DVC9 "An Escape" - Bruce Foreman

[Bruce Foreman]

Thought I was "jinxed" for sure. Three tries at getting cast and crew failed miserably, so day before the deadline I came up with a simple story line and once again "stumbled" out in front of the camera.

Actually turned out better than desperation led me to believe it was going to.

The property our local gun club purchased a few years ago adjacent to our range facility was an almost perfect location. Some day we'll expand onto it but most of our members don't even know it's there and it was "wild" enough for my purpose.

Started shooting late afternoon to get away from the heat of the day, so the lighting changed on me fairly fast. I did start to white balance in post but then decided to let the approaching sunset change in color temperature add it's own element to the end of the day.

Don't expect to win or even place....But I AIN'T ON THE WALL!

[Jesse Steele]

Bruce I really enjoyed the concept, Good way to make the audience think.

jesse steele

[Daniel Kohl]

Simple strait story. You Elegantly avoided the WOS.

I am amazed at how hard it is to improvise something some times. The hardest part is to just say what the hell, if I don't get up and do something nothing will ever get done. I learned from this DVC that if all your plans fall through, and you get up the nerve to try and do something anyway, it will definitely pay off.

I have to say; I was surprised by how you ended the story. I don't know what kind of prejudices are at work there (on my side) about lever action wielding guys driving pick-ups. It was a nice twist.


Help save the bob cats!

[Jesse Steele]

was that a real model 94 winchester 30-30(pre 1964)? or one of the replicas?
I inherited one from my grandfather, who was an old rancher, that was made in 1899!!

Those are sweet rifles

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Daniel Kohl

Simple strait story. You Elegantly avoided the WOS.

I am amazed at how hard it is to improvise something some times. The hardest part is to just say what the hell, if I don't get up and do something nothing will ever get done. I learned from this DVC that if all your plans fall through, and you get up the nerve to try and do something anyway, it will definitely pay off.

I think several of us found ourselves in the same boat. Be interesting to see how others kept themselves "off the wall".

Originally Posted by Daniel Kohl

I have to say; I was surprised by how you ended the story. I don't know what kind of prejudices are at work there (on my side) about lever action wielding guys driving pick-ups. It was a nice twist.


Help save the bob cats!

It kind of came from a real experience in the early 1970's. Brother in law and one of his friends took me deer hunting, I'd never been before. I tracked a doe (we had doe tags) to her bed and while she stood listening to one of the other guys I had a clean shot and something inside of me said, "Not today." and I pulled the one shot high. Duane got her the next day.

I don't hunt, could and would if I had to put food on the table that way but the meat I need comes neatly packaged in the base commissary (cheaper, too). I have nothing against it, just don't care to kill, inflict pain, and injury to critters. I do understand ranchers need to control predators and pests, but I love to shoot in action format matches and I teach defensive shooting to folks licensed to "carry".

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Jesse Steele

was that a real model 94 winchester 30-30(pre 1964)? or one of the replicas?

It's replica. M92 Puma (Trapper Model) made by Rossi, in .357 Magnum. I actually had my choice of a Winchester 92 same calibre for about $100 more, but the Rossi mounted to my shoulder with the sights in perfect alignment while the Winchester required some adjustment in position to align the sights.

And in the film it was loaded. We see rattlesnakes on a regular basis near the boundaries of the part we have firing ranges on.

Originally Posted by Jesse Steele

I inherited one from my grandfather, who was an old rancher, that was made in 1899!!

Those are sweet rifles

You have 3 reasons to never trade, sell, or let anyone con you out of that Winchester.

1. Sweet rifle (You already mentioned that)

2. Having inherited it from your grandfather, you have to be able to feel something of his presence each time you pick it up. Especially if he took you shooting or hunting with it.

3. Winchester Repeating Arms is gone, the tools and dies and all machinery off the factory floor have all been auctioned off. No company came forward with enough funds to purchase and keep the company going.

So there will be no more Winchester lever actions made. Yours will only increase in value as time goes by.

