Norway III

We had been lucky with the weather. Other than the rain the day we arrived, and a lot of wind the next evening it was generally quite warm, and the sky was mixed with clouds and sun. So my one main worry I had about shooting out of sequence, that there would of different weather as each story day progressed did not come to pass.
That was until the Friday morning when I awoke to hear the rain. Lu and I quickly rescheduled. We had a plan that in such a situation we would black out the cabin and shoot the evening scenes, but now that it was Friday we had shot most of those them. We also needed sun for some of the scenes we had planned to shoot that Friday, and the weather was forecast to be sunny and clear on Saturday. Our original plan was to shoot the travelling day on Saturday, when Claire travels to the cabin. Now it made sense to shoot all of these scenes in the rain. She would arrive on a gloomy and wet day, just like we did. And then the weather would change for her, like it did for us.
So it was out onto the boat, then into the car, with a minimal crew and out onto the highway we had come in on. Since our space was limited we could only take Flora, the actor, Roland for sound, and JC and Ania to deal with the camera. Lu had to stay at the cabin and fret. This day involved a number of sequences, Claire stopped in the car, reading some road signs, stopped at a bridge, watching the river passing by, then a man loading the boat. That had to be me, unfortunately, as we were quickly running out of crew members to put in the film.
Then a few sequences on the boat, of Claire seeing her destination come into view, and the spray off the bow. We left Flora at the cabin to finish a few other sequences in the car, where she was not required, her baggage rattling about on the floor of the car, then the landscape out of the car window. We drove onto the island we had called home, on a small, rough road. Ania and JC set themselves in the back of the car and I had thought to make this shot quite short, but every time I called cut JC and Ania would shout back, 'No! No! This is beautiful. We have to get this. '
By the time we had come to this scene the rain had stopped and the weather was clearing up. This was great as we were scheduled another scene with Katrine, on the deck, after they had come back from a day of hiking. The weather was meant to be clear, and by 4 that afternoon it was.
The oddest thing about this day was David leaving in the afternoon. He had some work on Saturday and we took him to the bus station on the highway as we didn't have the time to take him to the airport. He had such a part of the whole experience it seemed so odd that he wasn't there when we had finished.
We had more evening scenes to shoot Friday, the final scene between Claire and Natalie, and we waited a long time into the evening for the light to go down sufficiently. We needed to shoot out the windows.
There was still one sequence from that travelling day to shoot, when Claire goes into a Norwegian shop and buys some groceries. We had to do that on Saturday morning because Ronny had arranged with the Kiwi shop to do it then. As it turned out the manager there that morning had heard nothing about it, but he let us shoot anyway. I don't think that would've happened in London. So we had a little Norwegian flavour in this shop, Claire at a distance in this new place due to the language.
That Saturday morning it was also rather sad as Katrine and Ania both were leaving, like David both had work, Katrine in Britain, Ania in Poland. After such an intense experience it was hard to imagine not having all these people around when we finished on Saturday afternoon.
But we go on...this time to the beach where we made our second attempt to shoot the swimming sequence. It was beautiful day, and probably due to the tides, and the position of the beach the jellyfish kept their distance. It took a lot of convincing but I finally manged to get Flora into the cold water to complete the sequence. This is with myself up to my waist, and JC and Kendra, who now was in charge of the camera now that Ania had gone, in the water too, with the camera. It had to be to get the shot we wanted.
We finished the afternoon retaking some of the coda sequences, an idea of David's, to think about the same place at different times of the day. Then a return to the cabin to shoot the last of the evening scenes. This one I decided could be done without shooting out the window so that we could do by blacking out the windows.
And so we are ahead of schedule, which means we are free to do whatever we needed, and this had to be going out onto the trail near the cabin and trying to shoot again the final scene, 68, which I described earlier. JC was happier with the weather as there were large clouds which allowed us to play with chance, that in the middle of the scene the light would change. So I walk through the scene again with Flora, climbing up onto the rocks with her, up onto the ridge, through the trees, discussing what we want, how to change the pace, include humour, decisions, chance, an enjoyment at the physical exertion of climbing, the rough textures of the tree bark, the stone, the view from up there.
So we are all happy and Flora does it again. It is better than when we did it previously but it still didn't feel like we were finished. So one more time. And this time it is everything. Flora has captured it, she has I had imagined it, and for JC the clouds cooperate, and we move, 3/4 of the way through the sequence from cloud to sun, but gradually, so that after Flora has disappeared in the trees I don't yet call cut, but watch as the sun comes out and slowly glows on the leaves, and it goes on and on, and the sound of the place seems to increase too, and just when it seemed the scene should be over the roll in the camera was done, it ran out.
That was a wrap. Fantastic, so happy at how it all had gone. Only sad that not everyone was there to share it. We had the evening to think about what we had accomplished.
We had asked Anton to build a BBQ down near the shore, and they had gone into Risor earlier to try to buy some wine. And they came back in shock at the cost of alcohol in Norway. The government wine store was already shut so all they could buy was beer, and the £50 I had given them only bought them 18 tins of beer.
So we had sausage and burgers down on the rocks near the fjord. The weather could not have been better and the smoke seemed to keep the midges away so JC and Roland could relax. For me, with so little sleep and a few glasses of wine in me, I managed to fall asleep right down there, with a glass of wine on my stomach, snoring away, or so I'm told, on the rocks. There is even a photo as evidence.
There is a whole story about Sunday, sending off our first group to the airport, the rest of remaining behind to clean the cabin, then loading the car, Beth driving back, Lu, JC and Roland in the back, sleeping, me in the passenger seat, also sleeping. And then on the plane, all of us sleeping again, and then the cab back from Stansted, JC, Roland and I sharing a cab, caught in a traffic jam at 12pm, again sleeping through most of it. And we are done.
So some photos of everyone from JC. (I am going to save the last post of David's photos alone).













