Jo, having recently lost her brother Sean, arranges a meeting with a Spirit Medium in order to commune with his spirit. During the meeting, the Medium is asking Jo questions about her relationship with the deceased. To her surprise the Medium turns to an empty chair and asks the question

 

“What was your relationship with the deceased?”

 

Much to Jo’s surprise, Sean’s spirit has been present the whole time with the Medium mistaking him for the living. This quickly spirals into an absurd game of telephone between Jo, Sean and the Medium. Jo is trying desperately to understand what is happening and tries to find a way to get her final words. 

 

This scene was based on a prior project I did for a previous class called “Visual Blueprint”. This original work was focused heavily on visual composition but features some similar plot elements. Coming into this assessment, I wanted to use the emphasis on actor performance to develop characters more in order to deliver a more cohesive project. 

 

I rewrote the script to expand the runtime and cast actors that I felt were much more expressive in these roles. We shot it on a Tuesday afternoon in my unit using one Sony FX3 and a boom mic setup. 

I think this assignment has given me a lot to take away, potentially more than any other assignment I’ve done before. Working with actors, crew and so much more equipment has made me incredibly aware of the missteps or limits of my own experience. Going into the next project I feel optimistic that I will be able to approach it with a more robust and focused work process.