Anatomy of a Shot

The Script
INT. SUBWAY STATION PLATFORM - MORNING
The last passengers are boarding the train. The doors chime and we see JEAN, 41, holding a cup of coffee and clutching a folded paper beneath her arm, standing on the edge of the platform looking rather disconsolate. The doors close and the train pulls away from the platform. Jean looks down at the rails, looks along the track, pauses then steps back from the edge.

The Intention
This film is about a woman, Jean, who is isolated in her own world to the point where she sees no options.  That world, during the course of this film, is slowly chipped away at by a complete stranger, Heather.

My first shot, shot A, is about establishing Jean, her emotional state and her world.  It is the shot when we are most intimately with her.

The Shot list
A - E/C/U Jean
B - Wide through train doors
C - Medium c/u of Jean through train window, also punch in for e/c/u
D - c/u Jean feet at ledge, train leaving
E - Jean pov of track - a bag blows
F - c/u Jean, train departs
G - e/c/u Jean, train departs (punch in from shot F)
H - wide, behind Jean, train departs
I - c/u of Jean, slow push in
J - C/U Jean, slightly from side moves to…
K - … head on c/u Jean
L - overhead wide of women for geography
M - c/u Jean, to Heather out of focus

You’ll notice that all of these shots happen before Heather enters.  This was decided because the film is about Jean, not Heather.  And what gives weight to the entire film are the moments Jean spends with herself before a word is ever spoken.  Nowhere else in this simple film is there nearly as much coverage.

The Overhead
(Heather, red, starts running up the stairs and lands next to Jean, blue.  Train moves from left to right.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Storyboard

 

 

 

 

Art Department
Our color palette for Jean and, as this is her film, for her world was grey, silver, green and blue.  The major art department choice really was location selection.  Beyond that there were subtle tweaks here and there to enhance the environment.

If you look over Jean’s left shoulder you will see some blue and silver columns.  Those columns normally have very busy print ads on them that are primarily colored red.  My production designer found blue and silver fabric that she used to wrap the columns.  That brought us back to our color scheme, created additional reflections for the lighting department to play with (check out those bonus hot spots we got out of the bargain!) and simplified the background to keep our focus on the talent.

(By the way, this is a still taken from a still camera, not a screen grab.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wardrobe Specs
Although you can’t see it terribly well in this shot, Jean’s wardrobe was professional and conservative, falling within the color palette of the film.  The film is meant to take place on the East Coast in Fall.  She is wearing a navy suit with a light blue turtle neck, a trench coat, Burberry purse, brown leather shoes, a watch and simple pearl earrings.

Hair & Make Up
A touch I love that the Make Up and Hairstylist suggested, that Jean’s hair be nicely done but with one piece that just doesn’t sit right.  To illustrate that while she’s trying to fit in a certain world it’s just not quite working for her.  You’ll see that piece here on her forehead just above her left eye.

The Lens
We chose a lens that would keep Jean in focus and throw everything else out - which pretty much mimics her emotional state at this moment.

The Lighting
For this you’ll have to look at the moving shot below rather than the still.  The lighting evolves in this shot.  It starts out quite dark and becomes much brighter as the shot progresses.  This was important to tell the story of the train passing, to tell the emotional journey of Jean in the film and also to give us a visually interesting open.  At this point I imagine we’ll fade up from black onto this shot as our open.

The Camera Move
On set we decided to add another layer to this shot.  We began on an extreme close up (as in the above storyboard) but pulled out to a frame similar to the still above.  Thank goodness I had a DP that made the suggestion even though it required more work and an amazing grip team that was able to jerry-rig slider for us in no time.

It made sense to have this shot evolve because we’re moving with Jean from a state of complete isolation to something less so.  This shot opened up some room for that possibility.  We did not just add the move because it was cool.  I personally have a real disdain for unjustified tricky shots.  (Though fortunately, it did end up being quite beautiful.)