Ania













Anton













Azahara













Beth














Camera girls














David














Flora














Katrine














Katrine and Kendra














Kendra














Lu














Roland














It's a wrap. Flora and Roland at our BBQ the final day.














It's all too much. I can finally catch up on some sleep.

Norway II

Our first shooting day began with a rehearsal of a key scene, 61. This includes a difficult confrontation between Claire and her sister, Natalie. It involved a lot of business (I remembered too late why you avoid scenes involving food), and some throwing of objects. All of us were concerned for a number of things, getting a performance level that was also believable, and still safe. If Flora were to throw things we have to believe them, but she has to have enough control to ensure the safety of Katerine and everyone else on the crew.
In the meantime Lu continued battling the schedule, while Roland went to the airport early to pick up the rest of the crew. I was worried about them as I had cruelly put them on the early flight, which left London at 6:30am. They would have had to get up at 3am to get to the airport and would be coming quite tired, not ideal for an afternoon and evening of shooting. I had asked Lu if it were possible to switch the evening shoot for a rehearsal we had scheduled but she found this was not possible. They had a very long day.
We began by shooting some simple scenes in the cabin, and then in late afternoon hiked to a series of locations near what we called the beach. Here, we began by shooting a scene where Claire and Natalie go out hiking, Claire leaving Natalie behind when she cannot keep up. As we scrambled about in the brush for a shooting position we managed to loose the eye cup for the camera. This was a blow as we imagined trying to put our eyes up against the sharp metal end of the eyepiece for the rest of the week. This was the first and certainly not the only time that Anton became a hero. Later, while we were waiting for the sun to go down he dug up in the brush and found the thing. Anton had come along to help Azahara with the art direction but he also did work shooting making of video, carrying loads up and down the hills, clearing jellyfish from one of our swimming locations, and finally building a BBQ down by the water for our wrap dinner.
We stayed at the beach through the evening. David was back at the cabin and set us dinner by boat. We shot a number of shots, without actors, and then finished the evening by a series of shots of Claire in the forest at night. This was one of three shots where we moved the camera in the film, a tilt down from high in the treetops to Claire at the base of the tree, looking up. Probably the most difficult part were the midges which were attacking everyone but me. As JC tilted the camera down Ania was blowing the midges off his hands.
What else did we find out there? Midges, which made Roland and JC their special victims. Each evening it was good to sidle up to either of them as the midges would leave you for their more delicious flesh. A few mosquitoes, but also ticks. Roland find a one big one on his leg. Lu also found a few on her legs, after she decided to abandon the outdoor toilet for the grass. There mice in the toilet and a few of the girls preferred the outdoors. Now Flora was especially concerned for the jellyfish as of course she was meant to swim in the fjord. They were everywhere, particularly when the tide shifted in certain directions.
The next morning we began shooting Scene 60, where Natalie arrives at the cabin unexpectedly. We had to shoot this scene on the Wednesday, as Ronny, my former flatmate, and the owner of the cabin was leaving that day. He played the Norwegian boatman who delivers Natalie to the cabin.
That evening we did the difficult Scene 61, the confrontation between Claire and Natalie. Flora got up to a performance level and threw a number of things without hurting anyone, while still be believable. And we saw some interesting things in Natalie too. I found finishing this scene a great relief.
I found the next few days a blur. I remember shooting scenes, but cannot place them on days. We spent one afternoon climbing into a valley near the centre of the island we were on. Here we found a number of locations, including the scene where Claire hides from a couple she runs into out on a walk. I had asked Anton to get some video of all of us climbing up the hill and went up on a ridge and captured us, ala Aquirre style, in a long row carrying equipment and provisions.
When we were finished with Flora a small crew stayed behind and we staked out what we called codas. These were stills of the landscape that I have a vague plan to use. The idea has been to create a place that is beyond the world that Claire inhabits, but which she has a part in. This meant we needed to show this world sometimes with her in it, and sometimes without her. It is as if this world has its own story and even its film and were shooting part of it.
We also shot Scene 68, the final shot, in which Claire stands in, moves about in, and finally dissolves into the landscape. This was a critical shot and when we were done I was not convinced we had captured it yet.
We spent evening shooting more interior scenes, scenes between Natalie and Claire, in which they do some actually speaking!
What day was this? I really not sure. Probably Lu could tell us.
Everything was going to schedule until I woke once again far too early on Friday morning. It was raining hard and we had planned to shoot a number of key outdoor scenes. Before we even had breakfast Lu had rescheduled.
More on that in the next post, but a few photos from Beth, who not only did make-up but managed to capture these at the same time. I will save David's photos for a final Norway post.














