Practice Makes Perfect
Short Film #6: Shivved
Dear Reader,
When a good friend asked me what I was doing for my birthday (October 5th, for inquiring minds) I said I had no idea. I’ve been so caught up in this crazy journey of learning to direct that I hadn’t given it much thought. He jokingly suggested I should direct another short film on my birthday. The idea intrigued me, and when I checked my calendar and found I had indeed, unknowingly, set a tentative shoot date on my birthday, that was all the confirmation I needed.
We geared up again for short film #6, Shivved (co-written by Chris Carter and myself. Special thanks to Chris for all the beautiful BTS photos in this newsletter). Having been through this process a number of times now, everything fell smoothly into place:
Schedule rehearsals.
Lock in a location.
Obtain props.
Select wardrobe.
Meeting with the cinematographer to discuss shots.
Meeting with the 1st AD and script supervisor to discuss the game plan.
Gather the necessary crew members.
Remember to eat and sleep every once in a while.
I recently had a conversation with an actor who books jobs on “bigger” Hollywood films. He let me know that “rehearsal” is just not something people set aside time for. I’m new to this business of directing, but to me, that is completely backward. The whole point of making movies is what we capture on the screen: it’s about performances.
Maybe because my background and training is in visual art and creative writing, but for me, baked into the creative process is the need for TIME. Time to ease into the creative act, to orient yourself to the story, to step into the character, to try things, to experiment, to make mistakes and figure out what you don’t want, so you find what you do want. And once you find it, especially because it’s a performance (as opposed to a painting), taking the time to dial in what we’re looking for is crucial.
Yes, of course, on the day we’re going to get things we didn’t expect. The nature of performance is that it’s fresh and different every time. But rehearsal gives us the chance to “find” what we’re looking for, so those fresh and new performances are only deeper into the character, story, theme, and tone we’re after.
On Echoic, we did 5 individual rehearsals because the main character had essentially a 10-page monologue. On Shivved, we did 4 different rehearsals. And the work paid off. In both cases, we shot 11 pages in one day (the industry standard is roughly 4-8 pages to allow for all the angles). My philosophy: prepare everything in advance so that you're ready. That way on the day, you’re not trying to remember what you thought you wanted weeks ago. That’s already locked in. Now you’re free to move with confidence, go through the shots, and move on from one angle with the confidence that you got exactly what you were looking for.
The ability to move smoothly also depends on the competence of the team around you. Within the first couple of hours on shoot day, it became abundantly clear that each person on this set not only had an excellent attitude and was thrilled to be there making movies together, but they also knew exactly what they were doing. They knew their job and did it with efficiency.
All of this taken into account, my plan was for us to film the first shot 1 hour after arriving on set. Due to the number of windows on the location that we had to block out and the length of time it took to apply tattoos to an actor, we didn’t get the first shot up until 2.5 hours into the day.
If this had been my first short, I probably would have quietly freaked out, adding unspoken stress to an already pressured situation. However, having done this a handful of times, I knew a few key facts:
The first shot of the day always takes the longest to get up.
We had a solid game plan for the shot list that I knew would run very fast once we started filming.
It was vitally important that the windows were blocked out and the tattoos were on correctly because that would set the trajectory for the rest of our day. If anything deserved excess time, it was these ‘top of the day’ items.
We had rehearsed thoroughly. We knew what we were doing. I trusted my actors to deliver, and I trusted myself to guide us through the day.
When making art, watching the clock often inhibits productivity. It’s better to just focus on the task at hand and go after it, trusting you’ll get it done in time.
Prayer works. Repeatedly throughout this year, I’ve seen impossible things come together. So while we were still in that initial setup stage, we stopped everyone, held our “welcome to set/safety meeting,” and I started the day off in prayer, trusting that we would be guided and provided for.
Fun fact about me: I LOVE action comedies. I aim to one day direct action features, joining the small (but growing) ranks of female action directors. Therefore, I was delighted to have a legitimate stunt moment in this script. I am blessed to have a friend who stunts coordinates professionally, and he was generous enough to stop by for a couple of hours and train our actors in a stunts segment.
I love everything our actors delivered but I must admit, the action shots are my favorite. Judging by the quiet glee on my cinematographer’s face, I know I’m not the only one who felt this way.
The day took off. The crew was on point, the actors delivered, and we had a blast. Even with that delay, we finished all of the shots a half hour early and then wrapped out in 45 minutes, which meant tail lights were 45 minutes ahead of schedule (can you tell I’m a nerd?). Plenty of time for a wrap party at a Mexican restaurant down the street.
There is nothing else I’d rather be doing on my birthday.
Adventure Awaits
S. C. Durbois Newsletter
1st Saturday every month: a new original short story.
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4th Saturday every month: a new chapter from “Bohan the Mage,” a dark academic fantasy novel. Subscriber access only.
So loving your journey!!
Love learning how it all works