Learning Journey - Character Status

 On this blog, I will analyze my learning journey throughout the unit “Directing Actors for the Screen” as well as demonstrating how I have applied my learning through my directorial projects.

 We started by learning about "Status". “Status” is the power each character has in relation to the rest of the characters in a scene. They are marked by numbers from one to three, one being the strongest and dominating character, and three being the weakest character.

An example of this can be seen in Se7en (D.Fincher, 1995), when detectives Mills and Somerset drive the villain Jon Doe to the location of the two victims. At the beginning of the scene, we see Jon Doe trapped behind a grid that separates the detectives sitting in the car's front seats and the criminal sitting in the back, cuffed.

   (Jon Doe behind bars, weakened)

The visual language of the scene propels the feeling that the character who has spent most of the film in control, is now weakened by both the detectives. This leaves Jon Doe with the weak status of a three and  attributes full control of the scene and status of a one to the detectives.

However, as the scene progresses both the detective's status begin to lose power as Jon Doe explains what led him to commit his crimes. Detective Sommerset's eyes changes from a confident look into a serious expression that hints insecurity.

(Sommerset is calm)

(Sommerset begins to be suspicious)

 Detective Mills in the other hand resumes mocking Jon Doe’s words by saying: “I seem to remember us knocking on your door…” therefore implying that they had been able to track Doe to his lair.

 However, Mill's begins to lose power, as not only he is interrupted by Doe's comments, but also his responses are clearly frustrated by the criminal's words, calling him a "movie of the week".

 Towards the end of his speech, Jon takes the control as he says: "The only reason I am here right now is that I intended to be." The room goes quiet as Mill's eyes reveal confusion.

(Mills, now also framed behind bars, starts losing confidence)

 The characters who once were seen to be in control of the scene are now being controlled by the villain behind bars. This is reinforced by the shot at 01:48:52, where we see Sommerset's POV as he looks at the rearview mirror framing Jon Doe in Shallow Depth of Field while he confronts Detective Mills. This creates the illusion that Jon is actually free, as the grid that separated him from the detective is nothing but physical. The real line that separates them is in fact blurred as Doe takes control of the scene, which is reinforced by the Shallow Depth of Field.

(Doe takes control of the scene)

This scene shows how Fincher plays with Status and visuals in order to construct a scene and build tension.

 The meaning of Status is inherent to the character's Objective. It is the character's goals that drive them throughout the scene leading them to either show or hide their real intentions. During one class exercise, we were asked to put this notion into practice. We were given the same script and were tasked with developing the character's objectives and status with our actors. The script consisted of three characters, two of which had been on a relationship, and now we're just friends, talking. One of which regretted what he had done in his past and was trying to apologize to his ex-girlfriend. There is also a third character, which is now in a relationship with the girlfriend.  We decided that the main characters would be the ex-couple, as the third character had little influence on the scene since his sole objective consisted of accompanying his girlfriend. For the character of the ex-boyfriend, his goal was to show to his ex-girlfriend that he is now a changed man who regrets his past. Therefore he has the status of a two since it is the ex-girlfriend who held the power of forgiveness that he craved for. The last character's goal was to try and give a last chance to be friends with her ex-boyfriend. Even though she does not have much dialogue, the power of decision is in her hands, giving her character a higher status in this scene. Doing this exercise helped to better understand how to play with levels by steering them through each character’s goals.

Learning Journey - Character Archetypes

 Carl Jung has described archetypes as:

 "... a relationship between our personal unconscious and (...) a collective unconscious, a set of memories and ideas that are shared amongst all humanity." (C. Jung, The Integration of the Personality, 1939).

(Carl Jung, The Father of Analytical Psychology 1875-1961)

This notion means that an Archetype is something that is established in our minds as a society. This applies to every form of art from books to films, in which we can distinguish certain character traits that our unconscious automatically associates with an established archetype. An example of this is "The Mentor" archetype. “The Mentor” is a character whose main purpose is to guide the main protagonist and help him achieve his mission. This is normally an older character that is wiser and more experienced than the lead character. An example of this archetype is Gandalf, a character from "The Lord of The Rings" (P.Jackson, 2001-2003) franchise, who acts as a counselor and adviser to Frodo, the hero of the story.

("The Mentor" Gandalf, played by Ian McKellen)

 A film audience is able to recognize the different character traits that amount to a certain archetype. As a director, it is important to know these traits in order to understand how to approach our characters and further subvert the archetypal expectations. 

"Stories resonate when they are universal, but they engage people by avoiding vagueness like a virus." (P. Craft, 2018, 12 Character Archetypes Every Writer Should Already Know, Website - Reedsy Blog)

This meaning that even though archetypes are a powerful tool in my belt as a director, it can also be my enemy as a storyteller, if I over-rely on these tools to build my characters. This can make them flat and vague, therefore it is important to explore these archetypes in order to give them enough depth to become fresh and original to a degree.

Learning Journey - Directing Influences

One of my biggest influences as a director is Damien Chazelle. Director of films such as "Whiplash" (2014), Chazelle succeeds in building stories whose vibrant visual language translates into a tense, enigmatic and emotional cinema. On an interview for website MUBI, Chazelle has said:

"For me, the narrative is a means to an end, a film comes to a point where it is just about image and sound, and hopefully the story will help built that apparatus." (D. Chazelle, 2019). 