Katrine, and Flora on their way to the location. Roland fills up the car.
















Our location, with required Norwegian flag.


















I think this was our first shot. Natalie goes through some childhood toys and books.

















JC and Ania, our first camera assistant.
















The location we named the beach. We shot a number of scenes here and nearby.














Flora and David, with Ania in the background, on their way back from the beach on the first day of shooting.














Anton and Roland in the boat wrangling the jellyfish. After an hour there still more coming and we had to rethink how we would shoot this scene. JC, Ania and myself discuss shots that would never be.
















In the location we called the valley. Lu stands by ready to organise us. Kendra, the 2nd camera assistant waits for me and JC to make up our minds.

Norway location - I

We returned late last night from Norway.
It all seem so strange, almost surreal to be back here in London after such an intense week. I am not sure when it will sink in, perhaps tomorrow when I meet JC at iLab to see the rushes.
It couldn't have gone any better.
First the location was magnificent. Arriving, I could only worry. As we were loading the car at Torp Airport the skys opened up and in continued to rain off and on during the drive to Risor and throughout Sunday. Ronny met us in the Kiwi shop, which featured later in the week, and led us down to the small marina where we loaded up the small fishing boat to take us to the cabin. It was an experience sitting on that small boat, puttering down the fjord, the low cloud hanging down in the distance. As we unloaded the boat an omen. The plastic buckle on the transport tube decided it had enough and gave way just as Roland was passing it onto the dock. Suddenly the tall legs and head were in the fijord and miraculously floated there long enough for us to fish them out. The new sound barney also bobbed about there before Ronny noticed it next to the boat.
So after warming up a bit, and having a little lunch we began to scout the area, Ronny leading the way down Barmen Island, along a small ridge, where they had cut the trees to make way for the electricity lines. JC and I stopped constantly, looking down our viewfinders, thinking how this might do for that. We ended up near a small beach, next to a small grove of trees. We had seen these locations on the video that Ronny had made up for us in May. We agreed that this area had a lot of potential.
We went back where we came, past the cabin, on the same trail in the other direction, this time heading back towards Risor. We find a lot of interesting locations here too, but because this part of the trail makes its way over part of the small mountain that make up the island, it was quite treacherous. Tricky enough in the wet, really difficult when carrying camera kit. We returned, now thoroughly soaked and hungry. It wasn't just the rain, but the tall grass, which drenched your trouser legs, and filled your shoes with water.
That night Ronny started a fire and we attempted to dry our sodden trousers, socks, boots and jackets. We had bought plenty of whisky at the duty-free, and began to discuss what we might do.
We had most of the next day to return to these same locations. We had also decided to climb up into another valley that led further into the island, which we had seen on our return journey.
I was awoken by a light being shone into the cabin window behind my head at 5 in the morning. This was the sun, just coming through the clouds which had begun to clear. It was very windy, but we were lucky, as the rain had stopped. Roland took up his sound kit and went off on his own, while David, JC, and I returned to the beach, then into the valley. David would go ahead, while JC and I would discuss various possibilities. It was great way to work, with David able to stand back, not concerned with practical matters, just offering ideas, and also taking a lot of photographs at the same time.
That afternoon Roland, with a few boat lessons from Ronny, went to pick up Lu, our 1st Ad, who was going to keep us on track through the week. We stood on the deck watching the boats come down the fjord. Was that them coming now? We couldn't tell as the water was so rough all you could see was the spray. Settled in, I laid out what we had decided so far to her, while David made us a Spaghetti Bolognese. She had a tough job. I had created a schedule before we left that basically worked in the scene order. I wanted the days to match in light and weather, and with the long Norwegian days this was very possible, but this plan didn't account for the half hour treks over rough terrain which were required now that we had settled on some locations. The next morning she locked herself in one of the rooms and sweated over a new schedule.
That night Roland returned to the airport to pick up Beth, make-up, and the two actors, Flora (as Claire), and Katrine (as Natalie). We were quite worried as it was still very windy and there plane came in quite late. As the evening passed we hadn't heard from them and it was now dark. Finally Flora called from Roland's phone. They were just getting on the boat and said it was all very exciting. JC and I went down to the dock with the torches and tried to indicate the way by flashing them into the dark fjord. There were no lights on the boat or on the dock. Finally we saw them and they all landed safely. It was nearly one o'clock and we had a rehearsal first thing in the morning while the rest of the crew arrived. We retired. It was going to be a long day. More on that, plus some photos to come...

Just more pre-production...

