1. Shooting Time.
The shooting time of Girls' Night Out was greatly reduced because for
the first time on one of our films we shot simultaneously with two
cameras. As our main character had to pass through the house, it
was quicker to film continuously with the two-camera set up, and also
to save in costume changes to shoot the whole film in sequence.
We thought this would reduce the shooting time by quite a bit but as it
turned out it did even more than we anticipated. And the whole
short, as well as a scene for another short was shot in about 2 and a
half-hours.
2. Coffee to the editing
room please!
Though the shooting was quicker, and when location time is limited it's
better shooting with two cameras, basically here we halved about the
normal time it would have taken us to shoot this short. But the
time in the editing room was greatly increased. Not by the fact
that we shot with two cameras, but because whilst we did so we had
music for the film playing in the apartment during the shooting which
made the film an editing nightmare.
With the main character passing between two rooms in the house, I had
to cut the music dead on whilst she was leaving one room and entering
another. As the music has to be listened to and heard by the
character we decided playing in the background would be better than
having her imagine it then dub it on later.
So normal editing time for this film probably tripled as the cutting
between the hallway and the sitting room scenes required finite cutting
so the music did not have a jump in it. And though the editing
process did take a lot longer. When we have no restriction of
time for editing, this is a better method (for us anyway), and the
interaction between the actor and the music can be seen on the screen,
which we would have lost completely if we had asked Kirsty to imagine
the music.
3. So what's the film about?
Well the film was an idea Kirsty tossed at me one day when I asked her
for a coffee. She had this great idea about the character, going
about her ritual as if she was going out for a night out, even as far
as setting the video machine to tape a program, and applying her make
up, and well the usual clothing problems. But after all this the
character rather than going out on a night out, was planning to kill
herself all along, leaving her partner bemused and stunned as he
entered the house expecting her to be out with the girls. Gone he
did find her but now how he or we imagined. Though there is no
explanation in the film why the character does this. I thought it
best to leave that as so; Where both he and the audience are left
puzzling as to why she did this, even after all her preparations.
This may be totally unconventional in the way a movie is supposed to
end, but it's not the first time it has been done, and it won't be the
last! We just thought it was so unexpected because you are
expecting a gathering of girls on a night out. But both the
partner and the audience are left to puzzle out the character'
motives. And it's nice to give people something to think about at
the end of the movie. When so many movies are now wrapped up in a nice
little presentation box for you. Beginning, middle and end
all in one nice neat little - not allowed to use your brain to think -
we're not clever enough to work it out unless you tell us every little
detail - banal pieces of lowest common denominator shit!
4. Returning to old themes.
It seemed strange also that that this 7th film of ours had a very
similar subject matter to the first (
Second
Time Around). And also that in our first it was Martainn
Russell's character who was committing suicide due to severe trouble
with his partner (Kirsty Armstrong's Character). And now here we
have the same two actors playing partners again, with a role reversal
for them both, but with no motivation for Kirsty's character's
suicide. Maybe a subliminal self-referential thing or Kirsty's
desire to make sure the character from the first film got her
comeuppance for her dirty deeds. What goes around comes around
even in the world of cinema.
5. Budget: -
Ohh god let me think a few quid for a couple of bottles of wine for our
actors.
Until next time,
Giovanni
Pistachio