For my individual project this semester I decided to study the monologue. After watching another student’s individual experiment in which they shot a monologue, my mind drifted back to Kevin Spacey’s performance in House of Cards. These monologues are incredibly powerful as he addresses the audience through breaking the fourth wall. For my presentation I showed a clip from this show in which these monologues are often used to deliver information such as plans and character development. I then contrasted this with a different style of monologue in which a letter was read aloud. This served to heighten the significance of the letter and amplified emotion that would otherwise be excluded with a standard voice over. My original plan was to mimic the coverage of these two monologues and learn from the experience. This would then lead to me developing my own coverage of a monologue. What originally drew me to monologues is that they are designed to captivate an audience. They require an intense amount of focus and command this by usually playing on peoples’ emotions. I hoped that by exploring these monologues, I would find what makes them so successful and engaging.
I began by attempting to shoot the scene from Gossip Girl. Whilst I had initially planned to follow the exact coverage for the scene, it was bound to change due differences such as location. The original scene was shot in an undercover outdoor area with a bench and lots of space. I settled for a narrow corridor which altered the position of my actors because of the tight space we were working in. This lead to me having my actors standing almost directly in front of each other as opposed to side by side. Since their positioning was thrown out and I attempted to follow the original coverage, I accidentally crossed the line. After the shoot in the edit where I realised that our attempts to record sound had failed, I began to notice the significance of reaction shots in this particular monologue. In this scene the character Blaire reads an emotional letter in which she confesses to the character of Serena how much she missed her and needed her. Whilst this scene centres around the monologue performed by Blaire, it is highly successful in drawing the audience in with its reaction shots of Serena. Whilst I unintentionally deviated from the original coverage of this scene, I began to get a feel for how monologues are shot.
When it came to shooting the monologue from House of Cards, I had to change the coverage significantly. This is as the original was an incredible single shot that used tracks and other types of equipment that I didn’t have access to. I had wanted to still use a single shot that would simply pan and zoom but this didn’t work out as I couldn’t master a smooth zoom. During the shoot I improvised and included a close up with my subject facing the camera, a profile and a separate tilt down to a prop relating to the scene. Whilst some of these shots were successful most of them were slightly over exposed. This was due to my use of the view finder as opposed to the eye piece. This was because I was working with a 6’3″ actor which meant that the camera had to be adjusted to this height and I therefore couldn’t reach the eye piece. Whilst there is one part of a shot I’m particularly proud of because of my framing, I did make the decision to reshoot this scene. For the reshoot I figured out a way I could make the scene work with one shot. Rather than attempt to have my actor look at the lens in the reflection of the mirror, I had him simply turn to the camera. This made for a much smoother shot and changed the dynamics of the scene. It was far more confronting to the audience to have me character directly address them from a low angle. However, as I wanted to have slightly more variety I did capture a quick profile in the lead up to the monologue. It is from this monologue that I had the revelation that monologues rely heavily on the reactions of others. I was particularly inspired by the how the House of Cards scene demonstrated an alternative way of doing this. This scene depends on the reaction it illicits directly from the audience.
For my final exercise I found a monologue from the T.V show Scrubs to adapt. I altered the script, setting and coverage dramatically. My fixation with monologues now became the role in which reaction plays and contributes to them. However rather than comply to the norms of reation shots (such as the ones from the Gossip Girl scene), I decided to deviate from conventions and create a certain suspense around the reaction shots. I chose to have my subject rant about the fickle complaints of others at the dinner table. However, instead of having him yell at his parents or siblings, he would be yelling at his pets and this would only be revealed at the end. Therefore I chose to begin with an ‘over the shoulder’ shot of my subject beginning his rant. This shot included a portion of the back of one of the dog’s heads that looks similar to the back of a curly haired man’s head. For the majority of the scene I focused entirely on the monologue. I used a wide and close up to do this. I chose a wide as opposed to a medium shot as my actor was highly animated and filled the frame well. I ended the scene with my main character storming out from the dogs’ perspective which then cut to an eye-line match of the dogs watching him leave the room.
From focusing so closely on monologues I’ve discovered a great deal about them. The majority of monologues rely heavily on reactions to them. This is why I was interested in creating a final exercise that created suspense around the reaction and gave it almost a kind of punchline feel. A good monologue has to captivate their audience enough to make them want to listen to a large amount of dialogue. This is why acting and writing are major contributors to successful monologues. Whilst I don’t think I’ve quite mastered the coverage of monologues, I’ve learnt a great deal about coverage and working with people from studying and exploring them. I will continue my exploration of the monologue as the subject still fascinates me.