Ya'll's note taking sux.
But then again, I'm a fruitcake.
Here we go...
Note opening sequence's very simple three fixed camera shots:
1 - bird's eye setting up the event we can anticipate is about to happen
2 - medium tilt-up shot of actor performing act off screen
3 - 180° bird's eye showing the aftermath of the act
No bloodbath on screen.
1st DIY Sequence Practice Proposal: To those of us interested in practicing craft, film your own three fixed position sequence of an event that occurs off screen. Post in some other thread.
Share what we learned.
I like master Doi's referral to the Shogun's orders of addressing his younger brother Naritsugu "quietly". Nice.
1st Assassin -
Shinzaemon, the experienced but retired master living the peaceful fishing life alone. Ahhh...
Is that a trope? A cliché? Seems awfully "Ben Kenobi-ish".
BAD GUY -->
Naritsugu, rape of Chise only suggested and beheadment of monkey neck off screen.
Makino father serves as martyr - and becomes key element later in story.
DOI "He cut out her tongue, as well" line was a wee over the top.
PHYSICAL CONFLICT ESTABLISHED: SHINZAEMON "I will accomplish your wish with magnificence".
Well... first, there was no wish actually stated by either Doi or the Old Shogun, only an implication of the situation needs to be addressed and I'm talking to you, gonna parade an old guy with a story, and show you a freak. I'll let you fill in the blanks.
Love it.
BAD GUY'S BITCH -->
Hanbei, poor bastard's spent his entire existence playing catch up with Shinzaemon, even took position with the nutbag Naritsugu to attain the position equal to Shinzaemon's last post.
ACT I concludes. We all know what the problem is.
ACT II Begins. Now let's go solve it!
HANBEI "If Doi has chosen [Shinzaemon] then we have drawn the worst luck".
This is exactly what I was talking about
in another thread where one of the simplest elements to story crafting is to simply have someone else verbally establish another character as being powerful. No expensive and time consuming need to shoot or display such.
Just have someone say it. Several characters, even. They don't even have to be powerful and respected themselves. Just some sort of credible source.
Strict adherence to "show, don't tell" is bullsh!t.
Sometimes telling is plenty effective enough.
2nd Assassin Kuanaga, close friend of Shinzaemon. Kuanaga brings his latest samurai student
Ishizuka, the
3rd Assassin.
Kuanaga also brings an older student,
Mitsuhashi 4th Assassin, along with four other men, two subordinates,
Otake &
Hioke the
5th and 6th Assassins, and two "men",
Higuchi &
Horii the
7th and 8th Assassins
Shinzaemon's own student from years ago,
Hirayama, has been living as a hired sword, or ronin, for the last ten years and would like to pay back his debt to Shinzaemon by joining as the
9th Assassin
Together, these nine begin outlining territorial limitations to engagement as well as manpower limitations.
Introduce Shinzaemon's nephew
Shinrakuru, dissatisfied with the life of a samurai and his own personal life.
Hirayama (#9) volunteers his own young orphan student to the cause,
Ogara, the
10th Assassin, and brings his associate
Sahara, the lowly Ronin with a spear, who becomes the
11th Assassin.
Stumbling in with self disgust is Shinzaemon's nephew
Shinrakuru, seemingly throwing his pointless life away as the
12th Assassin.
All meetNgreet, perform a little training together,
Higuchi &
Horii (#s 7 & 8) assigned to explosives (and mild comic relief), begin thoughtful plan formulation.
VALUE CONFLICT ESTALISHED -
Hanbei's surprise visit has a vulgar expositionary block describing what a true worthless POS he is, culminating in some pathetic subordination to
Shinzaemon seeking confirmation that a samurai's duty is to serve his Lord, only to have Shinzaemon state a samurai's duty is to protect the people.
This will remain as
Shinzaemon's ever present "good guy" value and
Hanbei's constant source of moral conflict between misperceived duty to a Lord he doesn't approve of and a classmate he's always tried to best, if only poorly emulated.
#12, nephew Shinrakuru begins voice over questioning his uncle's timing.
Hanbei begins questioning his adversary's timing.
Both establish Shinzaemon as the master planner.
After ally and foe are both on pins and needles, Shinzaemon announces his sound plan + some luck: Drive Naritsugu to the city of Ochiai, defeat his display samurai guard there.
Shinzaemon's close friend Kuanaga and student Ishizuka (#s 2 & 3) sent to secure a no-pass across the Kiso bridge from the Makino father of the raped DAL and beheaded son.
Kuanaga's eldest student Mitsuhashi (#4) sent with bribe money to negotiate with the leadership of the city of Ochiai to permit their usage of their city for their group's assault on
Naritsugu.
