I have already briefly touched on what I think of our pilot episode of Human Resources, both in the way it was produced and filmed and the final outcome. On a holistic note, I am happy with and proud of what we made. My pride does not relate specifically to the episode (there is a lot that could be improved), but rather to our ability to create what we did despite the circumstances we had to make it.
A lot of my reflection throughout the semester thus far has focused on the confusion and instability of this studio. We have faced a lack of direction, unreliability, miscommunication, a very large array of skill sets, and a lot of general frustration throughout the last nine weeks. Of course, some of this is evident in our episode, but as our very first attempt at an episode, based on a first draft script, I really don’t think it’s that bad. I also think saying its bad undermines all the work that some of our crew, like Kelly, put in. Obviously, we need to be critical of our work to determine where exactly we need to improve, but it is still our first go, and so of course, it’s still going to be far from perfect.
With that being said, I will get into my own reflection and technical criticism of the episode. We’ve had many discussions in class about the actors and whether we will ask them to come back in the future. While initially, we were thinking of recasting Duncan (a particular passion of one of the writers…), we’ve re-evaluated and decided to go ahead with him for the time being, and try change or strengthen the direction of his performance first to see if that will fix any issues we had.
The main issue I found with his character/performance is that it is clunky. It is not bad, it is just awkward sometimes. This is manageable, we all agree we need to focus more on the actors in preproduction. Through providing the actors with more character information, table reads, rehearsals on location and allowing for improvisation, all actors should feel more comfortable in their role and be able to be more immersed in their character.
Another issue is the effect of the abridged script. The second part of the episode doesn’t make a lot of sense. Duncan’s werewolf reveal isn’t meant to make sense, or more so, it’s meant to be a surprise. Even his rapping is just an aspect and example of his silly, fun character. But what he is saying- “getting sweaty in the office” doesn’t make lots of, or any sense because the context came from the part of the script that we cut out from the original. While shortening the script allowed us to be more efficient in production, it also interrupted the flow of the storyline and made the episode slightly incoherent. Working more with the writers and getting more help from them would have helped us create a more cohesive abridged script. In the end, we will still have a cohesive, whole episode as we are filming the originally un-shot parts of the pilot episode.
A lot of the feedback that we got in our studio presentations regarded what we said in the presentation, such as the way we work as a group, our plan going ahead, and our own reflection on our work, as well as direct feedback on our episode.
Both of the guests focused on the direction of performance, particularly in regard to Christian, who played Duncan. We presented to them our aforementioned thoughts about potentially recasting him due to a lack of energy, and they both said to work more on working with him and directing him to strengthen his performance. Helen particularly focused on the importance of being able to work with actors and how to direct them. I found this feedback interesting, especially their stance (that of Stayci also) to be less critical of, or less harsh to, Christian (Duncan). While I did think he felt slightly uncomfortable on set, and I genuinely did think parts of the episode in terms of performance were clunky, I didn’t automatically think to recast Duncan. I could have taken a stronger stance in earlier discussions around his performance, but I didn’t have a particularly strong opinion in either way. Consequently, it was very easy for me to agree to a recast when I may not have thought it through enough. I do find that I am susceptible to influence from those with strong opinions, and I think this may have happened in this case with the writers who had such a strong opinion against Christian/Duncan.
On the note of the writers and influence, I think it’s important we keep in mind that this is our production and we are the ones making decisions about the filming and style, regardless of what the writers want. We have followed the script (or our logistics based adaption) almost completely, and definitely to the industry expected extent.
Another dominate aspect of the feedback we received, or one that we focused on, was that regarding the “shaky cam”, or our use of the term, and the zooms we incorporated. Regarding the shaky cam, I think Helen noticed some incoherency between us saying we chose to use a shaky cam, and the fact that our footage was relatively still, in addition to the fact that we referenced The Office, which is an observational documentary, where our own Human Resources is not. I don’t think there is any issue, we are inspired by the comedy of the office but are definitely not making a mockumentary, and we can note for the future to use the term ‘handheld’ instead of ‘shaky’.
Finally, the zooms. I understood Helen’s comments to be surrounding our aims and intentions, not the actual zooms themselves. She did say they give the filming a dated look and make the episode goofy. Whether or not everyone would interpret them in this way, she was mainly making the point that we need to know why we are using them and know what effect they are having, which I believe we do. Kelly and Amber (DOP) specifically chose to use them, they had a purpose and an intended effect. Consequently, I acknowledge and appreciate this feedback but do not take it as criticism.
At the end of the day, I am proud of my group. We worked efficiently and well together, and I truly believe the episode is a testament to that. I have a lot of hope for the rest of the semester.