions, more so the experience. I do wish we got more depth from them though, like more of their world and why are they the way they are. Dallas's  character has a great potential and made me curious why she was asking that question in the beginning. Actress rightfully tried portraying someone, nervous and out of place. In some scenes it did feel like she was holding back, but I'm sure time will improve her skills and hard work really pull out the talent that she has, if the acting is what she wants to do of course. (I keep forgetting this was shot a year ago, she might be even hundred times better now) 

Duke was hilarious and looked like actor really enjoyed himself during filming, so much so that I enjoyed with him running and falling over. 

In the end, the short film was great, had its technical issues but everything can be fixable by a little more budget and experience. Casting was awesome and writing was entertainable, considering the fact that this is the first short film of the director I'm sure each and every next one will be better than the last, I'm looking forward to every one of them and will be here to review them all. 

Special thanks to God for making me come across this too. 

P.S Will be saying this in every blog - I apologize for any grammatical or structural mistakes my sentences might have, English isn't my first language and never have I before practiced writing posts in professional way. I will try to improve my style of writing in every post.

LINK TO {Not Yer Typical Western} - Written By: Ethan Liles & Shyla Liles, Directed By: Ethan Liles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymab95f4KGU&t=201s