NAME: Brenna Empey
DATE: 11/1/2016
FILM: One-Shot of an Event
DP: Brenna Empey
TMA 285 DIRECTOR’S REFLECTION
Overall response (2-3 paragraphs):
In 2-3 paragraphs, write an overall response to
your film: Were you successful at achieving what you set out to achieve? What
are you proud of? What would you do differently if you could remake this piece?
What did you learn?
Going
into this film, I wanted to capture a skeptic of palm reading being, well,
skeptical. I got a palm reader and a skeptic whose palm was going to be read –
everything was set up just fine conceptually. But when we got into the space, a
lot of unexpected things happened. I had expected the palm reader and the
subject to have more a conversational experience with the palm reading, but that
didn’t really happen. My palm reader, Rachel, did all of the talking as she
read my subject, Allison’s, palm. Allison’s skepticism translated into polite
nodding and small one-word responses because even though she wasn’t super
interested in having her palm read, she wanted to be polite. I think that’s
nice but it made for a pretty boring piece in the end. What Rachel was saying
was interesting, but a conversation should involve participation and engagement
from two people, not just one person talking at the other.
Even
though my two “characters” didn’t really do what I wanted them to do, I think
the look of the piece turned out nicely. There are a lot of things to look at
in the space, not only things that establish what’s going on in the scene, but
the space is big enough and diverse enough that I was able to get a variety of
interesting shots. Since the characters weren’t moving much, not many of my
camera moves were motivated, but some of them were – like when Rachel leans in
to get a closer look at Allison’s palms, and I pushed in with the camera. That
worked nicely. I also liked my ending frame, which was a wide shot of the whole
room, and oriented the characters in the space even further. If I were to
remake this scene, however, I would start by finding a more vocal/reactive
subject for the palm reading, and I might do it outside or in a place where
there is more to look at than just two people sitting down and not moving.
Briefly answer the following:
What, specifically, did you want to communicate? Were you
successful? Why? Why not?
I
wanted to capture a skeptic’s reaction to having her palm read. Well, I guess
skeptic isn’t the right word – I wanted someone who isn’t familiar with palm
reading, and doesn’t really believe in it, to react to palm reading. I don’t
think I was very successful because the person I got to have their palm read
didn’t react hardly at all. They were more polite, nodding at the appropriate
times and such, rather than verbally interacting with the palm reader.
How, specifically, did you try to say this? What visual elements, techniques, etc. did you
use?
It
was kind of my fault that the subject didn’t interact much with the palm reader
– I should’ve maybe chosen someone more reactive, someone who is willing to be
open about confusions and how they felt about the situation. So casting was my biggest
thing, I thought that if I casted a “skeptic” I would get all the dramatic
material I needed. It didn’t turn out that way. But I do like that the palm
reader’s apartment was quirky, so I was able to capture the mysticism aspect of
palm reading by filming various things in the room, like the colorful tapestry,
the candles, the incense, and the palm reading book.
What did you learn about storytelling:
I
learned that documentary can be very hard when your “actors” don’t do what you
want them to do. I didn’t tell Allison to talk more, or interact with Rachel
more, and I probably should have to actually provide a story at all. The story
ended up being something like: A palm reader gives a bored, unengaged, and
uninterested customer some back-and-forth info about her palm. That’s not what
I wanted, but such is the nature of documentary.
Working with actors and getting performance:
Well,
I’ve already talked about this a ton, but since I wasn’t able to really direct
my actors this scene was difficult for me because there was nothing emotionally
reactive or dramatic going on. The drama would’ve come from conflict, from
Allison voicing her doubt or disbelief, but rather we just got a lot of Rachel
talking about what was going on with Allison’s palm and not much else. I really
appreciate everything Rachel said even though it was going over Allison’s head,
but I wish Allison had been more engaged in the situation.
Blocking — camera
and actors:
This
is something that I actually think worked really well. Because they were
sitting still on a couch the entire time, I was able to “practice” my framing
for the first few minutes of the palm reading, and then really go through a
nice progression of shots toward the middle. The entire palm reading was 12
minutes long, and my documentary starts about three minutes in, after I’d
already practiced some different camera angles and moves so I got a feel for
how I wanted the piece to move. The blocking of candles to palmistry book to
characters in the beginning, to establish the situation, worked nicely.
Visuals — composition,
framing, visual elements:
I
guess I already kind of covered this in the “blocking” question above, but I
really liked that my two subjects weren’t moving so I could get nice and close.
I had the freedom of getting close to their faces and hands to capture emotions
and “plot points,” if you will, regarding the palm reading rather than having
to capture big movements. The only problem was that, since they weren’t moving,
a lot of my camera movements weren’t motivated and I think that harmed the
piece a little even though the camera moves were well-executed.
Design & Art Direction:
I
love the look of Rachel’s apartment and I’m so glad we were able to film in it.
There are candles and incense burning in her living room, lanterns and exposed
bulbs hanging from the ceiling, and a huge, colorful tapestry behind her couch.
I think everyone in the audience responded really well to her apartment because
it felt kind of mystical. Then, when we widened out in the end and saw her
desktop computer, it kind of pulls us out of the illusion that she’s this
mystical palm reader. She’s just a normal person, a normal student. I’m glad
people brought that up in class because it’s something I didn’t really think
about, but I’m glad it happened that way.
The Production Process — collaboration with crew, the logistics of making this piece:
Honestly,
the hardest part of this piece was finding someone to get their palm read. I
needed to find someone far enough removed from anything to do with mysticism
that they wouldn’t have any idea what they were getting into. To add to that, I
wanted someone who was skeptical, not curious, about palm reading as a legitimate
practice. I asked friends of friends and finally found Allison, who I thought
would be perfect because she was not only unfamiliar with palm reading and didn’t
believe in it, but she was also a visual foil to Rachel with her blond hair and
light-colored clothes.
What was it like to watch your
film with an audience? Did they understand it? Miss the point? Why did they
respond the way they did?
I think the overall
response was good, but everyone brought up really good points about this piece’s
flaws, which I have already discussed. There weren’t enough dramatic beats,
Allison wasn’t engaged enough, Rachel was talking a little too much and too
fast, and camera moves were unmotivated. While some of these flaws were out of
my control, like the subject’s levels of reactivity, I agree with a lot of the
criticisms and wish I had done things differently or staged it differently. I’m
really glad that my establishing shots of the candles, incense and palm reading
book made it very clear what was going on, and the audience understood
immediately what they were about to see.
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