Week Ten

This week marked not only our final session in the studio before our exam, it also marked my last ever class as an undergraduate. If I had a smartphone, I’d have taken a selfie, but I don’t, so I didn’t. This week we focused on refining our roles for the exam. I directed for the first half again. The difference this time was that our producer was now acting as my directorial counterpart. We are short on crew, so are stretched very thin in terms of manpower.

As well as taking the directors chair, I was assigned the role of QLab operator during the second half. Initially, I was not comfortable with this swap. As I hadn’t performed the task prior, I didn’t feel very confident in doing it for the first time halfway though our last session. It seemed like a potential spanner in the works so to speak. However, as we are short staffed, I continued to fill the role despite my reservations.

We had another disastrous set-back this week. When both our actors dropped out at the very last minute. The funny thing is, the actors who failed to turn up were not my first choice in terms of casting. I had wanted to cast a mature student in the role of Jon the police chief/chef. As he would have been more age appropriate for the character and would have been far more visually interesting, in terms of the visual distinction between the ages of Jon and Faith. Given that my choice is a mature student, they would undoubtedly have been more committed to the role. But my ideas in relation to casting were shot-down. When the actors didn’t turn up there was nothing I could do, as it was to short notice. In hindsight, I should have fought harder for my choice of casting.  This quote from 130 lessons in leadership from the directors’ chair perhaps best illustrates how vital casting is in pre-production.

“Directing is mostly casting. Some say directing is 60 percent casting, others say 90 percent. Regardless, it’s a lot. There is not a more important single decision you will make during the production than who you put into a role.”

Operating QLab during the second half of the session, was a bit boring. All I had to do was press the spacebar when I was instructed to do so. Whilst doing this, I got to view the opening credits sequence a few times. Which admittedly is very well put together. However, it made me think/feel that I should have a writing credit for the project. I worked a lot on the script from it’s original draft. I refined it and made it work where it was lacking in style and structure. At this point, having the writing credit is inconsequential. I don’t want to come across like a diva, demanding acknowledgement for my work.  

All in all, the session went well, and I think we are on track to do well on the exam. We have consistently worked as a team despite setbacks beyond our individual and collective control. I will post one more blog after the exam and one final entry after grading to reflect on the module as a whole.