I've been neglectful in my blogging duties as of late, once more my laptop has crapped out on me for what I fear is the last time. I will bring it in for a tune up but until then, I'm borrowing the computer from the local library.
It's not so bad, I do miss the solitude a laptop brings you, I could type anywhere without the sound of people doing the same thing.
I've been busy as of late also, Bullskit had just finished its January show, where I was able to do some interesting and may I say (experimental) sketches which I was rather proud of. We had the usual crowd of people who were more than happy with our antics.
I also moved to a new place for the second time in less than four months, this one will hopefully see me through the winter before I find a more permanent residence.
Perhaps the most interesting thing I did in the month of January was I shot a short film. Based on my one act play "Good Morning", we shot it in a rather unorthodox but I think, exciting way. "Good Morning" is the story of a young couple and basically sees them through a morning routine of waking up, slight flirtation, and a small but meaningful talk about the past, the future, and how they see eachother.
As I was rehearsing with the actors, I blurted out "I think this is the best thing I've ever written". I'm very proud of this little 20 minute slice of life, it was inspired by a little moment in my life, and I like to think it has something to say.
I was told by multiple people that this play would make a good film and I must admit I was interested in the prospect of filming something. Film is a passion of mine, yet I've remained dormant behind the camera for far too long, I was hoping for a crack at it.
Along with my producer James Wilson and my DOP Don Armstrong, the three of us came up with a concept. Don's inspiration drew from a Woody Allen type of film where we follow these characters in and out of camera, sometimes they would both be on screen, but we would follow the more prominent personality.
My stress was on a quiet observational point of view, where we don't notice the camera movement, and at some point it stays completely motionless. There is one moment at the end of the film where there is a deliberate movement of the camera that is supposed to be noticed, other than that it was the objective not to notice any movement, but only the actors.
As a result of this concept, much of what is common in film language was thrown out the window, we didn't worry about insert shots, close-ups, coverage, or continuity. I felt this freed the actors up to run through the script from beginning to end, also give them a chance to improvise and explore their relationship.
We did very few shots, so the actors could get through big clumps of the script before we cut, this was also helpful to the continuity of the performances, as a result we did very few takes, the average number being around four in total.
As a director, I had two objectives, one was I wanted to be able to shoot a film on schedule and not run behind time. I'm happy that we finished one day ahead of schedule being able to give everyone Sunday off. My other objective was to create an environment for the actors to feel relaxed and let the pressure off, I think that was accomplished, I felt the environment was calm, everyone was professional and respectful, they were all there to do their duty and as a result we all had a good time.
I looked at the footage for the first time yesterday unedited. I feel what we have is a film that has the potential to be good, the performances are real and natural and I feel we captured it. Looking back at it though, I feel the frame was too tight at times, I wanted to pull back on them more and give the audience more space just to observe. I also felt that we might've done too many shots, that's strange thinking that we didn't do many in the first place, but I feel many of the shots could've gone on even longer. There is one shot that wasn't framed properly at all, and if I could re shoot one shot it would be that one, but honestly this is me nit-picking. I am happy with what we shot, hopefully in editing it will all come together as a whole.
The idea of this film was to capture a relationship at a crossroads, nothing more, and nothing less, and I think we have been mostly successful, when all is said and done, everyone was pleased with the shooting, the actors gave great performances, and I came away wanting to shoot something else.
I liked shooting in this style, I feel I still have to find my voice, and I need more experience composing shots, but I'm interested in stories about people and about relationships. I know many people who've had more experience behind the camera, they know more about the business and the film language. I'd like to think that film is still a new artform and it's important in order for this artform to grow, that new things must be tried to test the language of film, I suppose that was my objective too. I'm not saying what I did was new, I derived from a lot of movies I've seen to come up with this style, but I like to think that film becomes more exciting when it challenges the expectations of the viewer, it becomes unpredictable, and I guess that's what I was ultimately trying to accomplish. At the end my DOP Don saw some of the footage in black and white saying it felt very "European", I guess that's what I was excited about, the aim was more arthouse than multiplex.
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