Deren Response Film Write Up

I have to say first off that I absolutely loved working on this project. I think it was mainly the fact that I was no longer working in stop motion which gave me much more freedom and ability to improvise my shots. The best part about this project was the freedom allowed to the actors. I basically just set up the shots and told them to go. Because I was focusing on minimal movements I basically just let the actors talk normally and tried to pick up on their normal body language. The only tricky part was trying to equal out the number of activities that my non-smoking actress did with that of the smoker. There was just a lot more that a smoker naturally does during that activity that someone who does nothing has a hard time keeping up with. But giving her something to drink and trying to pick up those little movements that can, upon closer observation, be very sexual, added weight to her shots that the smoker didn't have.

I learned that it is much easier for the subtle movements of a female be taken as flirtatious as women are naturally (at least in this culture) viewed as sexual objects (at least much more than men are.) However, with that said, I enjoyed trying to play on the natural sexual tension that occurs, at least in the viewers mind, when you film a seemingly innocent conversation between a man and a woman. That, to me, was the most fun part of the whole experience. Examining the subtle body languages of the actors and allowing their natural attitudes and movements take on the form of dialogue, of which there is obviously much underlying tension.