And by the way, we have a few LATE nights...so don't be surprised if a few of these blog posts make absolutely no sense at all.
My husband and I arrived in Fergus Falls on Wednesday, June 9. We've had a few days to enjoy family, including Father's Day, and celebrated our daughter's 3rd birthday. On Saturday, June 14, we jumped into Sacred and collaborated with a few cast members to create high school posters for our fictitious high school Lynn Turner High School. (Lynn Turner High School was named after Heidi Lynn Helland and Claire Turner, two of the three young ladies we're dedicating "Sacred" to who passed away over the last few years). Needless to say, my high school poster-making skills are rusty. My senior class, class of 1999 from Hillcrest Lutheran Academy, just celebrated our 15 year class reunion...so I'm not going to apologize for that.
Sunday, June 15, a few of the actors met to continue character development and to work with me, some for the very first time. It might come as a surprise to you, but we actually didn't get into the script at all. Film acting is such a different form of performance (many of us are only used to the stage), so I needed to take a different approach with these actors to better prepare them for the weeks ahead. Grant it, we're all very new to much of this, but it's been quite the challenge for me, the director, to find what works for me, and for us as a whole. Today, I think I discovered a gem of a technique, and I'm glad to share it with you!
Joshua Overgaard as "Brandon"
As you know, we all live our lives from the beginning to the end. But a story (a play, a film, or whatever) is really only a collection of snapshots from a larger story (fantasy, fiction, memoir, it doesn't matter). As I explained to my actors today: just because we only see the snapshots the script gives us, doesn't mean the rest of it (being experiences, events, relationships, etc.) don't exist. So....what's missing? In other words, how do we find more of those pieces that the audience won't see in order to tell the story the audience will see?
Alexandra Larson as "Taylor"
Kevy Konynenbelt as "Hailey"
To help answer this question, and to demonstrate to the actors how vital it is to create a well-rounded character, I grouped the individuals, put them into a real environment, gave them a scenario that does not appear in the script but would appear in the timeline of the characters they represent, and said GO.
What happened? Amazing, amazing things. I watched my actors take very little information and ask lots and lots of questions. They created intimate, realistic conversations and confrontations...sometimes from nothing. They evoked real, genuine emotion in all of us because we all lived the scenes there with them. It was absolutely incredible, very exciting, and truly educational for me. I watched actors create histories and build on those histories and utilize the information they created to inspire new depth in new scenes. What growth. At one point, I said to one of my young men: "You just taught me something about 'Brandon' and I'm amazed because I didn't even know that about him."
Quite humbling for the writer of the script. What will these beautiful people teach me next?
@SacredRSFilm, #SacredRSFilm, #0days, #thisonesforyouJesus
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