Monday, August 25th
by Kevin K. Shah
Darkness and Light - Behind the Scenes of White Knuckles (2008) - a film by sabi
DARKNESS AND LIGHT:
The character of Julie (played by Martie Ashworth) in White Knuckles – a film by sabi
Martie Ashworth, an incredibly talented artist and an elegant and warm older woman, is truly as vibrant as ever in the autumn of her life. She has a sweetness that is hard to describe, other than it makes you feel welcome. The character that Martie plays (Julie) is similar in a lot of ways, but she also has moments where she is cold and deliberate – and incredibly dark in her choices, and in her deeper intentions.
BALANCE
The important thing to Martie Ashworth and I, in our discussions of imagining this character before we began shooting, was to portray Julie in a balanced way to the audience. That first and foremost, what happens in the story is not entirely Julie’s fault, though she can certainly bear the blame (as can William). It was important to be with Julie in the first half of the story, to have sympathy for her and her situation, and then have these feelings shift as we get deeper into the tale.
But Julie to Martie and I is a woman that ultimately gives up on her husband, a woman that finds no other way out but to destroy – something that initially Martie could not relate to from personal experience – so she had to imagine it. Of course, we all know what it’s like to be in a dead end relationship – but what is it like to begin to kill someone? Martie Ashworth, in her character work with Julie began to imagine the character having momentary daydreams of William’s car going off a cliff, or she imagined Julie getting joy out thinking about what her life might be like if William was suddenly gone. She imagined what extreme measures she’d have to do to make him change.
Martie shared a few of these aspects of what was going on in Julie’s head, and also in a bio that she created before we began shooting - and much of it comes across on the screen without words. And as the story progresses, there is a sense that something inside Julie has grown terribly cold, and Martie (despite the warm, loving person she is in real life) took us straight into these dark places with this character.
DARKNESS
Though the character of Julie is at times the victim in this story, she is also the villain – as is William. Neither of these characters can be blamed for their actions, nor can either be praised for their efforts – rather it’s a chain sequence of events that were planted long ago that are now coming to fruition in Julie’s darkening heart. And though she means well, Julie is doing something destructive – the worst one human can do to another. And by doing so, she creates a question in our mind and hearts – how/why could she do this?
Martie delicately keeps this going throughout the film with the character of Julie – depicting the character as often receding into the dark corners of her own consciousness (creating a bubble). There are times when Julie is so in her own world, we feel that she’s in complete denial about what she’s actually doing to her husband. And she is.
CHANGE
Ultimately, Julie is a woman in the desperate need for a change, and Martie brought to Julie a genuine sense of a longing for joy again – a woman that clearly has experienced love in the past, but has found it dying of neglect after so many years. She also truthfully depicted a woman that has given up – that has found any more effort “too late” and is resolved in continuing to destroy simply because it’s not ‘more of the same’.
EXPERIENCE
I recall early on during production, Martie and I were discussing trying to better understand this character, and being able to relate to her through our own personal past – and this was important to the creation of White Knuckles since I personally do not know what it is like to feel stuck in a 40 year marriage, or to want change so bad you can kill.
However, we discussed what it was like feeling helpless in a relationship, and we discussed what it was like being depressed. We explored times when we felt so angry we could wring someone’s neck. Martie was completely open to the process – and we also discussed at length feeling stuck in general, and desperation to get out of something. Relating to our personal past, while imagining Julie’s next thought & motivation was incredibly helpful in finding what kinds of honest beats were needed in the story to ultimately string the improvisation together. Though much of the framework for improv was supplied in the screenplay - the ending was brought about by the character work that Martie and Larry did for the story of Julie and William, and the screenplay was not needed. In many ways, it was for us in this particular film, the process of using the foundation of personal experience to help us tackle the multitude of options that the character could take. And because there is a part of both of us that is in Julie, Martie and I treated the character with extra love and respect (and tried not to judge Julie) throughout the process – all in an effort to play and depict Julie as honestly as possible. Even in those most difficult and remarkable scenes at the hospital.
LIGHT
Martie Ashworth as a human being - separate from the character of Julie, still brought to the soul of Julie something that I couldn’t have planned for, and that wasn’t on the page – she brought a light, a beacon of hope throughout the film. This is all Martie. And the light that Martie provided for this character simply by being who she is (her aura, her presence) helped accentuate the hope that the conflict between her and William will resolve itself peacefully. Larry has a similar illumination. It keeps me watching even in the darkest hour of the film.
Thursday, August 21st
by Kevin K. Shah
Over the course of the next year, we will be submitting White Knuckles to the following film festivals for consideration:
- AFI
- CANNES
- SXSW
- SUNDANCE
- SLAMDANCE
- TRIBECA
- BERLIN
- SEATTLE
- TORONTO
- NEW YORK
- VENICE
- LOS ANGELES
- TELLURIDE
- NEW DIRECTORS
- AUSTIN
- ROTTERDAM
- CHICAGO
- SAN FRANCISCO
- VANCOUVER
- SYDNEY
- GO WHITE KNUCKLES!
Friday, August 15th
by Kevin K. Shah
Understandably, many actors are simply uncomfortable with the idea of using your own words for the character, but what should be happening is that the director and the actor are together finding the character’s voice.
