True Detective - Drama

True Detective is an American anthology drama series created and written by Nic Pizzolatto. It broadcast and premiered in the US on 12th January 2014. The first series stars Woody Harrelson, Mathew McConaughey and Michelle Monaghan all playing lead roles and takes place in Louisiana, following State Police homicide detectives and their pursuit of a notorious serial killer over the course of a 17 year time period. The second series stars Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn and takes place in California, focussing on three detectives who investigate crimes linked to the murder of a politician. I decided to look into True Detective as I have chosen to recreate a scene from Broadchurch for the drama video. Like Broadchurch, True Detective is a crime drama which centres around detectives and a police investigation. The subject matter is also very similar to that of Broadchurch as it focuses on a murder which automatically creates quite a dark and sinister tone to the drama which is something I was keen to explore in my own work. I felt like this was a really interesting series to look at because it is quite a serious drama which is something I personally prefer to    watch myself. I find particularly crime dramas very thrilling because they usually reflect very real issues and keep the audience guessing and on their toes. This is another reason why I decided to look at Broadhcurch.

Casting - Drama

For the drama piece, we were told that we must cast outside of the classroom and find actors that would be fitting to the roles in our scenes. For my scene, I need to cast four actors to play D.I Alec Hardy, D.S Ellie Miller, Nigel Carter and Susan Wright. All of these characters feature regularly in the first series of Broadchurch and have very distinct personalities. I decided to use Casting Call Pro which is an advertising company that film makers can use to find actors for film and theatrical pieces. I advertised all four roles on this website including the criteria for appearances I would need. I also explained who played each character in the original series so that potential cast members would know the demographic I was looking for. I had quite a few applicants for each role, particularly for Ellie Miller which was great as it meant I could have a good look at everyones show reels and pick people who I felt would be most suitable for the roles to make the scene successful. All of the actors I chose responded to my emails straight away and were all keen to be part of the project which was great. I told them all of the details for the day including, time, location, shooting hours, costumes etc. so they felt comfortable that they were well informed and knew what to expect on the day. Originally, I was going to film for two days, however, one of the cast could only take part on the Tuesday, however, I felt confident when looking at my schedule that I could cover everything in one day. I was quite anxious about working with actors as they are people I have never met before and you don't know how reliable they are going to be. However, for a first experience of casting professionally, I really enjoyed working with new people as they were all incredibly friendly and came prepared which made the day flow very easily so that the shoot was successful. In terms of Casting Call Pro, I think it is a great way of obtaining actors as there is a wide variety of actors available who are easy to contact and communicate with.

Filming Drama Scene - 'Broadchurch'

On Tuesday, I filmed my chosen scene for the drama piece. I was incredibly nervous beforehand because as a director there is a lot of pressure to organise everyone involved - the crew and actors in my case. I asked Imogen to be my camera operator and Laura to be my sound operator as I thought we would all work well as a team and I felt confident that I would be able to tell them what I wanted to achieve. My set for the shoot was production room 1 in the base room. I chose this location for filming as it made an ideal office space. There are white walls and tables and chairs so I had many of the props I would need in place already. I wanted the office to look quite clinical and uninviting as the scene is an interrogation, therefore I wanted to use the set to create suspense and drama in the scene. Using some props like a clip board and a sound recorder, I added these to the desk to give the room a bit more purpose and make it look realistic to the situation. In terms of actors, I casted from Casting Call Pro which was very successful as I had lots of applicants which allowed me to choose people who would suit the characters well and make it a convincing scene. As soon as they arrived, everyone was getting on well already and practising their lines whilst I set up lighting with Imogen and Laura. I used a lighting kit to allow me to achieve the clinical look to make it seem almost hospital-esque which is an environment no one enjoys being in. Once we began shooting, I had the script and my storyboard and shot-list which I had planned out carefully. I decided to shoot all of the scenes with Nicola and Sue first so I wouldn't need to swap the cast around too many times and alter the lighting too much. I took several takes and covered all of my shots including mainly over the shoulder shots and a medium as well as filming everything from a wide angle two shot to give myself lots of variety when editing. I had also planned to move in closer to the characters as the scene got more dramatic especially for some of the closing lines to evoke quite a tense and heated atmosphere. As the day progressed, I felt more at ease in my role and felt confident when asking my crew/cast to do each shot. As everyone was getting on well, it made the atmosphere on set very casual and friendly. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience and learnt a lot about how to work effectively through a scene, including each shot planned whilst maintaining a good working atmosphere.

Directing Workshop

Before undertaking our own projects, we have had some workshops looking into the art of direction and how to interpret a scene. We had some time with Simon and Fergus looking at a scene from the film 'Atonement' which stars Keira Knightley and James Mcavoy as the lead characters. We looked at a scene where they meet together after being separated for a long time. The way it is directed strongly hints to an emotional past between them with plenty of close ups on their faces and their hands which emphasises their body language. For the task we were given a script for the scene and asked to work in groups of four to recreate it. We would direct the scene and the other three students would be the camera operator and the cast. I always find tasks like this quite challenging as it requires undertaking several roles including acting which is something I'm not very good at. I think working in teams is really useful and effective though as it helps to improve communication skills for when we are working on our own projects or crewing on someone elses. For my directorial input for the scene, I decided to have a master shot that showed one character walking into the scene from behind with the other character facing the camera. This allows the audience to see both of their facial expressions right at the beginning of the scene. I then did a few over the shoulder shots whilst they were in conversation to create a sense of intimacy and the idea of a strong relationship between the two. I found the task difficult but it allowed me to think on my feet and make some quick creative decisions which worked quite well.