[Randall Allen]

Great story Bruce. I was fairly certain you were going to let the two main characters get away, but was not sure how you would do it.

Great job acting too, if you "stumbled infront of the camera" I did not see it.

Randy

[Geir Inge]

Hi Bruce.
Just been watching your youtube version of "An Escape", and I liked it very much. You're quite an actor and your narrations worked out fine together with your choice of music. I was waiting for the creature to show up, but it didn't, but I think it was a fine ending and from a wildlifer's point of view; I just loved it. I think it will make the audience think and make a stand, as I did.

All the best from Geir Inge.

[Bruce Foreman]

Geir, thanks for your kind comments.

Yes, I would love to have been able to show a bobcat, but if any were around the noise of my moving would have kept them from showing themselves.

Bill Brown, who appeared in my UWOL4 entry trapped and shot a bobcat this morning. On that small ranch they have been losing at least half of their young goats to bobcats so he had no choice.

One street on the very edge of part of San Angelo, Stone Canyon Lane, divides wild undeveloped land and a very exclusive residential area. One side of the street for a few blocks has nice big homes with lawns on one side and a field leading into mesquite and underbrush on the other side. Deer come out in the cool of the evening, and stand around while families with young kids take walks and watch the deer.

Deer watch the families go by.

Imagine the horror of several families as 3 mountain lions rushed out of the mesquite and took down a deer while the others fled into the brush.

This happened about 3 years ago and I didn't even know we had mountain lions close by.

Sure would have been nice if I could have shown a large cat of some kind.

[Lisa Shofner]

You made a nice short here. The shots were well place, thought i would have liked to see some more closeups - i know that is nearly impossible if you were shooting and staring yourself. Tough to do anything with a gun and hold a camera at the same time.

Sounds like a great area to be in though, with those wild animals. Definately would have been something to see a cat for sure. Good job overall.

[Kris Holodak]

Very high quality production. Nice time of day for lighting and exposure. I especially like that end shot. I think in that context letting the sun change as the day gets later works just fine.

I'm very impressed with the composition when you've got nobody actually behind the camera while it's rolling. The narration sounded a bit like it was being read, but it's so hard to get that right.

Smile,
Kris

[Jonathan Jones]

Well Bruce,
I'm not sure how to say what I want on this one.....other than to say that it just "felt" really good. I watched it several times and loved it more each time. The depth of the subject matter, the simplicity of the shots and landscape, and the very comfortable sense of tone and tempo in your voice was just such a perfect package that I have to say I'm duly impressed by this piece.

So is it the most technically savvy, the most action packed, or even the most entertaining short I've seen?

Maybe not.

But I think it was exactly right...for the story, the imagery, the music...it was a very well woven piece of work. And I loved it.

Very well done.

-Jon

[Stacy Dudley]

Very well done. I love movies (shorts, whatever) that have very little going on but keep you totally focused. You definitely kept me focused.

Stacy

[Lorinda Norton]

Whew! I was hoping it wasn’t that big cat’s day to die. :)

“Maybe this critter has just as much a right to live on this land as we do.” -- Wow. Them’s fightin’ words for cattle ranchers out here, but you did a fabulous job of being sensitive to both sides.

You couldn’t have found better music, and the scenery was just right.

Nice job, Bruce.

p.s. Sorry I haven’t critiqued the training video you sent me. I have a hard time thinking I’ll have anything to add/change—it’s been great so far. Thanks again!

[Dick Mays]

Originally Posted by Lorinda Norton

Whew! I was hoping it wasn’t that big cat’s day to die. :)

“Maybe this critter has just as much a right to live on this land as we do.” -- Wow. Them’s fightin’ words for cattle ranchers out here, but you did a fabulous job of being sensitive to both sides.

I used to live in the country, but I'm a city boy again, and loved that he couldn't pull the trigger on the bobcat. (I do miss the deer that used to graze on our property.)

Like several people said, this was a "feel good," piece. Nice visuals, but a cat or deer would have been nice. Maybe talk to the other Bruce (Broussard) and he could composite a bobcat in the scene for you.