Reflecting on my first rehearsal ahead of tomorrow’s shoot

So after a few weeks break, I’ve come back and rewatched the sequence I filmed with my actors in my bedroom for rehearsals. Its a very simple two shot, jumping back and forth between the actors as they converse. If you know me, I’m not a big fan of the stereotypical punching in of two shots. I think its boring and generic and too safe. I’ve just kept this to the same framing for each actor. It is simple, but I think its a good place to start with for my scene.

Looking back on it, I’m actually quite pleased with the result. It’s a pretty simple sequence, and its the most neutral out of all the scenes that follow, so having it as a simple two shot I think is quite effective. I opened the scene on Marianne in the bottom corner of the frame, which is how I want to end the last scene. I like the look of a frame that is uncomfortably, yet beautifully empty in the top quadrants. If you’ve ever seen the film Ida, you will know exactly how that can look amazing.

The first sequence for the final product I will also film this way. I’m just going to keep it the same I think. But as the scenes progress, I plan on altering the style a bit more. I mentioned in a post earlier that I want to replicate the style used in Son of Saul, and just now that I think about it, I may watch some clips of Ida again and try to replicate that aesthetic. Tomorrow’s shoot I’ll only really have time to shoot the first two sequences plus the last 4 single shot, quick scenes. The middle 2 scenes I’ll probably have to shoot on Saturday or Sunday, so I have a bit of time to think of how I will shoot those. I want to complete and edit what I shoot tomorrow before I decide on how I’ll shoot the rest of it. I want to be reflexive like that. I want to see what everything I shot tomorrow plays like, and see if I can figure out what the other shots should look like based solely on that.