Interview With Actor in my Film

Interview With Actor in my Film

After I had finished filming , I decided that I should interview one of my actors, Toby, about his experience filming, and how he felt I was as a director.

Me: How do you feel you performed? 

Toby: I felt my performance was adequate, but I sometimes felt impended by safety measures such as not slipping in the mud by the barn and precautions such as not getting my suit dirty.

My reflection on this: I also felt that Toby's performance was adequate and knew he acted the part well, however I was not aware of the mud outside the barn being a safety hazard as that area tends to be dry, meaning I was not expecting it to be a hazard. However we still made sure that we were safe under supervision when it came to the slippery mud we were sure to take some care.

Me: How was I as a director?

Toby: I felt like you knew what you were doing but it could have been communicated to the actors a little more. I think the main reason for this is that there was no script or story line made beforehand,* you just made it up on the spot really and if there was, it wasn't communicated very well.

My reflection on this: * This was because I had had to adapt the script so much from the original that I eventually scrapped it and came up with a new, but similar, story line, however, I didn't have time to write a new script, so for the most part, I just improvised and changed what I could remember to fit the circumstances, overall I felt that despite the lack of a script and the poor communication I was able to get most of my ideas forward, however in the future I will definitely try to communicate better with my cast.

Me: How did you feel the process of filming was? 

Toby: As I'm not a media student, nor have I got any experience in the film industry, I am limited in my answer, but from the number of different angles and techniques you used, I would say that you were trying to vary yourself to show off all your filming skills. Also,we did quite a few takes which meant you had a selection to choose from but a few more wouldn't have hurt. Also, to reach your length limit more easily, you could have played with more suspense shots during the encounter in the barn.

My reflection on this: I agree with Toby saying that a few more takes wouldn't have hurt, as they would give me more options when it came to editing and the idea of taking longer shots to fill the run time did come to me, however I had a different idea, I just filmed additional footage that I could edit out, for example, I had filmed about 40 seconds of additional film after my actual film finishes. 

Me: How did you feel the story line was?

Toby: I thought it was a good story; a chase at the beginning, an encounter where one person is cornered and a resolution where the killer gets away with what he was after. From what I know about Film Noir, I think this is a good example of an opening or possibly a trailer because it sets up a scenario that can evolve into the rest of film - with the goal being to solve the murder case and catch the villain. However, I do feel it was a little rushed and could have been more thought out.

My reflection on this: I'm glad that Toby enjoyed the story that I had prepared, and I'm glad that he can appreciate the elements of Noir I put in there. For the story, I took inspiration from a number of sources. and originally the opening was inspired by openings on famous crime dramas, such as The X-Files (just without the sci-fi elements). I also agree that it was rushed though. However, this was because of tricky schedules and an ever more imminent deadline.

Me: What do you think I should do if I were to do this again? 

Toby: First of all, plan! Get a script and a proper story line ready to give the actors before hand so we can learn how to get into our characters sooner rather than being thrown in. Maybe provide some costumes that you don't mind getting dirty so it doesn't impede performance and make sure the set is safe. Communicate with the actors more so we know exactly what you want from each shot ( a plan will help with this). Maybe play around with even more shots and angles to give variety and for each scene take at least 5 or 6 shots so you have more to choose from. Also, you could add a few more shots to help with the length!

My reflection on this: I can really take a lot from this! Being quite inexperienced with this level of film-making, I can say that I was not familiar with all the techniques, didn't have all the highest tech and am more suited to being in front of the lens rather than behind it. However I can say that I tried my hardest and in the end, was happy with the result. However I will still take all of these points and use them to improve my film making in the future. 

I will be sure do everything that Toby has kindly recommended and I look forward to improving my skills to make more, and better films in the future.