Director's Plan
Visualize the event unfolding in your mind as you answer these questions:
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What is the overall story—the beginning, middle, and end—of this event?
A lady starts a timer. A girl nearby starts to hunt around the house, looking for something, calling for a cat. She finds the cat and calls to it, but it doesn’t want to come. She tries to reach under and pull the cat out, but it’s angry. She resorts to bribing it with treats, and it finally comes to her. She leads it into the bathroom where the door shuts and the cat begins to howl. Bathtime.
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Why is this event dramatic? (Drama means the audience understands something about the characters and what is at stake in this event. Specifically, is there competition between the participants? Are there spectators? Is there physical risk?)
The cat in question (my cat) is extremely angry and violent, and the girl (my sister) is not extremely patient or fond of the cat. Trying to get this cat into a certain place within a time limit may be impossible without manhandling the cat, but this cat HATES being touched by people she doesn’t like and this could result in some very interesting physical comedy as my sister attempts to wrangle an angry beast into a certain room. At stake is my sister’s safety really, as well as her pride as she tries to do this with a time limit.
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What is the tension of the scene?
Will she get the cat into the bathroom under the time limit?
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Make a list of general story beats in the order that you expect the action will unfold. (What beat happens first, then second, then third… Add more beats as necessary.)
- The lady starts the timer.
- The girl runs to find the cat.
- She finds the cat!
- The cat is an unwilling participant.
- The girl wrangles the cat, but the cat is not happy about this.
- The girl drags the cat into the bathroom as it hisses and growls.
- The door to the bathroom shuts.
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Where is the action taking place (A stadium? A gymnasium? A living room?)?
My aunt’s house (where my cat currently lives).
What, specifically, will you shoot to reveal this location to the audience?
We’ll be travelling all over the house, so as we start out in the bathroom, the location will make sense as we begin to travel.
When will you choose to reveal this to the audience? If you wait, why will you wait?
I will reveal this after the timer starts. I think it would make things interesting if we reveal the depth of the space after the timer starts to show how challenging doing this might be.
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Who do you imagine will be the characters involved in this event?
My aunt, my sister, and my cat.
What will you shoot to introduce these characters to the audience?
I will start by having my aunt start the timer, then revealing my sister as she starts to run to find the cat. We reveal the cat once my sister finds her.
Why is this event important to them? (This is usually where the drama originates.)
It's important to my sister for pride’s sake, since she wants to do things under the time limit, and for my aunt because my cat really actually does need a bath. Zippy is a stanky cat.
What will you shoot to communicate why the event is important to them?
The timer being set will help to establish that there is a time limit and that there is a rush to get it done. I’m not sure how we will establish that bathing the cat is a good idea or that that will happen (because most likely that plan will fail miserably), but I’m also not sure it’s absolutely necessary to convey that.
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If the event’s rules (or expectations) are not commonly known, how—specifically—will you teach the rules to the audience?
I think the first rule will be fairly obvious: find the thing under the time limit. We might be able to recognize that the cat must be brought to the bathroom if my aunt starts the timer in the bathroom and helps bring the cat in for the last little stretch of time.
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What specific details (participants, timer, spectators, hands, feet, eyes, balls, rackets, etc..) can you shoot to help the audience both understand and feel the drama of this event?
To convey the drama best, I’ll try to get closeups of some details, especially when my cat is being cornered. She gets really angry and does some really funny things when she’s pissed off, so some closeups of that and my sister’s hands trying to grab her will be really effective.
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What is the audience’s progression of emotions that you hope to create as this dramatic event unfolds?
10. In one sentence, state the theme, meaning or moral of this story. (The theme is your personal opinion or point of view on what this story means. It is not a single word. It takes a position.) In other words, how does this event represent something more universal than a simple tennis match or pinewood derby race?
Finding the will to complete challenging and even dangerous tasks sometimes requires it to be made into a game.
First and last images and why:
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What is a single image that captures the essence of this entire event? (What would the movie poster of this event look like?)
The cat fighting back against my sister, my sister with a watch on her hand and clearly in shot.
How and when will you capture this?
I’ll capture this about halfway or just over halfway into the timer’s time. I want to get it so that this battle doesn’t take too long but that it’s also the greatest point of tension in the film. I’ll make sure I’m getting closeups as well as a wide so we can see the size difference and how funny it is that my sister is so afraid. She’s right to be though, my cat has murderous rage.
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Good directors tap into their truest emotions and channel them into their work. What specific personal experience(s) in your own life does this story remind you of emotionally? What personal truths does this scene does this scene evoke for you? (Do not answer, “Because I’ve always wanted to make a chase scene!”) Rarely will there be an actual one-to-one correlation between your personal experience(s) and the film. Rather, this personal experience will help you connect to the emotional truths in your film and the emotions of the characters. As you write about your experience(s), be specific, detailed, and emotional. The stronger you grasp the personal, the stronger your final film. Do not be general. Answer this question by beginning with, “There was this one time when…” Note: Because this is personal, you may delete this answer when you post it online.