What can you say about pre-production? Well, I feel that we are lot more organised than when we went into Holloway Road. Principally that is because we have Lu and Rob running around like mad trying to sort everything out for Norway. This includes tasks such as sorting out a shower for the cabin, sleeping bags, finding out where the nearest hospital is, and so on.
I am trying to stay from this stuff, as I do have the directing/writing bit to do. In the past, when I went without any help with pre-production I ended up a complete wreck by the time we started the first day of shooting. Not good.
Yesterday evening JC and I sat in the garden and worked on the shot list. Lu is keen for us to get on with it so she can sort out a finalised schedule, but we are still working out the visual language of this segment. How do we shoot this part? How is different? The same? This question goes back to my first post in this blog, oh, so long ago.
A lot of work, but the rehearsals and this part have been the most satisfying part of the process.
I will post again before we depart...

Pre-production/Norway - update

I haven't had a lot of time to breathe since we finished our first location on Holloway Road. I had a free weekend and then I was off to Cannes. I had never been before and spent most of time figuring which cinema was which.
Then I was back into pre-production for Norway. Shooting is scheduled from June 22-29th. JC, Roland, and I will travel out on the 22nd and do some scouting of the location. Rob will probably join us to help get everything set up. The actors will join us Monday evening and we will rehearse Tuesday. Shooting starts on the Wednesday morning, with an extremely tight schedule, beginning at 9am, finishing every night at 10:30pm.
Conditions will be challenging, as there is no shower, so we will have construct one of our own. The cabin only sleeps 7 and we will probably be 11, so a few of us will be sleeping in tents. We will have to share the cooking duties in the evening, and if we are lucky should manage to BBQ a few nights.
We have a new crew member on board, Lu, who came and helped us one day in Holloway Road. She will take over 1st AD duties from Rob who will not be able to be with us the whole time.
In the meantime preparations continue. Yesterday I spend the day with Flora and Katrine going over parts of the latest script. Today Azahara met up with Katrine to buy costumes, while Lara spent the day trying to find props. In the afternoon I met Rob, Lu, JC and Hu for a production meeting.
Very exciting, I have to say. One photo of our location.

Photos - Holloway Road location

This is all very exciting. David dropped off the photos from the Natalie segment this past Sunday. I won't say too much except how fantastic they all look. This is why you have a real photographer.
Looking at these made me realise how much we managed to accomplish in 3 days.
All photos by David Boulogne.













It all starts with planning...My friend Rob tries to keep it organised as Azahara tries to track the art direction.













Hmmm.













Perhaps we should start here?













I am not sure JC has ever lit the inside of a refrigerator before.













Hu measures them up...













Flora and I talk about it. Here Claire has moved into the flat and is becoming part of the place.













Notice the flatness of the light and colour. JC went low-key to work with the location and the story. Nothing big except those earrings.













Claire's sees Nick for the first time. He thinks it is Natalie in the flat.













The morning after Claire has let Nick in. The relationship begins.














David has managed to make a lot better than I felt. Here I tried to work through exhaustion to explain myself again.













That's us. Roland was so much happier here than at the test shoot. Double glazing and a well-built flat.














Nick wonders who was at the door, and finds it odd that she refuses to say.













Because we know that it is her friend Sophie down below wondering what she is doing with her life. Here Emma, as Sophie, seems very far away.














A view from Natalie's bedroom window.

Shooting update - segment 1

A short note as I am still recovering from the 3-day shoot this past weekend.
It all went very well. I cannot complain about anything except a little more time would've been nice. The camera performed brilliantly except for a rattle where the mag attached to the camera. We are getting that looked at.
Yesterday JC and I went to iLab to see the rushes. They looked for beautiful. Fuji film was very impressive, especially the 250T, which picked up a lot more detail in the shadows than we imagined. You could really see why you shoot film. Latitude. We could've been bolder and taken a lot more chances with the film than we did. I guess we are too used to shooting video.
David was shooting stills on the Sunday and Monday so when he sends me a selection I will post them along with a lot more detail.
Thanks to everyone who worked with me on this first segment. And thanks to Vaugn at iLab and the people at Fuji for helping us out.

The test

So, this past Tuesday we shot our first test. The test part revolves around the aspect ratio, 2:1, relative to a fairly fast film, 250D corrected for tungsten. Grainy, yes, but how grainy? We took advantage of the situation to try to also grab Scene 14, check out the camera, and generally just get up to speed for the our first location on May 9th-12th.
Tomorrow JC comes over to test another stock, 160T, but this will be a more conventional test of all the lenses, etc.
And pre-production for the May9th-12th weekend continues.
Some photos from the test...












Katrine (playing Natalie) gets some make-up from Beth.

















JC (standing) and Hu set up the camera. This is very exciting as this is the first time I have used this camera, which I bought back in the autumn.



















And then the first position, on the street. A difficult situation. We are not certain we managed to get any good sound from here, with all the traffic, sirens, and airplanes.













Here Roland looks a little happier as we set up the second position, away from the street, where we should get some useful sound.
Azahara, art direction, is on the left.



















Hu does that camera thing.















Just setting up the second position, while...



















