MOMENT TO MOMENT

"The only reason for time is so that everything does not happen at once" — Einstein

I am coaching on a movie in Kathmandu, Nepal right now, so this Substack will be short and sweet... as well as sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

Because in a scene, many flavours need to be present!

I have often seen that the tendency for new actors is to take on a similar flavour throughout the scene, creating a single state or overarching mood.

It is like putting all the elements of the story in a blender and making a smoothie — as opposed to allowing the different flavours of the fruit to exist individually. So, the whole scene becomes generically about Wonder... or Sadness... or Panic.

But a scene has to be a journey, not just a single moment. If there is only one moment in the scene, why wouldn't you just snap a beautiful photograph?

HENRI CARTIER BRESSON

Here's a famous single moment of suspension snatched by Henri Cartier Bresson: "Behind the Gare St Lazare". He loved experimenting with the idea of a leap — you can see this below in a similar snatched moment. In fact, the title of Ca…