The first battle is the first real outdoor scene and is shot on a heavy overcast day. Note even shadows.
The attack along the road sends the company across the mountains.
More
Higuchi &
Horii (#s 7 & 8) humor the audience with the leaches.
Just as they get lost in the mountain forest they rescue Koyata Kiga from the suspended trap, who trades guide services for food. Despite claiming samurai lineage he is not accepted among the group as a samurai himself.
His indignantcy is a constant source of petty humor for the remainder of the show, as well as motivation to prove himself worthy of their kinsmanship.
ACT II part I ends. All significant characters have been introduced and key story elements set in motion.
ACT II part II begins. Time to develop all the story elements previously set in motion.
At the Kiso bridge Hanbei permits Naritsugu to place his own life in danger.
Note scene shot in near full sunlight.
Hanbei's conservative decision to abandon propriety, insult the Naegi clan, bypass danger to protect Naritsugu is undone when Naritsugu himself tells him "Choose the foolish path. It's more fun that way".
Again, seppuku performed off screen, this time by Makino patriarch to protect the plot against Naritsugu.
Note forest scenes shot on overcast days.
Credit given to Makino father as a great samurai for serving his people, not their evil lord.
Preparatory transformation of Ochiai begins just past film's midpoint.
Note overcast sky and even lighting.
All of these overcast skies should allow for a flatter color range image to be captured in camera to be tweaked for color and contrast in post to bring out richer colors by not crushing blacks and blowing out highlights on the original image.
Main battle sequence mostly shot on overcast days.
However, close observation shows lighting continuity is all over the place.
Arrows are fired from overcast roof tops to sun lit targets in the courtyard.
Hanbei's delay to triple his samurai force surprises Shinzemon and company, out of skewed desperation he accepts Kiga as a samuarai of sorts,
13th Assassin, and leads them into battle.
ACT II part II ends, It's a pretty bad situation, all sensible hope of surviving their own assault against Naritsugu is gone. This is a suicide mission.
ACT III begins, classic "How are they gonna get out of this impossible situation? 13 against 200!"
NUMEROUS military strategic blunders at Ochiai follow many shrewd decisions beforehand.
If there was something fishy nagging at the back of your male brains, this might be it.
Whatever.
Just watch it. Quit thinking about it.
BTW, WhereTH did all of those arrows come from? Do you guys recall seeing the twelve sams humping that sh!t over the mountains? Yeah... I didn't either. I'm about to b!tch about the sam sword garden, too. Same gripe.
The exploding death of Mitsuhashi (#4) splashing gallons of blood over the rooftop was... absurd.
Okay, now the sword garden where Hirayama (#9) goes through fifty paper sams is pretty cool and all, but where the h3ll did all those swords come from? It's not like they're back in the "big city" where there are five different pawn shops to buy these by the bulk, and I don't recall them humpin' what looks like probably ten to fifteen swords apiece over the mountain and through the forest either.
Whatever.
Just watch the show.
By the time the battle gets to the Kuanaga (#2) sword sequence with Shinzaemon's (#1) rescue the sound of swords slashing and clanging has become increasingly overplayed.
Fortunately, audio relief comes from Hirayama's (#9) use of bone crushing rock blows leading to his eventual death, mercifully followed by Kiga's wild man branch blows.
When Naritsugu throws his short sword into Kiga's neck and he staggers back notice the camera pulls back slightly to increase the distance.
(Pathetic) Final Showdown: Hanbei and Shinzaemon's last stand is shot under an overcast sky.
Hanbei abandons negotiation rather easily. I guess he's just itching for a fight.
180° rule mostly observed, frequently violated.
Note additional weight should have been added to the prop head of Hanbei when it's kicked.
Shinzaemon and Nagitsugu's confrontation shot under a sunny sky.
Pathetic conclusion.
Hardly epic.
2nd DIY Sequence Practice Proposal: Shoot one overcast shot and one sunny shot, match them up in post. Post in another thread, see what we learned.
Okay, This should have been more of an
ensemble cast film, more like OCEAN'S ELEVEN franchise, SNATCH, or SYRIANA.
Would have benefited a great deal from developing more of the 12 assassin characters other than Shinzaemon and Hariyama with some Kiga on the side.
And that final battle sequence between near-peers sucked donkey balls.
The "event" where Shinzaemon basically let Nagitsugu stick him in the belly then shove him off and cut his head off was retarded. Lame sauce.
Planning on this could've benefitted from a few more weeks of development or getting more or less chefs in or out of the kitchen.
The material was there for a much better story.
Oh, well...