...Flora (Claire) tries to put on a brave face in the rain and cold.
We were fortunate as the rain, which had been coming and going all afternoon long paused while we grabbed these two shots. An hour after we dropped the heavens opened up again.

Pre-production and test

Pre-production work carries on .
On Saturday JC, Azahara, who is doing the art direction, and I visited our Natalie location in Holloway Road.
JC has come up with a concept for shooting the whole feature. There is an evolution as we move through the film, to the end in Norway. The first segments uses a faster, grainier film, 250D and the Norway sequence uses a much slower 160T. So as the film breaks open we will have gone from a less detailed, noisier look to a much more detailed, higher contrast, richer look in Norway. This evolution is also carried over into the lenses, which start longer, and then go wider in Norway. We are playing with positioning, go from straight on views of locations and rooms, to diagonals. This first part we owe to Ozu I am sure.
So at the location JC had his camera, and Azahara acted as our model. We went and did a photo storyboard of the location. This way JC could check his focal length, and I could see the sequence of shots. Azahara meanwhile got an idea of the location and what we might have to bring there.
Meanwhile Robert, a friend of mine who is acting as production manager, location manager, assistant director and everything else you can think of, is busy with all the thankless bits behind the scenes, like sourcing insurance and hot food.
And there is more. Tonight, if the rain holds off, we are shooting a stock test. This is the scene where Natalie returns to ask Claire to take care of her flat and includes two shots, one to Natalie in the street, and the other with Claire in the doorway. I have already blogged about this previously and so tonight, or rather in a few days when we get the results back from iLab we will see how this stock looks.
And the Natalie location is set for shooting May 10-12th.
More later on pre-production which involves a lot of shopping...

Pre-production update

I feel like this post is a list of excuses why I haven't written anything these past few weeks...
But so much has happened I have not taken the time to step back and take a look at it all.
So, we are in the process of securing a location for Natalie's flat. The plan is to shoot this over a long weekend in May. Setting a date, especially at a location where I will only have limited access tends to focus the mind. Suddenly JC and I have to stop debating and make some decisions.
We are thinking of shooting a 2:1 ratio, but of course we are concerned about the amount of grain, especially as we were planning to shoot a fairly fast film to dispense with as much lighting as possible. The only way to be certain is a test so we contacted i-lab in Soho (http://www.ilabuk.co.uk). Now they listened to us, suggested some options, and introduced us to the Fuji representative. They also made us tea, and didn't try to push us out the door.
So now it is up to us. We are planning to shoot a test scene with 250D and some other pieces with 160T.
I have finally opened up the project to sound and art direction. I met with Roland (Roland did the sound on my last film Reconciliation) on Monday last week and he began to throw out a bunch of different ideas, and went away very thoughtful, promising to come back with some more concrete suggestions.
Azahara has joined us to do the art direction. Of course there is not much of a budget and we have few options, so she has a tough job. The whole challenge is to find that one thing in each place, and since we are so limited by the aesthetics, this is all about the thinking.
Having to try to outline what I am doing, and having them both respond, and then having JC pitch in as well has helped me focus my ideas.
There is a lot more. I have begun to get ready for the Norway segment, which we are planning to shoot at the end of June.
All in all it has been a lot fun. It is so great to have more people feeding in ideas.

A location and a new script

Well, I have admit I am behind in posting but at least I have a good excuse.
Where do we stand?
In my last post I described this new script that I was developing and on Wednesday I completed it. I have sent it to all my principles for feedback.
What is it? The part that I have been work shopping since February becomes the second segment. The relationship (Paul) that Claire escapes from at the beginning of this segment now becomes the first segment. Her relationship with Paul provides some more context for what happens with Nick in the second segment. It also introduces us to both Sophie, the friend, and Natalie, her sister.
Following the second segment, the third segment takes Claire away from Britain to Norway (possibly). Why Norway? First, the landscape is removed from what she has seen in London in the first and second segments. It is remote, empty, a place where she could reconstruct herself without interference. What's more, she is also removed from language. Otherwise we could have set the third segment in Snowdonia or the Pennines. I don't think it would be the same. But there is more in this. She is removing herself from but at the same time this place is part of her past, where she and Natalie were brought as children by their parents for summer holidays.
So that's it.
I saw JC yesterday and he had a few criticisms. More work still needs to be done to establish both Nick and Natalie. I am planning to meet Flora and Katrine to get their feedback and develop it.
And what else? JC and I were out looking for locations for Natalie's flat and I think we are close to finding what we need. This is a new build flat, quite modern and large. There is no history in this place, so there is nothing impinging on the idea of reinventing yourself, as Claire wants to do. And Natalie would have no qualms about leaving such a place and starting over again.
There are a few problems in the space, such a lack of daylight in the living room in the morning, but no location is ever perfect.
It was a lot of fun finally seeing where the actual shooting might take place. Getting close...

