Beneath, Between, Behind the Scenes: Plan, Plan, Plan Your Scenes
M. Francis Enright is a filmmaker. His first short film, HR, was accepted into zero of the 23 festivals to which it was submitted. His second short film, The Routine, was nominated for Best Dark Comedy at the Georgia Comedy Film Festival. His third short film, Say Your Name, won Best Drama and Best Director at the Top Shorts Films Festival and was selected for the 2024 Boston International Film Festival.
I was onstage during a Q&A session at the Boston International Film Festival for my last short film, Say Your Name, and was asked, “What should I do before I start a film?”
I said, “Plan, plan, plan.”
There is a time when all of us, actors, DP, lighting crew, props, art department, just need to stand back and see what the action will be, what the actor is actually going to be doing. These are called blocking rehearsals, where the cast and the DP and the rest of the crew is trying to get a sense of the action of the scene, where the actor is starting, where he or she is ending. They are not really concerned with the dialogue and emotion of the scene, just the movements. They don’t need to know why the character pauses and looks out the window, just that she is doing it. The big ideas are essential, but one cannot forget about the basics. Where is the actor standing? What is the camera seeing? That is what the DP needs to know.
In the script it might say,
INT. HOUSE-NIGHT
Amy walks into the bedroom.
That sounds pretty simple on paper. However, it always seems to get more complicated on set. Amy is in the hallway before she enters the room. So the script needs to be more specific.
INT. HOUSE-HALLWAY-NIGHT
The director and the DP and the AD would have a discussion during a pre production meeting and ideally take a walk through the location and make these decisions beforehand. The scene is supposed to take place at night so that has to be taken into account when thinking about the lighting.
Do we want to see Amy in the hallway before she comes into the room? Then the hallway needs to be lit and the art department needs to dress it. That takes time.
Does she knock on the door before she enters? If so, do we want a close up (CU) on her hand when she turns the doorknob? Then we need to light that.
Do we get a close up on her face when she is facing the door? From the front or in profile? Do we want the camera behind her when she knocks at the door? Way down the hall or right behind her? Is the camera in the room and the door opens and she is standing in the doorway?
We need a plan.
Shot List:
- Amy in hallway from front
- Amy in hallway profile
- Amy in hallway close up on hand on door knob
- Amy in hallway shot of her back opening the door
Amy enters the room.
INT. BEDROOM-NIGHT
What does she do when she gets into the room?
Once she enters the room, does she walk to a chair and sit down? Does she pause and look out the window? If she does that, then the DP and the crew need to light for it. We need a plan.
Shot List:
- Amy enters room
- Amy crosses to chair
- Amy pauses and looks out of the window
- Amy sits in chair
Where is the chair placed? What else is in the room? The art department needs to dress the room. What is the woman carrying? What is she wearing? How is her hair and make-up supposed to look. The various departments need time to do their work properly. It all takes time.
Once they see the blocking rehearsal the crew can place the camera and light the scene. The art department can dress the set, though depending on how complicated it is a lot of that has probably been done before.
When you don’t have a lot of money, it is better to keep things as simple as possible.
Not everything can be planned. Sometimes, many times, you get on set and things change. Things happen in the moment when the cast and crew are all in the location; you can’t plan for that energy and it is great energy. Good directors and actors and crew are able to adapt and use that energy. Not many things can replicate the energy of the cast and crew being in the same location at the same time. Someone may have a great suggestion and you say, “Yeah, let’s do that.” That is all part of the creative process. If there were a template to follow, a set of directions and it was like a machine, it is not creative.
However, that does not negate planning. Things cannot get out of hand. Someone might have a great idea in the moment but you don’t have the time or the equipment to do it. Or, it might be great for that particular scene but it doesn’t fit the movie as a whole. The director always has to keep the big picture in mind.
In the opening scene in the Godfather, when Bonasera is asking Vito Corleone to murder the boys who attacked his daughter, Marlon Brando is playing with a cat in his lap. That wasn’t planned. In the commentary, Francis Ford Coppola explains that the cat was just running around the set and he picked it up and handed it to Brando. Brando didn’t ask him why; he got it, because he was a great actor. He understood that his character gently playing with this little kitty was a great juxtaposition for this very powerful, very dangerous man, discussing murder. It underscored his character.
Sometimes, you have to go with the flow.
But you still need a plan.
