FOR A HANDSHIP OF SHEEP
For a Handful of Sheep is a short film that emerged after the post-traumatic experience of the first Image Theory exam. It’s a western, a bit quirky. Although at first I had planned to do, as my grandmother says "one of the west" with Indians and cowboys, with a strong influence Fordian, I finally decided to set it in Catalonia, and change cowboys for farmers, turning the project in which it is known as a "bread with western tomato". I found it attractive that the context revolved around the first years of the nineteenth century, the Catalonia of bandits and the constant conflicts in rural areas. This is the practice with the premise of external conflict. In this case, two farmers who have lost their sheep with which his landowner (The "Blond") wants to do business.
Although the script was about eight pages long, vam decide to shoot the first four in favor of being able to work the characters better. In fact vam do two previous rehearsal sessions to be able to matissar and create a background (at the being two brothers had to build a past) and set certain rules of what the characters can and cannot do. The conditions lights they were also an important factor in this decision. How we were rolling in the winter (mid-February) the sun was going down quite early and we didn’t get the numbers to roll so many pages.
In the preproduction of the short, I personally took care of the production, getting the casting and localization. I contacted the two actors via the AADPC after having sent casting for different platforms. The character who plays the deceased was an actor with which had worked previously. I go too achieve a permit to shoot on the small lake of Terrassa, though the first option had been rolling at the top of La Mola. The production management was in charge of the Marina Figueres which organized the transport, the diets and especially to communicate to all the hikers who passed by the area that was being rolled out distributing a lot of posters around the perimeter.
Art was very important, it had to be believable and I’m pretty into it proud of the result. Of this s'en commissioned the Ruth Recasens who got the clothing and was responsible for building the (with bamboo canes and aluminum bars) the bunk bed where the protagonists they carry the dead. Thanks to a friend watchmaker vam to be able to get a vintage pocket watch.
The direction of photography was done by Pere and Mar Vidal whom I forced to see all the references I had, among which were mainly Howard's Red River Hawks and the trilogy from dollar of Sergio Leone. The first film it was a more conceptual reference ( there is a journey that the characters make at the moving a herd from Texas to Kansas) and the second referent is purely visual. Especially for the typology of plans he uses that at the same time mark a certain rhythm. For me it was important to look at games, and psychological that help dilate the weather. I wanted to from the first of which is palpating a constant tension in the environment. On the other hand between direction, assistant director (Iván Osuna) i photography, vam having to think very carefully about the time there was for each plan Because of constant change of light. Keeping the light record was quite a challenge. To give one look older and for remetre in the cinema he had as a reference vam decide use analog optics to give the "look" of those first low-budget westerns that were shot in Spain in the mid-60s (for example the trilogy from dollar).
In the shooting no there was many complications. Perhaps the most annoying was the sound, as sometimes background is could feel hikers. We had to stop, to warn that it was rolling and to roll again. This made us waste a lot of time, not power rehearse both to seven (for sort we had could do the week previous) i vam having to cut dialogues. Even so it gave us time to shoot all that was planned. This gave me a production lesson. Even if I had a permit had had to to have about four people who covered the perimeter to be able to intercept more efficiently the hikers and curious people who passed by.
While I’m generally happy with the result, I was able to to find a tone, and work with the actors, I would have liked matissar some moments in the acting to further escalate the tension Until reach climax. I regret it also of not being able to be more precise or to be able to sharpen in the axis of glances and to have been able to work more the end, after the discussion. Another detail that follows me stunning is not to have shot one plan more open of the Corpse (very important element) which I think was very necessary.
This is an idea that by doing a little introspection personally I have realized that it has its origin in the conflicts that we brothers constantly have, the lies that we hide and the truths that we tell ourselves and how sometimes despite making fun of us we end up forgiving ourselves. Behind this western there are experiences personal but that they become universal, in this case I do not mean the specific situation of the short film but the concept and essence of the situation, with which we can identify.