Yesterday I was having dinner with my 15 year old daughter on our way to see an independent short shot in Miami. We spoke about music and school, renovations to her school, etc., and I decided to be very quiet and just observe her. So many beautiful movements on her face, I don't think I had ever studied her this minutely.
If this would have been a scene in a play or a movie, what would have been the character's objectives, and I have to confess, objectives were more than often, a mystery to me, because I failed to see that objectives have more than one level. There is the objective that the audience sees and the objective the character pursues.
As I listened to my daughter, I knew she wasn't thinking I want this or that from my Dad, aside from the normal father-daughter relationship give and take, she simply was speaking with me. A pair of actors would have massacred that scene over-thinking it and I imagined it being written down and as a director what would have been the way to bring life to it. Objectives are tied intimately to relationships and to the purpose your character plays at this particular point in the play or movie. By purpose I do not mean playing a verb, but the simple question of what is happening in this scene, which of course is not enough unless we establish a relationship. We were relating to each other, traveling across years of age difference to tell each other, this is how it is for me, and for the other, things haven't changed so much.
It sounds like a lovely moment in your life as a father, but consider: you say a pair of actors would have "massacred it" and go on to say that objectives are tied intimately to relationships. You go on to infer that the objective was to inform "this is how it is for me."
ReplyDeleteI submit that as an objective, it is a weak choice. It is perhaps, the only available choice, because as a scene, it lacks conflict. Our job as actors is to breathe life to stories, and stories, of necessity, must have conflict and resolution. Our lives (in other words "real life") is long and meandering and full of quiet, peaceful moments. But we suffer through great heart ache and tragedy as well. We deal with those tumultuous events well or poorly. And look towards story tellers to give us insight to choose the correct path. THAT'S our job as story tellers. We are spirit walkers of the hard terrain. And so, acting in a scene that has no conflict, while it may be truthful, serves no purpose, because it helps no one.
Love your comment merlin1222!! If I were to analyse the moment as a pivotal or structured scene I think you could argue its placement in a story. Yet, even then, as a shot within a story, it could serve a purpose and I agree with your opinion, and it is text book.
ReplyDelete(being challenged by the way, everyday by modern film makers)I am more interested in developing an "eye" for truth in the simplest of interactions and ultimately how relationships, stirred by circumstances should define how artists portray the "word," as a basis or guiding light for the interpretation.