The Performance
Lily Knight, who played Jean, is amazing and the best thing I did to contribute to a good performance in this case was casting well and responding to what she was giving me.  But the key to the performance in this particular shot was keeping it appropriate to the frame size.  Technically, eyeline was also a question.

Shot A
So here it is.  (Sorry I can’t post a clip here unless I put it on youtube so here’s a link for now.)

This shot is raw from the camera, compressed so I could upload it here.  No color timing has happened and obviously no edit points have been chosen nor has any sound been added.  All of those things will change the perception of this shot dramatically but here’s what we have so far.  This is the worst this shot will ever look or feel because it is not finished.  (Thank you, my amazing DP, for not being a baby about me posting this.)

What you are seeing is the wind and lights from the train passing by.  If you can imagine all the wonderful screeches and squeaks that go along with that you should have a good idea of where I’m heading with this.

http://web.me.com/jjenred5/Site/TOUCH_Shot_A.html

In the end, will anyone other than you and my crew know any of this when they watch the film?  Nope.  And they shouldn’t either.  Because if I’ve done my job well the audience will just watch, and hopefully feel, the story and the characters.

That’s a wrap!

Last night I had a nightmare.  Here’s what it was…

I was sleeping and it was the day of the first night shoot of my film.  I was awakened by what seemed like my entire crew wanting to have a production meeting in my living room.  I got up and joined them.  My team and I talked through the shoot during an endless stream of crew walking in and out bringing and taking who knows what.

A woman who morphed back and forth between crew positions expressed her concern that my lead’s performance might look too much like Joaquin Phoenix’s and that it needed urgently to be addressed.  I listened to her and asked her what film I should watch to see his performance so I could compare it.  She listed off five films, all of which I clearly could not see before the shoot that evening.  I thought, “This is ridiculous.  What does she want?”  I told her I didn’t have time watch all those films but that I would certainly keep an eye out while we shot and at this point we just needed to buckle down and shoot.  I told her not to worry, I’d take care of everything on set.  But she wasn’t comfortable with this and insisted that the performance was doomed.  There was nothing I could say to console her.  She was bent on believing the film was ruined.  Seeing this, I fired her.

At that point I woke up, annoyed that I had to spend my day finding a new crew member.  Then I groggily realized I already shot the film this past weekend and a feeling of victory overcame me for not being foiled by that irritating woman in my dreams.

Here’s the thing.  When you’re making a film all sorts of complications, problems, obstacles come up.  Some of them are solvable, some are not and some have absolutely nothing to do with you or your film.

On this last film we had trouble locking down our location because of our small budget, our second lead dropped out at the last minute because she didn’t want to do a night shoot, and all the regular low-budget short film problems caused much of my energy to be spent goading and cheerleading rather than focusing one hundred percent on making my film.  One thing no one tells you - in the beginning when you’re building your career you will be making films under the most challenging circumstances of it.  But there’s nothing you can do about it so you’ve just got to man or woman up and get it done.

On the upside, the cast I ended up with was brilliant, we got the location we wanted and the crew I worked with was amazing.  The film looks beautiful.

All those problems that came up early on don’t matter a single bit because they didn’t have an effect on the finished film.  That is the only thing I care about when I’m trying to make my movie.  And fortunately I work with a rock star team who all feel the same way so in the end we always make it happen.

Also in the end, when the film is good, all the lame stuff is quickly forgotten.  Just like my bad dream.

The Forward-moving Force

Sometimes you need to just set your focus, put your head down and move forward.  You may feel fear, anxiety, insecurity, frustration but you’ve just got to keep moving forward.  Everyone around you can signal that the end is nigh but it may be your energy that is the little bit needed to push things in the right direction.

I’m shooting this weekend.  Surprisingly, it’s been a pretty tough prep.  But as long as the movie’s good it’ll all be worth it.

Next week, after this puppy’s in the can, I’ll go into more detail.  For now, I’ve got a whole world of other things to focus on.