On-Set Production – Blocking + The Script Supervisor with Tim Courtney
On-Set ProductionOn the 30th October, BAFTA-winning writer-director Tim Courtney visited to deliver a seminar and supervise a blocking exercise. This was a great privilege as an aspiring writer-director (and cinematographer) and Tim provided a lot of new information and insight into the operations of the film and TV industry.
My Loneliness is Killing Me
We started with a viewing of Tim’s BAFTA Scotland winning short film ‘My Loneliness is Killing Me’. It is a gritty, realistic portrayal of the inner workings and hidden reality of the LGBT community and gay hookup culture, and focuses on themes of emotional suppression, loneliness, and a search for meaning and understanding. I had seen the short a few years ago as one of my friends was monitored by Tim through a BAFTA mentorship, but on second viewing and with nearly three years of film school under my belt, I noticed details I hadn’t previously.
Tim spoke about prioritising the emotional connection in film, and I think this is one of the greatest achievements of this short film. Despite being set in a community that is often emotionally disconnected due to hookup culture, the two main characters are able to find common ground through mutual desires for authentic connection and experiences of misunderstanding and loneliness due to their sexuality.
Tim also mentioned that his directorial style is visual-centric, and he likes to focus on silence, the breath, and background ambience and noise within a scene. My Loneliness is Killing Me was a film that wasn’t overly reliant on dialogue to establish a sense of character and story, and as someone who has a love for dialogue but also the space and stillness to process that, I think it is a great example of letting the visuals do the work in storytelling.
I loved the difference in cold, clinical lighting and colourful, warm lighting to establish a sense of the characters and the reliance upon costume, makeup, and production design to create a rich story world. Overall, My Loneliness is Killing Me is a short film to learn lessons about filmmaking from, especially in respect to a complex and sensitive subject matter representing a historically-repressed community.
Key Seminar Takeaways
Blocking is of utmost importance to directors. It allows both the actors and directors to visualise the scene spatially, ensure the actors are comfortable before shooting, and discover what the movement throughout the scene is conveying to the audience.
Don’t underestimate the importance of a great script supervisor. They are one of your main assets as a director, a second pair of eyes and have an informed, knowledgeable opinion regarding the script and storylines. Script supervisors will notice minute details, eyeliner, continuity considerations, etc that will go unnoticed by other crew.
A lot of questions you would instinctively want to take to the producer or writer can be redirected to the script supervisor. Examples include: “How did you read this?” “How do you want to shoot this (in terms of continuity for the edit)?” “What effect does xyz have on the plot?”
Note down your best take, or the best part of a take, on set to streamline the editing process. This is referred to as a director ‘buying’ the best take. E.g. The director ‘bought’ the second take. This is typically the responsibility of the script supervisor.
Directors have to decide which notes from the script supervisor are worth taking into consideration or acting upon. Which remark from the script supervisor means the shots won’t cut together, or whether to go for another take, or to modify the blocking, etc.
Ask the actors what they think certain lines are actually saying or mean to them. This adds subtext that will change the delivery of the lines.
Directors need to be able to answer any and all questions at a moment’s notice. Direct on instinct. You can make it up as you go and you’re allowed to change your mind.
If you don’t know the location and haven’t factored in blocking, you aren’t planning for a true representation of the scene.
Refer back to your floor plan – blocking, shots, annotated and numbered shots – when explaining blocking to the crew.
The way characters move through the scene in relation to the shots tells you what’s important and being emphasised – this can alter the meaning of a scene so don’t overlook it.
Blocking Exercise
Tim stayed to supervise our blocking exercise, which provided a level of knowledge and professionalism to aid us. For this we were given a four-page script with two characters and a set amount of time to assign roles, do a blocking rehearsal, plan camera and lighting, and shoot takes. Oliwia opted to be our director and I was the DP. I definitely felt on this occasion I didn’t have enough time to set up my desired lighting set-up, nor did I have the experience or knowledge to do so in under 10-15 minutes once Oliwia had blocked the scene with Ben, Euan, and Tim.
Despite this, we still learnt a lot from the exercise and I realised the value of being adaptable and in a position to offer quick, knowledgeable instruction as a DP to camera and lighting assistants.