The Legend of Stamp Jackson

High adventure in the old west! When a renowned outlaw guns down her family, a young woman enlists the aid of a hotshot gunman to claim her revenge. Will their combined efforts be enough to stop the prolific murderer? Or will their corpses simply add to the mounting legend of Stamp Jackson? (2014, 15 minutes.)

BONUS MATERIAL

Our heroes find themselves a bit tied up.

Horsing Around: Making the Legend of Stamp Jackson

When producing a sprawling Western on a shoestring budget, it's important to maintain an atmosphere of professionalism at all times. No one embodies this philosophy quite like Blue Dragon Studios. When it comes time to making movies, we don't mess around. No sir, not at all. Horseplay of any kind is strictly verboten. (2014, 12 minutes.)

Brody's Six-Shooter Bottle Trick

Ben's seven year-old cousin Brody shows off his shooting skills with an impromptu demonstration on the set of The Legend of Stamp Jackson. (2014, 1 minute.)

Kevin (actor) and Ben (director) talk about making a western in Ohio.

KEVIN: Hey, man. You want to get some food?

BEN: To the casual observer, making a Western in Ohio might seem like an act of desperation. For years, I think we had written it off as an impossibility.

KEVIN: We had? C'mon, I'm hungry.

BEN: But, why? They say all you need to shoot a Western is "dirt and horses." We've got dirt and-

KEVIN: -so what if it's not the right color?

BEN: Well, I don't know about that. I mean, I've been to Montana, and in terms of palette, it's not far off. Granted, we don't have mountains, but a matte painting or two fixes that right up.

KEVIN: Who are you talking to, exactly?

BEN: And the horses! Let's not forget the horses!

KEVIN: Let's not forget dinner...

BEN: I've often felt the best way to transcend a low budget is to plan your project around elements you already have access to. We wrote Prototype around a law office we knew we could get into, and we shot Stamp Jackson on a family farm an hour outside Columbus - something we knew we could use, and something we knew had horses. If we had to shell out for the steeds, there's basically no way we could afford to make the movie. We'd have been forced to make something entirely different instead.

KEVIN: Like a sandwich, maybe.

BEN: I've accumulated enough costume pieces and acting contacts over the years that the rest of the planning was pretty well in hand. Buying an entire Western wardrobe or paying a cast of entirely new actors would have been similarly prohibitive in the expense department.

KEVIN: Oh my gosh. You're just going to keep talking, aren't you?

BEN: Placing the most elusive elements of your project for free does wonders for production value. In our case, it let us make a "big" movie without breaking the bank.

KEVIN: It doesn't even matter what I say. Cough drops. Baboon. Tapioca.

BEN: Producing this movie was a blast, because I got to work with my family and friends simultaneously. It's thrilling to get so many great people together to play pretend in my make-believe world at the same time.

KEVIN: Ugh, barf. Well, I hope you're satisfied, because I think I've just lost my appetite.