What Good Is Rehearsals?

So, I had a rather strange experience during a rehearsal just before Christmas.

Speaking as a writer and director, when you're making a film with "big" dialogue scenes it's important to rehearse them as best you can. That's true of shorts as much as it is of features. Obvious big studio pictures, with millions of dollars in their budget, can afford to do lots of rehearsals, the director has the freedom and the time to be able to go over each line of dialogue and what it means, what the character should be feeling. In independent films, like Follow The Crows, we don't have quite as much freedom as that.

Still, that doesn't mean that we should be messing around, showing up on the day unprepared and just winging it. In fact, it means we need to be more prepared. We don't have the time to wing it. We don't have the time to go over schedule or come back for re-shoots. We need to get it right first time. So, with that in mind, I arranged a short rehearsal the other day for our two leader actors, and, like I said before, it was a rather interesting experience.

My last short film before I began working on Follow The Crows was a horror called Mirror. It's yet to released because, unfortunately, there's been lots of issues with the sound and it's not complete yet. But it's a fine example of how rehearsals, table reads and the like can be useful. Initially the film ended on a rather somber, albeit cliched moment, that at the time of writing felt like the suitable place to end the picture. But, once casting had been completed and the cast and crew sat around the table discussing the plot, it because apparent that the ending wasn't working.

After much discussion as to why it wasn't working, what could be done to fix it and whatnot, we came to the conclusion, as a group, that it was more sensible to change it completely. Together we worked out what we felt should be the appropriate ending, and then I headed home and spent a few hours bashing away at my keyboard typing out this new ending.

As the short now stands it's one of the most interesting pieces I think I've ever done, and that's in no small part down to how the ending came out. It places everything into a morally grey and more interesting area, and will hopefully stand-up to repeated viewings. The film is no longer a straight horror, it's more of a drama with horror elements in it.

Why am I telling you this? Well, it's a great example of how rehearsals are important and how much they go into shaping the final picture. I am believer that an actors job isn't as simple as putting a body and voice to the words on the script, the actor must create the character. They have to do a lot of work, and I like to work with the actors, finding out what they think works and doesn't work for their characters and forming the script around them.

And, like with Mirror, this approach can lead to a better film. It means that the dialogue stops feeling scripted, the characters start feeling more and more real, the plot forms around them rather than the other way around and the whole piece becomes a character piece rather than a story with characters in it. It also helps with direction, knowing these characters like the actors know them, knowing what they're thinking, how they're playing it, means that shots can be chosen that best suit the emotional heft of the scenes.

So, with all that in mind it's fair to say that I like to give notes. I'm a collaborative director, but I have a singular vision. I'm happy for it to change, but if I think something should be done a certain way then I'm prepared to have a discussion about how and why it should be done that way.

Now I've had a couple of little discussions with the lead cast about their characters, but this arranged rehearsal was going to be the first time we could really get together and go over everything. I was excited for it, very much so, and I had a lot of ideas rushing around in my head about what I felt these characters would be thinking and saying and doing. I was prepared to spend a few hours going over all of this with the actors and listening to the work and ideas they had put into the characters too.

Then, when it came to the rehearsals, we set up our camera and began acting out the scenes and, very quickly, it became apparent that no notes were needed. Both of the actors had spent their time thinking about these characters, about who they are, what they think, how they act, and they'd brought it all with them and it was perfect.

Instead of going over things most of the time was spent agreeing with the things the actors had already worked on. When they finished their scene all I could tell them was that I really liked a certain bit or I thought a certain bit worked really well. I couldn't tell them to try it different or change something slightly because there just wasn't any reason too. They had it all down.

Suffice it to say that this was an unusual experience for me, and I am very much looking forward to getting onto location and watching them, in their full costume and makeup, acting out the scenes we'd rehearsed, because if the emotional energy in those scenes is even half of what it was during the rehearsals then, well, we're going to have one hell of a picture on our hands.