Martie Ashworth and Sue Gaetzman in White Knuckles
The Screenplay: Discarding the Words for Dramatic Improvisation in Interdependent Films.
Freeing oneself from the confines of the words on the page sometimes makes for a more authentic route for the actor that seeks to explore and refine his/her craft. Often actors feel this process is more artistic, more “experiential”, and ultimately, more fulfilling when executed well, with a director that nurtures the kind of atmosphere necessary for good dramatic improvisation to occur. What’s fascinating, is that often when it’s all said and done (and the film is put together) most of the beats and the words that were true in the original locked script, end up on screen anyway - but filtered through the heart and soul of the actor/artist. And most of the scenes that never rang completely true - now do. I wonder what it would be like to reverse-write White Knuckles or Heart of Now (which was a terrific script written by Zak Forsman all on it’s own) - just to see how the words have changed and/or stayed the same. I’ve never gotten around to doing something like this, but someday maybe a huge Sabi fan will transcribe our films. It would be interesting at the most - the final film is the ultimate tale: what happens on set, and what is carved in the edit - is the truest story.
However, back to writing a screenplay to discard it: in discussing problems that might happen during Directing Improvisation by asking your actors to discard their words, there are instances in directing improvisation in interdependent films where an honest performance is given and the emotions and words shared are true — but the beat is not honest for the character at that particular point in the story.
EARLY EMOTION
With improvisation, actors tend to courageously dive into the conflict head on - floodgates tend to open early on for an actor once they get the hang of it (and a lot comes out in particular scenes at the top of the production schedule where critical emotions that are to be explored later are felt “too early”). That is ok. Everything is useful. Chemistry that will be explored later is sometimes put down here as a ground-work, or a foundation. And I believe this happens generally, if the scenes’ intentions & objectives are not structured properly. Again, that is ok. Every production is rusty at the start, particularly on feature films heavy with dramatic improvisation. There are ways to prepare for this. Rehearsals, meetings, and call back-auditions are a way to kick start everything (if each are done as if we were shooting the scene).
With White Knuckles we had a full rehearsal with the actors doing character exercises - and it happened a) on set, b) in the scene, c) with lights, d) with camera and sound — i.e. full on. And still we called it a rehearsal (though we were prepared to use it somewhere if it was needed - it wasn’t). The idea was to get moving, slowly - pushing the train the first few inches…
With Heart of Now, we got things rolling with what we called “Pre-Shoots” - 5 days of shooting with a bare-bones crew - which I think helped us ease into production (Note: there was also a million other things the core team - Jamie, Zak, Kester & Sam did to help the actors transition into this feature that would last 30 amazing and memorable days of everyone’s life - like White Knuckles).
HONEST BUT NOT TRUE OVERALL
But when discarding the words (which takes some time at the start) there are times — fascinating moments where the actors have a legitimate feeling about something and go with it - but it is incongruent to the journey of the character in a way that would alter the story to its detriment. I.e. change the direction of the story too far in an unrecoverable direction. Sometimes it’s compelling, real, honest, and exciting - but just not right for the overall arc of the story (which the director and producer and editor carries). Sometimes it is right, even though it was totally unplanned - and we must adjust the story around the moment accordingly. But again - if it is not honest for the overall journey of the story - or if the new material doesn’t excite and challenge the director to explore a new direction with everyone & the entire production schedule - then it must be lost immediately. Cut, clear our minds, re-set, move on.*
WHEN TO CUT, KEEP ROLLING
*It is important for the director here to be as quick and decisive as possible about where to stop an actor during improv, i.e. when to re-set rather than give a note and keep rolling, trying something different. On one hand all the previous takes are explorations of the take/moments that will be used (and should be allowed to play out) - on the other hand, a director doesn’t want to exhaust an actor (and acting for dramatic improvisation for all actors involved is physically exhausting). Also, too many different options without clear direction leads to confusion (for the actor on set, and the editor in the bay).
Of course, this happens (exhaustion, confusion) - and there is no way of avoiding it. 8-10 hour days max for the actors I believe is a great help to heavily improvised shooting - to stave off the exhaustion factor. But I say this to say, it’s important for a director to be fully aware of what will and will not be used in the final edit - on set - as best as possible. And rather than cutting these moments off too soon - in directing improvisation, it helps to let them play out, let the emotions rise and fall again naturally. Especially when discarding the words of the screenplay. There are awkward silences in these moments that are real and could otherwise never have been staged. There are glances of a deeper understand, and the struggling to find the right words. All of this is real. And conversely, there are often beats that happen just after an intense improvisation scene where the actor may say the perfect line — out of real exhaustion — long after a conventional filmmaker would call ‘cut’. A glance often says everything without all the words before it, and to help ensure we get these kinds of looks when directing improv - we often do what we call a “silent take” after all the other takes are completed. We did this quite a bit with White Knuckles and it helped us tremendously in the edit (though it’s not necessary if you’re actors don’t rush through improv - as in comedic improv).
Often, that little tiny silent beat where the camera kept rolling might end up being the only part used in the final edit, if that is what is honest in that moment - and right for the overall story.
