Four teenagers. A true-crime story. Three weeks of location nightshoots.
Right now I am on-set wrapped up in my warm wet-weather gear, my handy backpack holding my script, charging cables, pens, torch, masks and water. Night-shooting is all about preparation.
Preparation is key for the actors too. Though the style of this film is naturalistic, the roles are transformational ones and a lot of planning has had to go into making the work look and sound invisible once the camera starts rolling. This article is about how these actors prepared in the week before this first night-shoot.
PLANTING SEEDS FOR HARVEST
In that week the actors had wardrobe fittings, hair + make-up trials and driving lessons to fit in. It is so tempting for the director and the actors themselves to fall into the easy thinking that these events ARE the rehearsals, that beyond the readthrough, the cast will naturally just bond over cups of hot chocolate in the green room as they await their next hair + make-up appointme…