Reflective Self-Assessment

For this module we were given the task of filming two professional actors in a scene from a script we had been given. My role in this project was director for one scene and assistant director on Paul Manning’s scene. There were certain requirements to these scenes as we could not use wide angles and we had to incorporate the use of reflection from something like a mirror. Both Paul Manning and myself chose the script Bitter Little Twist, however our interpretations of the script were very different.     

I feel I have learnt a great deal as director for this project. Previous to this module I had never been tasked with working with such a large group, the first thing I learnt was how to manage, work and coordinate with the crew to complete the short film to a high standard.

I re-wrote the script I had chosen and worked with my team to try and bring the script to the screen. I had never heavily edited or adapted someone else’s work before, so in order to learn as much about the process as I could I decided to make major changes to the script’s setting, genre and story in order to learn what such responsibilities included, therefore the setting was changed to the USA’s south, the genre was changed to a western and the story was changed to be about a manipulative bride tricking the men in town to kill each other for her benefit. Making these changes involved working closely with Dan Walsh my script editor in order to create a script that could be considered a good quality and also realistic to film. I also discovered it was best to keep the script as close to the original as possible, a few action paragraphs were changed to emphasise the western feel and small changes were made to the dialogue in order to make the characters feel like the old west, otherwise I felt it was important to stay faithful to the source material.     

During pre-production I closely worked with my cinematographer Emily Burcham to mark the script with the shot list so we knew that every line and action was covered and preferably had multiple angles so that if one angle didn’t look good there were others to choose from in the edit. Emily taught me how to get the most out of each shot so that each one help get across the tone of the story and at the same time appear interesting, for example, towards the end of the scene, Tommy is shown to look into a mirror where his paranoia shows Hana in a black dress about to shoot him, it was Emily Burchams Idea to have the shot from Tommy’s POV in order to emphasise to the audience that this is Tommy hallucinating and is not actually happening.    

Prior to this module, I had not worked in a studio to film a high quality scene with large amounts of dialogue. I feel I learnt a lot from filming the scene in a workstation studio,  as before I did not realise how much control a studio gives you over the lighting you can use if you have a lighting set, using the lighting in the studio allowed us to set the tone for the film better and allow an easier time for the editor during editing. I also learnt about the difficulties of working in a studio in regards to recording sound, as at least in the workstation we had to work in the sounds of cars and traffic could constantly be heard in the background, the sound of the traffic in the background can be heard in the film, this is a problem I have had to work with my sound designer to try to fix, we have learnt how to lower the background sound and made the traffic much less noticeable. 

Of course a director’s main task is to direct their crew and actors, before this module I had never worked with a crew of this size, nor had I worked with professional actors before. I had no experience doing this, however I feel that I learnt how to handle myself in directing such a large group. I found the best approach when directing was to be friendly and confident during the shoot, I found a friendly attitude put both the actors and crew at ease, but I had to make it clear I knew what I was doing and what I wanted from all involved. Despite being pressed for time and having a large number of people to work with I felt it was important to make time to ask everyone how the shoot was going for them at that moment, by asking people if they were OK I was able to learn of a couple of issues that we were then able to work together to fix, for example I discovered a slight continuity error regarding the money on the table because I took the time to talk to my script editor Dan, Emily was also having and issue with the mirror showing the camera that I was able to help with once I discovered the problem.

Having never worked with such professional and passionate actors before, I learnt that how it important it was as a director to help them become their character and not just have someone in front of a camera saying lines. I sat down with both actors and told them who I had decided these characters were and why they were doing what they doing, I believe doing this allowed both actors to change their performance to get the scene to be as I had hoped it would be. I also realised that people will not always come to the same conclusions as you do, for example Claire thought that her character Hana had suddenly changed dresses and actually killed Tommy, where as I had interpreted the ending to be a hallucination that was a product of tommy’s paranoia, had I not talked to the actors about the script, then filming may have been extremely for the actors and I would not have got the best performance from them.

I also found that it was best to not be too blunt when trying to change what and actor was doing, due to the small amount of time we had I knew we didn’t have time to “try something out” but if I disliked something about the acting then I would claim I had an idea that I wanted to use, if the performance was better I would encourage the actor to do it again if not then I praised them     

Before this module I had never had to work with an art director on set design in a studio before. I found that an open set gave Ali and I a lot of room to create a space that we felt helped create the atmosphere we were hoping for. It was also an interesting experience to work on a film in the western genre. I wanted to work on a western as I had felt it would be a fun and creative way to push our abilities to set a scene that was appropriate for the genre we were making.

As said before, I was under considerable time constraints on the day of filming, I have never had to film so much in such a short amount of time, I feel I learnt a lot about working quickly whilst also making a high quality short film. I found the best way to get everything done was to work quickly between takes during the set up. However when the cameras starting rolling, I tried to put the actors at ease as much as possible as I felt this would get a better performance out of them.

As well as all this I had my very first experience of working as an assistant director. I learnt my main responsibility as assistant director was time keeping, as Paul Manning’s scene was on a very tight schedule I was in charge of making sure we did not over-run as there would be no chance of a re-shoot. As well as time keeping I made sure that everyone of set was quiet before a take and that both camera and sound we ready before we would go for a take. On top of all this, I also used the clapperboard for the first time.  

In conclusion, I feel I have learnt a lot during this module, as there were plenty of opportunities to discover new ways of filming. I had new experiences such as working with a script editor, professional actors, a lighting technician and sound recorders using equipment to subtly change the sound. Previous to this project I had never worked on such a tight schedule, worked in a workstation studio or worked as a assistant director. I am also much more confident in my skills than I was before, something I hope will help my final major project in the second semester.