Although a contrived dramatic vignette, Brother is the recreation of an event with the original participants. It is an episode of obliviousness that lead to the realisation that my younger brother is now an adult.
In discussion of possible vignettes with Robin I brought up the fact that it was only that weekend that it struck me that my brother is now also an adult, even though my perception of him is still that of a frustratingly annoying child. Robin encouraged me to script this scene and I found that it was incredibly relevant to my greater project. The idea of the scene is linked to the fact that our ideas of someone are usually fixed even as this person grows physically and in terms of their identity. Like Relationship this vignette will finish with a narration explaining the significance of the events. Unlike that narration though this one is tied to me as a character. In the other narration I was a disembodied god-like presence however in this instance the narration represents my own thoughts after the event.
The decision to cast my brother, Callum, and myself was easy. We both look similar enough and due to the nature of the vignette I wanted to explore working with non-actors, particularly non-actors playing fictionalised versions of themselves.
The production of the vignette was particularly challenging due to the fact I was working without a crew and also because I was acting within it. This limited what I was able to do in terms of framing and meant that each shot would be static. The other issue brought about by this arrangement was that I wasn’t able to see what occurred in each frame or to view the performance of my actors in real time.
Due to the nature of the scene a lot of the audio will have to be manipulated in postproduction as well as a music track added. When recording the audio live I once again used a tripod to hold the shotgun microphone and pointed that in the direction of my actors. Due to the fact I knew most of the audio would be degraded in post production I wasn’t too concerned with my live recording.
Having learnt my lesson from Relationship vignette I though more about my shots before, aware of the number of restrictions I was working with. Retrospectively the nature of this project was valuable as it meant I had to focus upon the decisions more so in pre-production. I also decided to mark the tripod positioning for a majority of the shows as well as the spot where I stood for the scene. I hoped that this would minimise any continuity issues and make my job as an editor easier.
As an actor I felt the experience interesting, as I was able to draw upon my memory to guide my performance. Although I had changed the setting of the event the core events and emotions remained. Directing my brother was easier than expected and I think he did a fantastic job of portraying himself (If he had to act as any other character I may have had trouble). The only concern is that the content I have brought to edit, I have only witnessed on the EX-3 screen. In particular I’m concerned about my close up and whether my facial expression appears appropriate for the scene.
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