Storyboard/Shot-list - Drama

In order to be prepared for filming my drama piece, I wanted to map out all of the shots and how I would like the scene to go ahead. As my scene is an interview, I don't want to use shots that are too daring or uncommon for a simple scene like this because it won't go with the setting and will mean that the audience miss out on some of the emotion from the characters. I decided to keep most of my shots as over the shoulders or medium shots when the characters are in conversation and close into them as the scene goes on to create some suspense and drama. For my own directorial input I have decided to do an element of split screen which will entails shooting medium shots of Nigel and Susan and editing them side by side so that both can be seen in the frame. In terms of my storyboards I went for a more diagrammatical approach as I find people quite challenging to draw in detail and felt like there was no need for that for me to understand what each frame was showing. In all of my descriptions, I stated what the shot would be and where the characters would be placed so that It would be easy for me to set up each frame. I also included  small stage directions for myself that I took from the script so that I knew what action points to include and where the lines would come in.  
       
Shot List:
Wide shot: Shows table in office, everyone is seated
Over the shoulder: Hardy questions Nigel
Medium: Nigel replies                                                                                    
Close up: shows a photo of Susan on the desk
Over the shoulder: Nigel is more in shot that before, closing in
Two shot: showing Nigel becoming more nervous
Over the shoulder/close up: Tension increases
Two shot: Miller is questioning Susan
Medium shot: Susan explains how she knows Nigel
Medium shots: Camera moves between them
Over the shoulder: Susan says she saw Nigel on the beach.
Over the shoulderL Conversation becomes more heated between Hardy and Nigel
Close up: Nigel reveals that Susan is his mum
Split screen/medium: Susan says her line followed by Nigel
Over the shoulder: Miller attempts to reassure Susan
Close up: Susan talks about Nigel's father

Script - Drama

For the script, we were asked to construct a 5-6 page script using the original dialogue from the scene we had chosen. As it is a retelling of the scene, it was important to keep the dialogue the same and only change very small sections if it required it. For example, we were allowed to choose a sequence of scenes, therefore a few script alterations might have been necessary in this case to make them all match and flow well together. I however, chose to look at one particular scene which is an interrogation between D.I Alec Hardy and Nigel Carter and another between D.S Ellie Miller and Susan Wright who are all very prominent characters in the series. Throughout the scene, it flicks between the two interviews as the interrogations take place, getting more and more heated as the scene goes on.  When writing my script, I watched the scene at the same time so I could get the exact dialogue and make sure it was correct. I did however, use my own action points and stage directions which were all my own interpretation of the scene. When filming, it is the action points that will help me when deciding what to get the actors to do whilst talking to each other. Here I have included a snapshot of the first page of the script. As you can see the first section of action is quite extensive because I described the characters in the scene such as what they were wearing and details about the location. This helps the reader to picture the scene and understand the purpose of it. I used Celtx software to write the script as it has a professional layout so that the script looks how it should. Throughout the scene, if the action changes, you should write small descriptions as shown above as this shows the reader what is happening between the characters and what the scene is showing. 

Directing with Steve Finn

As part of this unit to develop our skills and knowledge as directors, we had a few days with the director Steve Finn. He has worked on Eastenders for several years and has directed a number of episodes for the programme. As this is a very well known and popular television programme in the UK, I was really looking forward to meeting him and finding out about how he works as a director. We had a day of lecture time with him where he went into great detail about directing as an art form and how to approach it. He told us that the characters in a piece are vital and that actors must always know exactly who they are playing and the circumstances of the scenes. Steve said that very rarely people will sit down in front of each other and talk as if it's an interview. In a casual situation people will walk around and find tasks to do, therefore to make a conversation between two people seem natural, the director must think about the scene and what the actors will be doing. To do this, he said to look at the script and for each line of dialogue to think of an action to go with it. We then had an afternoon session with him where our directing skills were put to the test. We were given a page of a script in which two characters are having a conversation in an office. We examined the script to discover who they characters were and what their motives may be. As a big group we then took turns portraying different roles such as director, camera operator and cast to recreate the scene. It was quite daunting being thrown into the situation but we all worked well as a group. At the very end Steve showed us how he would have directed the scene which was slightly more complicated and incorporated more action making it interesting. For the next couple of days, we were given different scripts to look at. I had a script called 'Ted and Jo' which entailed an unhappy couple having a conversation where Jo reveals she is leaving Ted. When thinking about how to direct the script, I thought about what Steve said in the previous workshop about getting a master shot that will show the scene and both characters' faces at the same time. Therefore I decided to have Jo standing behind a desk as she packs her bag whilst Ted walks into the scene behind her. I then experimented with a few over the shoulder shots and side angles to convey emotion in their facial expressions which would be difficult to achieve with wider shots. Looking at clips from each persons vision was really interesting as they were all so different and really highlighted how everyone will interpret a scene in a different way. However, I will take on what Steve said when completing my prep for this project.