SwR Presents: Trailer Premiere

by Greg Brownderville

During our magazine’s redesign a couple of years ago, I was looking through the SwR archives and stumbled across a cool pen-and-ink drawing by the famous Texas artist Jerry Bywaters. After appearing on the cover a few times in the 1940s, it had never been used again. Soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew we needed to bring it back, and the Bywaters horseman has since become a major element of the magazine’s design.

Recently, as I asked myself where we should go next with our digital offerings, an idea grabbed me and wouldn’t leave me alone. I imagined a short film—an SwR trailer—that would bring the Bywaters horseman to life: a real cowboy, real horse, real West Texas horizon, with colorful content flickering in and out to express the paradoxical identity of SwR: the rugged Southwest meets the modern global city; tradition and legacy meet newness and playful innovation. Our staff envisioned using the trailer as an intro for SwR’s original video content, and to give readers a sense of who we are and what we do.

I called a meeting with Prelude Films, a production company out of Fort Worth, Texas, to propose this possibility and brainstorm ideas for the imagery and the overall aesthetic. Director Josh Gallas and Director of Photography Andrew Czap enthusiastically accepted the challenge of making the trailer.

Soon enough, we were in Abilene, Texas, with actors, crew, and a horse named Charlie. Prelude wrote and recorded SwR theme music in the classic, Moricone-inspired “Spaghetti Western” style and shot the video beautifully on 35mm and 16mm film. So without further ado, here’s the trailer.

Prelude also put together this behind-the-scenes video.

Special thanks to Josh, Andrew, and the entire crew for their brilliant work on this trailer.

Greg Brownderville is the author of three books of poetry and Editor-in-Chief of SwR.

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