(Damien Chazelle on set of "La La Land")

This meaning that Chazelle supports the notion that cinema is a visual media. It's story and narrative it's presented to us through the visuals, this being not only elements of the mise-en-scéne but also the actors on the screen. That being said, throughout all of his films, Chazelle explores themes such as "Obsession to succeed" and "Following your Dreams", both "Whiplash" and "La La Land" being the prime examples of this. His characters are more than often dreamers, whose main goal is the most important element towards their fulfillment. However, instead of painting his characters in an unrealistic story of success, Chazelle grounds his characters in reality. After the release of his latest, picture, "First Man" (2018), Chazelle has said:

"Speaking to Ryan Gosling, after Neil Armstrong goes pouching through the atmosphere, he has to come back down and do things like pick up the trash and take care of his kids."

 

(Still from "First Man") 

This shows that even though his characters are involved in big events or dreams, Chazelle prefers to ground them with reality by allowing the audience to observe they're normal Quotidian. As a director, I am very interested in character-based stories and by studying the works of Damien Chazelle, I am inspired to bring an approach to my films that is based on reality while also making use of all the cinematic tools on my belt in order to visually tell a story through image and sound.

Learning Journey - Directing a Scene

 For this class our assignment consisted of producing a three-minute scene from any film. Every director was given two actors to work with. I was assigned with two actresses, Lucy Kavanagh and Olivia Jennings. 

 Furthermore, my cast presented me with a scene from the show "Good Omens" (D. Mackinnon, 2019).  I agreed with adapting it as I was not familiar with the story and as a director, I was interested in developing a new approach towards the pre-existing material.

 The scene's title was renamed to "Yin Yang" and the story followed a moral debate between the angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley. 

 In the scene I adapted, the characters are confronted with the weight of their past actions. Therefore I wrote it to take place on a rooftop with the landscape of the city surrounding them. By doing this I can contrast the status of two angels who observe the world from up above, with the weight of their actions, reflected on the large city around them. The heavenly creatures on top of a building suddenly feel smaller as the weight of their actions crushes them. 

An example of this is the WS at the end of "Skyfall", where we see James Bond on a rooftop after the loss of M his mentor. In this shot, he is reflecting on his actions and his loss, the city that surrounds him represents not only what he was fighting for but also the weight of his responsibilities as an agent. 

(WS of "Skyfall") 

(Location of the film)

I also decided to shoot the film in Black and White so that the bleak visuals of the film translated the state of spirit of the characters. It is in the characters and it's emotions that I wanted the direction of the film to be focused on. For this I decided to attribute elements of slow-cinema such as long takes and slower rhythm. As most of the script is dialogue-based, I wanted each character's lines to have an impact on the one who was receiving the words. By studying the works of Ingmar Bergman I started to understand how to explore the impact of each word on a dialogue scene. In Winter Light (I.Bergman, 1963), Bergman sets the camera in an MCU two-shot of two characters speaking. 

(MCU "Winter Light")

 Throughout the conversation, it is mostly the character in the background who speaks, yet all his words are reflected on the character that's closest to the lens. I wanted to borrow this technique from Bergman and utilize it as Crowley tries to convince Aziraphale to kill the Antichrist. By keeping Aziraphale closer to the camera as Crowley talks, the audience will feel closer to the character, watching his reaction after every word that Crowley says to him.

 Finally, it was time to rehearse. We planned one week with four rehearsals. On the first two, we would be working on Studio B at our University, and in the last two days, we were going to rehearse on set in order for the actresses to know the location. This would also allow us to go over the blocking which would be essential as we have some long takes fixed on tight MCU shots, therefore it is important for the actors to learn how much of the frame they can explore.

 However, because of the current quarantine, the only way for us to rehearse was through Skype. For this, I planned a full rehearsal in which I wanted to explore some character-based exercises. The first one was an interview in which the cast had to answer each question in character. This was helpful as it allowed the actresses to think of how their characters would react to different situations. By understanding this, their performances will feel more natural since they have a better understanding of their characters.

 I have also applied the Status concept that I learned in the unit. At the beginning of my scene, it is Crowley who dominates the screen. Each of his words makes Aziraphale nervous and uptight. However, as the scene progresses, Aziraphale takes action and stands up for himself. There is a shift in status as Crowley is no longer in power, it is Aziraphale who controls the scene. So, if we analyze each character's level we can say that Crowley begins the scene as a 1 and ends it as a 3, and Aziraphale begins the scene as a 3 and finishes it as a 1. Discussing this with my actresses was important so that they understood how their characters progressed in terms of power.

Conclusion and Bibliography

In conclusion, even though the production on "Yin Yang" did not come to fruition, the pre-production process has allowed me to grow as a director. I have acquired tools such as the understanding of status, goals, and archetypes which have allowed me to better communicate with actors in order for them to better understand their roles and achieve a better performance. Alongside this, I also developed a better understanding of how to extract emotions through blocking and camera positioning by studying the works of directors like Ingmar Bergman.

Bibliography

Source 1: Fincher, D. (1995) Se7en, Publisher: New Line Cinema;

Source 2: Jung, C. (1940) The Integration of the Personality, Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul;

Source 3: Jackson, P. (2001-2003) The Lord of the Rings Series, Publisher: New Line Cinema;

Source 4: Chazelle, D. (2014) Whiplash, Publisher: Blumhouse Productions;

Source 5:  How Damien Chazelle Tells a Story (2019), Video Essay, Publisher: StoryTellers and MUBI;

Source 6: Chazelle, D. (2016) La La Land, Publisher: Summit Entertainment;

Source 7: Chazelle, D. (2018) First Man, Publisher: Universal Pictures;

Source 8: Mackinnon, D. (2019) Good Omens, Publisher: Amazon Prime;

Source 9: Mendes, S. (2012) Skyfall, Publisher: MGM;

Source 10: Bergman, I. (1963) Winter Light, Publisher: AB Svensk Filmindustri.