The workshop

I have a lot to report, and hopefully can make up for my long silence.
I have been very busy with this small project, the short film Reconciliation.
I have been through numerous drafts, of course. Fine-tuning the script. But three weeks ago I came to a dead-end. I could not go forward without some intense feedback. So I arranged a workshop with Emma Choy and Phil Evans. These two actors helped me back in December, workshopping the Tidal Barrier project.
They spent the day at my flat, working our way through the script. I had decided beforehand that I wanted to conduct this workshop a little differently. Most often I begin workshops discussing with some intensity the script, before getting it on its feet. This goes back to my training at the Drama department, University of Alberta, in Canada. That school was known for the intense preparation of a script by the actors, directors and the rest.
But this time I wanted to do it differently. We spent an hour over breakfast, talking about the script, but quickly we put the story on its feet. We set ourselves up, had a short discussion about what we were doing, and then I shot it on a small DV camera. Then there was my reaction, with the actor feedback, and then we tried to refine what we had done. And I shot it again. We spent the day and worked our way through the whole script. Not by chance the script takes place over one day, and our working day conformed with shooting day. We finished at 5:30 and I had 95% of my shots.
During the week I captured the footage and began to edit towards the end of the week. I made up for missing footage with the some stills I had taken previously for location scouts, especially those shots I had taken from Hampstead Heath. I added a few sound effects and ambient tracks, as it became apparent that the sound was going to be crucial to making this work.
By the next weekend I had finished the cut and was ready for some feedback.
I will write more about all this:
The feedback. The shooting style. And where it goes from here.