Feedback and some conclusions

So I have had Ana and David over to see the edit on separate nights. Perhaps I should start with what was clear...
They both found the particulars of the story clear. That is they understood, or could understand where the characters were and who they were. They did not think it was necessary to explain more.
But at the same time they thought that there were missing steps in the relationship between Nick and Claire. They just barely begin their relationship and then it is over.
And the this was not helped by the fact we see no more than a short sequence with Claire and her previous relationship with Paul.
For them the visual language, or at least what was promised, was clear. (I found this interesting that for some the particulars, such as which flat the characters were in was confusing, but the abstract layer was clear. This for me is a victory).
David, being the photographer was more critical, but then that is why I asked him for his opinion. I certainly could not disagree with him.
As for the question of length, no one felt it was too long, that there was any fat. Quite the opposite. As I said, Claire and Nick needed more development.
So my problem remains. If I was to continue the way I had always planned then I would have a film of at least 2 hours.
What to do? Once they had finished their feedback I proposed them a solution. That is that this story would be developed into a feature of its own. This means creating a segment at the beginning, developing the relationship between Claire, Paul, Natalie, and Sophie. The second segment would stand, with some further developments between Claire and Nick. With the first segment, this second segment would seem as a natural development of Claire's story.
And then to follow, where does Claire go? This would be the third segment. Again, the natural development. If with Nick, Claire was foolishly taking on an other's identity, then third segment would be about her stripping away the artificial layers of identity.
I have already begun to write these new segments. I have written a draft of this first segments, I have developed the second segments, and I have very rough outline of the third segment.
Two of the actors, Flora and Katrine are coming over to see the edit on Thursday, and I will propose to them this new idea. More on that later...

The first edit and the first feedback

So I began to show the first edit to friends this past week. Actually the first were my two neighbours. Isabella and Mark. They knew nothing about the script and the story so I was especially interested to hear their reaction.
And quickly problems with the state of the edit arose, principally in that the story if tightly written that one missing detail made it difficult for them to follow what was happening. An example, I shot the scenes in Paul's/Claire's place here in my flat, and because I don't have the location as yet, Natalie's flat as well. This meant they simply had difficulty knowing when Claire was at her flat and when she was at her sister's, Natalie. The story is complicated enough that these small details made it difficult to judge the effectiveness of the story. Is there enough there? Do I need just a few more details, a little more explanation?
My instinct would be to add more, because I can always remove it in the edit, but for one other problem, the edit is running at 41 minutes. As this was intended to be one part of three parts, if the other parts were of equal length or if I have to add a few more minutes that would mean 3 x 43 minutes = 129minutes. If I was a name director perhaps I could interest someone in buying that, but since this is a debut feature that is unlikely to happen.
What are my options? Shorten it by cutting it tighter? I don't think there is a lot of fat to cut. I made it pretty lean from the beginning. I explain next to nothing, the minimal, to the point where I think it would be incomprehensible if it were cut it tighter. What about making it less complicated? I don't know if it would have the same resonance if I did this. Develop the Claire story as a feature by itself? Isabella was quite adamant that she would like this if the story were to develop, but not if it were to explain more.
There are two areas where it could be developed.
First the visual language is starting to be effective, even thought there are large gaps in it. I have not even begun to develop the language of the macro, that is Claire's world seen in the minutiae. I would need to make it longer to do this.
Second, to develop other characters in the story, before and after. The first part with Paul at the beginning. What is there in their relationship that Claire would try to take up Natalie's life?
Then her sister Natalie. What could be developed there?
And what happens after the final scene with Claire where she goes into the forest looking for Nick?
So I have a lot of thinking to do. In the meantime Ana is coming over on Wednesday and more feedback. If she were to have the same reaction...

The final scene and a new location

Now that JC is away until mid-March I look to David to help me out.
I already posted previously of our problems with the park location. So the Sunday previously David showed me another park close to our original locations.
What I realised from shooting the other weekend was that this scene or scene require a location that can be seen as a periphery, where the city meets park meets the wild. The other location was only wild with some of the city at the far edge.
This location was more suitable.
The park meets a high street. I can suggest safety for Claire, not just physically, but also from what she fears in her mind.
So we can establish her meeting Nick for the first time in such a place.
















Here they must sit and Claire tells Nick how irresponsible Natalie is. It is also the place that they end their relationship too.















An alternative meeting point which has the added value of including the next location in the background.
















The park meets the wild, with the city in the background. A great intersection/conjunction.
There are also some lights, which will at least establish the presence or absence of Nick when Claire goes looking for him. He can disappear because we can see so.
















And then the wild place, where Claire goes to meet her fears. The final shots take place in there.
















I returned to this location this past Saturday and capture a whole series of shots to establish this part of the story.
I also found that finding these locations made to change the story. In this last scene, Claire does not go after Nick to learn if what had happened was real - I always found this idea weak - but rather to confirm what she had always feared, that she was essentially alone. When she goes into the wild it is to face her fear, which has now been well-established earlier in the story.
On Sunday I edited all the new footage together and reworked some of the sound. I will burn a DVD on Tuesday and then it is time for some feedback. More on that...

