In Spider, Serena is on edge- a strange dream, a clueless boyfriend, and a fly that finds its way into her apartment. It is a short dramatic piece that uses the fly as a way into the tensions between Serena and her boyfriend, John. It’s about being fed up and anxious about something you can’t quite put into words- the fly is an easy target for Serena, who is dealing with issues much larger surrounding her own sense of autonomy.

In making this, I wanted to challenge myself in terms of directing performance. I was fortunate to find two really brilliant actors who were very easy to work with. In auditions, I chose these actors not only for their proficiency but also because I felt that we would get along well and have a comfortable and relaxed (but also serious and collaborative) relationship on set. On set, I was able to cultivate my style of working with actors. When you’re directing a lot of it is about just remaining calm, at least in my experience. For this scene, I was really focused on talking calmly while being sharp but considerate with feedback. I wanted the actors to feel as secure as possible.  As well, letting them know that they can and should pause when they need, and not being too harsh on mistakes meant that they could retain their confidence and energy. Putting this kind of directing style into practice was the most personally beneficial and educative part of filming the scene.

When filming, I made takes as long as possible ie; I only repeated individual lines a few times, in general we went through everything covered by that shot. This was inspired by the working methods of Cassavettes, who favours long takes that build emotion (takes during the filming process, the final films are cut up relatively conventionally). This allowed dynamics to build for actors throughout each performance- it gave a fuller context to what they were doing. The scene also ends with a monologue, which was a challenge not only due to its duration, but also because it was hard to find ways to segment and understand each part of the monologue dramatically- how should she say each line so that it is not merely an effort of recounting a story? I also wanted to use singles for the dialogue in the latter section of the scene. I was interested in seeing how I could manipulate the performances through editing with the plentiful options that this provides me. In an early reflection in this course, I noted how someone like Lubitsch or Hong Sang-Soo tends to avoid this approach through group shots that cannot be manipulated in the edit later (you can’t splice in takes or change the timing in these shots). I thought it would be a challenge and a worthwhile experiment for me to just use singles and see how varying the rhythms, compressing and expanding time, and being very selective with takes would turn out. I found that I was able to Frankenstein together some of my favourite moments in the scene through my choices in takes and cuts, which showed for me how malleable performances can be in the editing room when you have enough coverage.

Overall, I challenged myself with this scene and made something that I’m quite happy with. Working with “real” actors gave me a sense of what trained actors can bring to scenes through their expertise. Choices in how I filmed the scene exposed me to the unique challenges of various decisions, as well as the affordances that these choices lend.