Due to us having to re-cast 4 days before the shoot, we didn’t really get a chance to rehearse our actors. Jason who made an appearance in Bill’s film was nice enough to agree to play the part of Daniel with 4 days notice. I had spoken with both Emily and Jason separately about their characters but I was concerned about getting their characters’ chemistry right on the day without any preparation.
With two days of shooting, we shot the second half of the film on the first day. The actor’s performed really well given we were shooting the scenes out of order. I was a bit hesitant in giving direction to the actors at the start but came to realise that they didn’t see it as you bossing them around but instead helping them with their performance. It was actually a lot of fun figuring out things such as character motive and how the actors should deliver their lines. I found that in having discussed the characters over and over again in pre-production with fellow co-writer Latch, with the actors and with Christine and trying to figuire all that kind of thing out before the shoot really helped me to know what kind of thing I wanted from Emily and Jason. Furthermore, they also brought a lot to their own characters with things that I hadn’t even thought of myself.
We were lucky that we weren’t really strapped for time during the shoot on the second day so we were able to have read throughs and rehearsals. We found what we really needed time for was blocking the actors especially when they were moving around so much in the alleyway.
I found I took a lot from the directing workshops we had last semester. One thing that I remember one of the actors from the workshop saying was that actors often didn’t appreciate directors acting out the lines themselves as a form of direction. They preferred to be told how the characters are feeling and what their motives are so that they could interpret the characters themselves. This was kind of hard for me because for me, the easiest way for me to explain something is by example and I had to stop myself from spelling things out by delivering the lines myself and showing them what I wanted. I think this helped me express myself more coherently and forced me to really think about how to give direction concisely and effectively.
All in all the shoots were really fun – we had a really good crew and great actors and everyone seemed to be happy to be there which is always nice.
Here are some production stills for your viewing pleasure:
JEN
Filed under: Directing