Workshop complete...just about

So this past Sunday I finished the workshop, or at least most of it. It was a long day and I had to introduce Emma, who plays Sophie, into a few scenes, and some voice-overs, really phone calls. I also worked with Katrine, who has one scene as Natalie, Claire's sister.
With Flora we finally filmed scene 18, which was the scene I used to audition everyone. It was strange to do this scene as it felt as if we had already done it. In this scene Claire is awoken in the night by a strange sound. She thinks it may be intruders, but then realises she is really afraid that Natalie has returned. Then she learns that the odd sounds are her neighbour is having a bath. There is great relief.
I took this opportunity to add a new scene, or at least a part to scene 18. From JC' s and Fergus' feedback I was looking for ways to flesh out the relationship between Claire and Nick. So at the end of this scene Claire is seen watching someone from her bedroom window. She goes to the front door of the flat, unlocks the door, and goes back to bed. A short time later Nick comes in. They have started their relationship.
This scene or stub establishes their relationship, shows how Nick has transferred his obsession to Claire, as he has been watching Claire, and makes a connection between the idea of release, which is the focus of the scene, and her taking up this new life via a relationship.
I have more work to do, especially around the park scenes. If all goes well I will shoot those this weekend and finish the edit as well. Then it is time for feedback.

The workshop - where we stand at the 3/4 mark

In a case of unfortunate timing JC is off to Hong Kong for a month, so I wanted to have come to at least some conclusions this weekend about how we might shoot the film. We still have one day to shoot, and we are missing some other parts, but I have edited what we have already shot, which was quite substantial, and put it onto DVD. JC was set to come over on Saturday so might get an objective look at where we were.
By chance my friend Fergus was in London for the weekend for a shoot. Now Fergus has not been involved in this project at all. If he were around a bit more I would've probably asked him to take a look at the script. As it was it a was great opportunity to get some quality, objective feedback.
So after struggling to connect the missing bits, and squint in the too-dark park scenes Fergus gained a pretty clear idea of where we going. His feedback?
Dialogue. Too often the little dialogue there was too loaded and not necessary. Now, I am always very happy to get rid of dialogue but it was great to hear it from someone else. Fergus just felt that so much of what was either clear visually or actually acted to restrict what he thought was happening.
Visual language. That this was strong enough or could be developed enough to more than compensate for what the lack of literal information. So, as I said in my last post, this is something I will develop next week when I meet with David.
Information. That there is too much plot so that the story is weighted down by the dialogue. It is not that important. He suggested an alternative way in which the exposition could unfold, but I am not sure that this would not create an entirely different film. Still, his point is well taken. In the first park scene, where Claire first meets Nick she explains about Natalie and how she has always been irresponsible. But when we shot it, due to the distance from the camera we could not hear what she was saying. Fergus did not miss this dialogue at all.
JC made another good point, something that I had suspected before, that we are missing steps in the relationship between Claire and Nick. We see the beginning and end of their relationship, but not the lead up to it, and not the centre of it. I wondered if we need at least another incidents between them to round out their relationship.
Before JC left we managed to agree that the original idea we had for a shooting style still seemed to be sound. That is the majority of the film is composed by static shots, but that we find those places where might move the camera.

inserts versus codas

JC has this dislike of inserts and I feel the same. By inserts I think of shots that are there purely for information, as in the actor is looking at their phone. Insert: CU of their phone and we see who is calling. Sometimes you have no choice but when you can...so I managed to get rid of just such an insert.
It was the park scene we shot the previous weekend. Here we see that Claire has made contact with Nick, and enough has transpired between them that we see they are comfortable, even intimate together. The setting, and the weather on this particular shooting day, amplify what Claire has achieved in making this leap to become someone else but starting a relationship with Nick.
But still it is a lie, and it is Sophie's presence, in the form of a series of phone calls to Claire's mobile that gives it away.
After we have established Claire and Nick's relationship and setting I have Claire sneaking away from Nick to check her phone messages.
Then the dastardly insert of Claire's mobile phone: Missed calls: Sophie (7)
But I realised that what was important in this scene was that Claire had broken away from Nick and in effect the whole construct to check her phone. It was the fact of the lie that was important, not the content of the lie.
And in the next scene we find out who it was who called and the substance of her calls.
The insert is unnecessary.
Now what I don't mean by inserts are those abstraction you see in an Ozu film or Kieslowski and so many others. I have read these referred to sometimes as codas which made little sense to me at first. I thought of that word in reference to music, the concluding part of the whole piece of music. But coda can refer to something brings to an end the preceding part, not just a whole. If you thought of Ozu and his static shots in The End of Summer you can see how they end and summarise the preceding scene or scenes.
In a coda there may information but there is something more. Kieslowski creates abstractions as a layer of the story's language. I think of Blue and the scene where Juliette Binoche is having coffee and we cut to a close-up of the sugar cube, held just at the surface of the coffee, absorbing the liquid. What does this mean? It is hardly necessary for information. Do we need to know that the character takes one sugar cube with her coffee? Kieslowski talks about this himself in the DVD extras. He wanted to show how the character was looking inward, in her own world. The lighting, which was high-contrast, and the focus, which was shallow, added to this effect.
And so far this is one of the weaknesses of the Claire part of this project - and I am certain that I have said this in previous posts. I have not developed my codas, or the layer of abstractions sufficiently. So, I need to get on to it.
Next weekend I am planning to work with David to develop just this.