“There was this one time when…
I needed to take my cat to the vet. She was about to get spayed. The problem is, however, that she HATES car rides and being stuck in small places. Some cats love enclosed spaces, but not my cat. Trying to get her in the carrier is a nightmare, so we forewent that and let her hang free in the car. This was a terrible idea. She was all over the place, climbing on my mom’s shoulders and back as she was driving, howling as though we had tried to chop her tail off and clawing the living hell out of our arms. Poor thing couldn’t handle it. I felt really bad about it, but she really did need to get spayed because she’s an outdoor cat and my parents didn’t want to deal with kittens. My mom is a really easily frustrated person, so this was NOT her favorite trip and she got really mad about it. The only way we were able to keep my mom from throwing the cat out the window and not taking her anger out on us was to laugh at it and hope that my mom stayed calm. It worked, but it was definitely at poor Zippy’s expense. Looking back, it felt ridiculous that the only way to manage our adult mother’s anger – because for some reason that was my sister and I’s responsibility – was to make a joke out of everything. It sucks though because although we made it funny and got through it, we probably shouldn’t have had to and it felt worse for everyone else.
In what specific way(s) does this experience give you insight into a character/characters, the story, and/or the theme, to help connect you to the film?
This situation is slightly similar because it’s a tough task involving my cat and her unhappy attitude, and it’s to an end that really does need to happen (she needs a bath BAD). I would usually do this myself, but I’m not sure I can wrangle her properly on my own and making it into a game (and saying it’s for an assignment) might be the only way to ask my sister to help out in doing this. Thankfully at this point in time, we don’t have to worry about managing each other’s emotions because we are adults who have been to therapy, but as I was doing this I did still have to think about whose toes I have to worry about stepping on for the purpose of this assignment. In a way, I think this assignment will help me learn how to more efficiently and kindly ask people to do things for me without chickening out and being worried that they’ll get angry at me. Making things into a game helps everyone stay positive about difficult tasks, I think.
Visual Rules: Select the two specific visual elements (the visual elements are: line, shape, space, tone, color, rhythm, movement) from Bruce Block that you could use to purposefully communicate the emotion of the event. How will you utilize contrast and infinity of these components to help build intensity in your purposeful telling of this event?
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Think through your shoot and describe three or four potential obstacles you may face in creating a successful film. What could go wrong? Describe how can you be prepared to overcome these? Be specific!
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Create and attach your Beat List using the Beat List form (not a shot list form) to articulate the moments, or beats, you imagine you will capture in this dramatic event.
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Read each of the following steps for shooting your project and place a check next to each item below to set in your mind your approach to shooting the event:
[X] If at all possible, watch the event unfold once—don’t just start shooting! Simply observe the action. Just watch. What happens? What is most interesting? Where does it lag? Where is there potential drama? Who is most interesting to watch?
[X] Check the action against your Beat List.
[X] Does the action unfold as you expected? How can you tweak to improve it?
[X] Are you able to see and get to know the characters?
[X] Is there something happening that is more interesting than what you expected?
[X] Can you incorporate this more interesting thing into your approach?
[X] Where are the most interesting, unexpected, artistic places to view this action? Can you get there?
[X] Revise your Beat List to include what you’ve learned?
[X] Visualize this progression of images carefully before you begin to shoot.
[X] Be ready to capture the unexpected!
[X] After each take, before shooting again, take a moment and evaluate what you just shot, review the above steps, prepare how to shoot again.
[X] Remember, you cannot direct the participants in any way other than to ask them to do the activity again
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Because you are not working with actors for this film, NO casting flyer is required.
Director's Reflection
A) Give your overall response:
In 2 or 3 paragraphs, write about your overall experience making and screening this film: Did you achieve what you set out to do? What are you proud of? What did not work as expected and why? What did you learn?
Making this film was definitely the easiest process of any of the films I’ve completed yet, and was also quite enjoyable (though Zippy probably wouldn’t say the same). I think I did achieve what I set out to, which was to create something that people can laugh at and which is visually dynamic. I wanted to make something that wasn’t just throwaway; I think I’ve developed the mentality that some of the assignments in this class are things I can just dump after I make them, but I’ve decided I don’t want to do that anymore so I wanted to put extra energy into brainstorming and preparing for this project and I think it worked out pretty well in my favor. The one thing I couldn’t be prepared for was what my sister and the cat would really do, which turned out to be both to my favor and to my detriment. Some people couldn’t figure out what my sister was doing (and to be honest I couldn’t either; I was confused as to why she was trying to dry the cat and why she didn’t give the cat more of a proper bath but there we were), but the humor was still ever-present as our confusion combined with the insanity of the situation and my cat’s anger was so enjoyable to watch.
Screening the film was probably my favorite screening experience so far. I never know how my content is going to be taken my my audience; I’ve usually stared at it and thought about it for so long that I have no idea what the content is saying anymore, so to have such an overwhelmingly positive response to this film felt really validating. Of course everyone’s concerns were also very valid, but they were mostly things that were out of my control so I didn’t feel super bad about it since if I had had the choice I would have fixed those things and done them differently.
B) Based on the class discussion and your honest evaluation, briefly but specifically respond to the following:
In one sentence, what idea, emotion and/or theme, specifically, did you want to communicate:
Even ordinary, everyday experiences can be enjoyable – although perhaps sometimes only after the fact.
