Here's some commentary on the pictures that I posted yesterday on the film shoot I participated in out at Corriginaville Park in Simi. Basically, a friend of mine was contacted by an aspring director (he's done a lot of legit film work on major productions so this wasn't some student film production, something I learned long ago to stay away from) about a helping with a 6-minute trailer he's producing as a promotional piece so he can show it to potential investors and hopefuly be able to fund a full production.
While I don't know what the precise title is or much about the plot due to not having signed a non-disclosure agreement (kind of stupid, in my opinion) except what I do know is that it's some sort of action/romance story set in British India in the 1820s/30s. The history is a bit suspect but since it wasn't my party, I didn't really attempt to figure it out.
My involvement was portraying British Cavalry, along with some other members of the group a regularly drill with, The Warhorse and Militaria Foundation. The choice to film this at Corriganville park was based on the fact that it's open to the public and the management had no issues with us filming so long as we weren't setting up generators or shooting (i.e. all the stuff that a conventional production brings with it). What was interesting was later I found out that this park was once part of a larger movie ranch called the Corrigan Movie Ranch and a lot of B-Westerns and the like were filmed here during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Ultimately, the ranch fell victim to changing times and real estate development (a constant theme in Southern California).
Anyway, I was at the stables at 6am and I had to walk Max over to my friend's house to load him on the trailer (it's only a block or so away and it's easier to to that than have him drive over). After some delay, I got Max loaded with no problems (yay!) and we were off to Simi (I loaded saddle and tack in my van and followed behind).
The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot and we arrived on set about 10 am. Although I had been told that we'd mostly be doing shots that involved riding around and standing, it turned out that we were mostly going to be involved in battle scenes. Great! While I've done some sword and lance training on Max and he's pretty good about it, I was uncertain about battle scenes.
It was no surprise but Max definately did not react well to the battle scenes and it was a challenged to keep him under control. Finally for many of the scenes I had to work him towards the periphery of the battles and push him in as much as I could while making sure to avoid running over anyone on foot or mounted.
After a few takes, most of the group retired back to the parking lot to change outfits while me and one other person stayed behind to film some more scenes. As it turned out, because of Max's hesitancy, I suggested to the director that I ride Max in front of the camera with the fight in the background- Max would be far enough away from the fight but be able to do something of value.
The director agreed to this and I worked out a small trail that ran in front of the camera, went up a small hill and then sharply dropped off. I walked the route several times first, then trotted it, and finally cantered part of the way. The trick to it was that I had to get up the hill fast but then slow him down on the other side (for both our safety). One good things was that I found that Max definately likes running up hills and it gave him a "job" to do and took him mind off of everything else.
While I don't know what the precise title is or much about the plot due to not having signed a non-disclosure agreement (kind of stupid, in my opinion) except what I do know is that it's some sort of action/romance story set in British India in the 1820s/30s. The history is a bit suspect but since it wasn't my party, I didn't really attempt to figure it out.
My involvement was portraying British Cavalry, along with some other members of the group a regularly drill with, The Warhorse and Militaria Foundation. The choice to film this at Corriganville park was based on the fact that it's open to the public and the management had no issues with us filming so long as we weren't setting up generators or shooting (i.e. all the stuff that a conventional production brings with it). What was interesting was later I found out that this park was once part of a larger movie ranch called the Corrigan Movie Ranch and a lot of B-Westerns and the like were filmed here during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Ultimately, the ranch fell victim to changing times and real estate development (a constant theme in Southern California).
Anyway, I was at the stables at 6am and I had to walk Max over to my friend's house to load him on the trailer (it's only a block or so away and it's easier to to that than have him drive over). After some delay, I got Max loaded with no problems (yay!) and we were off to Simi (I loaded saddle and tack in my van and followed behind).
The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot and we arrived on set about 10 am. Although I had been told that we'd mostly be doing shots that involved riding around and standing, it turned out that we were mostly going to be involved in battle scenes. Great! While I've done some sword and lance training on Max and he's pretty good about it, I was uncertain about battle scenes.
It was no surprise but Max definately did not react well to the battle scenes and it was a challenged to keep him under control. Finally for many of the scenes I had to work him towards the periphery of the battles and push him in as much as I could while making sure to avoid running over anyone on foot or mounted.
After a few takes, most of the group retired back to the parking lot to change outfits while me and one other person stayed behind to film some more scenes. As it turned out, because of Max's hesitancy, I suggested to the director that I ride Max in front of the camera with the fight in the background- Max would be far enough away from the fight but be able to do something of value.
The director agreed to this and I worked out a small trail that ran in front of the camera, went up a small hill and then sharply dropped off. I walked the route several times first, then trotted it, and finally cantered part of the way. The trick to it was that I had to get up the hill fast but then slow him down on the other side (for both our safety). One good things was that I found that Max definately likes running up hills and it gave him a "job" to do and took him mind off of everything else.
When time came to actually film the scene, Max was a bit put off by the shouting and screaming from the battle and it was a bit difficult to get him to focus on what I wanted. Usually I'd use a crop but that wasn't an option since I was supposed to be a cavalryman in battle. But I did have a rubber sword and out of desperation, I smacked Max on the rump with the flat of the sword- that got the needed effect and Max chaged off. After several takes, he seemed to be getting into it althogugh getting him to stand still between takes was a bit difficult so I'd have to spin him in circles serveral times before launching off. Fortuantely the director was patient and we were able to mostly do it right.
We then did a more involved battle scene and originally Max and I were to ride around the main action in a close circle while fighting a Sikh on horseback (one of our group members made up to look the part) while at the same time there was fight on the ground raging all around us.
Well, Max took one look at this and basically said "HELL NO!" so we had to work around it several times as best we could. I never was able to actually "fight" anyone so I waived my sword around and yelled a lot. Considering Max had never done this before, it was perfectly understandable and my goal is to help desensitize him to this sort of thing. I think we can do it but it will take some time (like all horse training).
For the last scene of the day, we did the same sort of scene as we did before on the little trail but this time, there would be fight directly around us and I would be joined by a friend of mine. We were to go single file over the hill and given Max's previous refusals in fight scenes, I got my friend to go first, figuring that Max would follow another horse more willingly than if he was in the front (plus the shot wouldn't be wasted since my friend would still be in it even if Max refused).
As things worked out, it definately made Max nervious but seeing the other horse go through with it first made him brave enough to follow my aids. We charge the hill at almost a full gallop and fle over the hill. Max was definately buzzed up and took a bit of effort to stop him at the other end but no worries.
By the time we were done, it was 6pm and we'd basically worked 8 hours in the saddle that day, with a few breaks. The one downside is that the logistics hadn't been worked out compeltely and we didnt' get any lunch until late in the afternoon and more imporatantly, there was no water for the horses. Ultimately, someone bigged up a small horse trough and at one point I went back to the trailers in the parking lot and watered Max there. He definately worked hard.
Max was more than happy to load up in the trailer- he was tired and once we got back to the stables, Max drank a lot of water and eagerly attacked him customary bucket of A&M and Omolene 200. The day had definately been a learning experience and I would definately like to be able to work on some more productions with Max so more training is in order but I think Max will work into it eventually.
P.S. It was pointed out to me that I was functioning as a stunt rider, along with everyone else. Although I'm flattered, I DO NOT consider myself any sort of stunt man. Just a guy who wants to work with his horse and get some money for it once in awhile. :-) But it's interesting to see that I'm following a tradition of sorts, filming at a former movie ranch and the like.
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