Alaine posted some very interesting ideas on several different Google Drive docs. At first, I found it all to be a bit disjointed; I don’t think I truly understood the concept. But I gained clarity after spending some time to reflect on them.

I think what really appealed to me is that we have total freedom over the film. We rejected the standard notion of the audience early on, and would make crucial decisions based on how we felt, rather than how we thought an audience would respond. I originally felt we were entering quite murky territory; acting on impulse can sometimes be dangerous. But after having several conceptual discussions with Alaine, I think she would agree that we felt quite comfortable with the route we were taking.

Despite knowing what we were trying to communicate, I had no idea how we would communicate it in a visual sense. I was unable to attend the shoot for the first “moment”, so my first encounter with the aesthetic came about in the edit suites. I have a lot of faith in Sam’s camera ability, and thought everything he shot looked quite nice. In the editing room, it was really the music that helped with the overall mood of the “moment”.

The next scene we shot was Jenny’s phone scene. Unlike the other “moments”, this one is (essentially) one take that goes for about a minute, thus, I thought it would be quite difficult. However, the shoot was completed quite early thanks to Jenny’s acting ability and Alaine’s precise direction. We had Jenny rehearse the scene a few times in various ways, and once we started to record, Jenny nailed it.

What I got out of this was understanding the importance of time on set. The rehearsal helped; with non-professional actors, it is really vital that they understand every aspect of the scene in order for them to deliver.