Workshop - the park location

This past Sunday Flora, Phil, JC and myself went to Snaresbrook to shoot the park segments of the workhop.
The day started out well as you can see. As I was waiting for the others to show up I did some thinking. I deleted two shots and added one.
This is a still from this new shot. In this part of the story Claire has joined up with Nick, her sister's boyfriend. Here, in this place, they have managed to create a level of intimacy. The story has opened outwards, at many others enjoying this day, looks up at the trees and the sky, and down at the grass and the water.
But it can not be sustained. Claire sneaks away at one point to check her phone. We don't find out until the next scene why, but we know that somehow the truth has not been told.












Later we moved to another location where we worked on the other park scenes.
There is one, where Claire first meets Nick, and another where they end it.
And there is the final scene, where Claire realises that she is not able to change, and can find no answer for it anywhere.
Here we found it difficult. First, the location was not ideal. We could not stitch together all that we needed to create the scenes.
And second as we struggled to put it together it became too dark to find a solution.
We hacked something together for the workshop video, but we clearly have more work to do.















If I close my eyes perhaps he'll just go away.
Photos by JC.

Workshop

As always, the more I have to say the less time I have to say it.
I have been busy, these few weeks work shopping the script.
Two weeks ago I worked with my lead, Flora, shooting a number of scenes where she is by herself.
Last Sunday I had both Flora and Phil together for the first time. You always worry how people will get along but as it turned out everything was great fun.
Now looking back on it perhaps I should have done it the other way around? How would Flora have approached those scenes after she had a chance to be Claire first working with Nick? In the end it doesn't matter. The whole point of working this way is that we are able to go back and change and alter and rethink what we have done.
JC joined us this past Sunday, experimenting with a variety of ideas. This way the story, the acting, and the shooting style can all grow together. Unfortunately he is off to Hong Kong at the end of February, for one month, so we need to have done a lot of thinking between now and then.
This Sunday, weather permitting, we are planning to shoot all the scenes that take place in the park. I think we have one more day after that, to pick up the odd scenes, and then we have shot the whole story. I have already begun to edit the video, so I should begin to have rough edits of the workshop video in two weeks. Then it is time to call in friends and neighbours for feedback.

Workshop preparation...

So I am now in the process of preparing for the workshops. They will take place on weekend days and evenings throughout February.
Part of the preparation was creating a shot list and then a storyboard, drawing out what I imagined each shot would contained.
I realised that this was essential process for myself because I tend to come up with a series of shots intuitively. I then need a way to work through what they really mean because I will have a DOP coming up with his own ideas, and then locations that will not quite be the way I imagined them to be. What is the essential elements of a scene? That way JC could make his own suggestions, and we will know what to compromise on a location?
Here are the two shots for scene 5. In scene 4, Natalie, Claire's sister calls very late. She must see Claire immediately. We cut to a medium shot of Natalie at Claire's front door. 5a. We stay on Natalie. She won't come in. She goes on and on. Claire is barely able to say anything. Her relationship, her boyfriend, Nick, it is too intense. Claire wouldn't know what it is like.















Finally she goes, after handing Claire the keys to her flat and asking to take care of the plants and check everything is okay.
Claire is left there on the doorstep. 5b. Wondering what has just happened. She looks out into the night, and then shuts the door.

















So this is the way I imagined it. Natalie in the open street, free, Claire framed in the doorway of the flat, encumbered. Why?
Natalie is free. She pays a price, she is frightened, but that is how she prefers it. Claire, on the other hand, is comfortable. She got out of a warm bed and can shut the door and return to it. But is also trapped.
So when Natalie is gone Claire takes a quick look out into this world. The great, frightening world that Natalie floats about in is the place that Claire will enter in the story.
So these are the essentials that JC and everyone else needs to understand. Perhaps we will shoot it just like this, perhaps JC will come up with something better, or perhaps the locations will dictate something entirely different, or we will find something there that adds on top of it.
More to come as I begin shooting the workshop.

Update - Claire

So, an update.
First I managed to finish a new draft of the Paul section of the script. Or nearly finished. I feel there are some parts that need some more thought but I need some time for it to cook. So I am putting this aside for now. This means I can now focus on the Claire section.
And I am ready to begin the workshop. I have begun a rough breakdown of the scenes per shot, and all that remains is to schedule in the actors. I can't remember in all these posts whether I have detailed my plan, but it is worth repeating. Like the short film Reconciliation, I am shooting the whole film on DV, editing it, and then getting feedback. And then repeating the workshop/DV shoot as required until we are satisfied.
So when can I expect that the DV version of to be complete? Well, ideally at the end of February, so the weather will improve and we will be ready to shoot for real.
More on the workshop as it progresses.