Were you successful? How? Why? Why not?
I think I was. I really wanted the humor to come across and the fear and the anger and the tension of such an ordinary experience to be present, and I think that was really clear in this piece. Perhaps bathing a cat isn’t really an everyday experience, but I think I was able to reveal the humor of ordinary things in this piece through my subjects’ reactions and how their personalities mix.
How, specifically, did you try to communicate this idea, emotion, theme:
I tried to communicate this idea through featuring expressions and behaviors in my camerawork. I’m not sure I was always successful (it’s a one-take; there’s no way you’re going to get 100% of what you want in 9 consecutive minutes of footage of an event).
What did you learn about storytelling:
I learned here a lot more about what people want to see and what people are interested in having revealed to them. There were a lot of comments in class about how they wished they could see things from different angles so we could experience this event in a slightly different way from moment to moment, and I really understand what they mean. Even when the content itself is good and the subject matter is really interesting, keeping visual interest is really important.
What did you learn about working with actors and getting performance:
I didn’t really work with these actors this time because I wasn’t allowed to do anything more than tell my sister what the task was and Zippy is, well, Zippy, and cannot be controlled. I think sometimes when you film things, knowing how the subjects will likely interact and knowing where to put the camera is important, especially when you need to let the actor do what they want.
What did you learn about blocking the camera and actors?
I’m not sure I’ve specifically learned anything new; I was more reminded of things I’ve learned on past shoots and have therefore become more motivated on how I can find a solution to those problems. I realized that I keep trying to film in really tight spaces when I need a lot more room for the camera if I’m going to get the information that I need. It’s so hard to get larger spaces with no budget and not a lot of contacts (I’m not super great at networking…), so I need to figure out how to overcome this boundary, whether it’s by writing my scenes differently or if it’s by changing lenses, etc.
Refer to your Director’s Plan. What specific visual elements and cinematics did you choose to use and what were the rules for their use? Where you successful in the use of that rule?
What did you learn about using the visual elements (space, line, shape, tone, color, movement, rhythm), cinematics, contrast and affinity, lighting, composition, framing, etc.:
I learned in this that sometimes you’ll notice things on the set that you didn’t when you scouted it out that you can use. The contrasting tone of the film was great because my cat is entirely black and the bathroom was very light in tone, and line was really easy to use because my cat was usually framed by straight lines while my sister was framed by curved lines every time we saw her face. It was intentional, but mostly in the moment as I realized I could use it to my advantage.
What did you learn about design, art direction, locations, etc.:
Locations are important! This bathroom was pretty small, which made filming this difficult. To be fair, my cat would go and hide in the smallest corner possible no matter where we were which would make this difficult regardless, but the location was great in terms of design, color and tone.
What did you learn about the filmmaking process such as pre-production, collaborating with crew, securing equipment, etc.:
Pre-production was SO easy this time. I just sent a few quick texts and everything was solidified, which was a very welcome relief. The only problem I had was that my sister only wanted to do one take total after Zippy clawed her pretty good the first time. I’m lucky we got what we did on the first take, although solidifying the timing was pretty tricky.
What did you learn about editing, sound design/music, color correction and/or grading:
Everything was really easy this time around because I couldn’t edit anything. Kind of. I kept wanting to edit things together and create an even more humorous narrative that satisfied my originally planned depth and color cues; I probably will with what I got later on. Color grading was a piece of cake; lighting was SO easy in that bathroom.
What was it like to watch your film with an audience? Did they understand it? Miss the point? Why did they respond the way they did?
Watching this film with everyone together felt so satisfying. Hearing everyone getting so nervous for my sister’s safety and laughing so hysterically at how ridiculous the entire situation was (Ryan mentioned she was crying by the end of it because she was laughing so hard) was exactly what I had hoped for this film. Humor is not something easy to come by in BYU films for some reason, so getting people to laugh so heartily was very fun. I think they got the point perfectly and understood it almost perfectly (my sister not fully washing the cat made things a little trickier to understand the narrative, but I think the main point of how challenging doing ANYTHING with the cat was was definitely conveyed.
What will you do differently on your next film because of what you learned on this film?
In my next film, I’m definitely going to work on getting larger spaces to work inside of. It’s easy to make a space feel cramped just due to camera proximity to a subject and focal length, but getting smaller spaces to feel larger is so difficult. I think remembering why I cast the people I do and letting them bring what they have to the table for the film will also serve the picture too; my sister and my cat being able to do what I knew they would created the perfect result, so keeping that in mind while also directing my actors will ensure I’m able to collaborate with my actors and bring out the best of their performances and creativity.
Other observations or notes:
After watching some of the footage I had taken on this shoot and announcing I’m applying to internships right now in LA, my dad told me it was going to end up like that episode of The Office where Andy leaves his job to go try to be an actor and fails so miserably that he has to go back. I’m pretty sure he just said it because he’s scared I’ll be moving so far away, but it still really hurt. Having such a good reaction to this film helped me feel a lot better after that really upsetting blow. I’m really thankful for the support of this class.
C) Production Report (include any notes if necessary)
