Sabi Pictures
Monday, August 25th, 2008
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.
Friday, August 15th, 2008
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.
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
by Kevin K. Shah
It’s hard to argue against the fact that the process of making a worthwhile interdependent art film begins in the audition. When it comes to the actors that will ultimately play the part for a film by Sabi - we hope that not a moment is wasted for either the filmmaker or the cast, and we hope that the casting process is creative and insightful, and useful to all parties involved.
posted by Christopher Sowers (”Moments”, a film by Sabi) in the Sabi Forum:
Christopher: “I found the audition process at Sabi very intriguing. Auditions can be very uncomfortable experiences but that wasn’t the case here. It was a very warm and welcoming environment. There was no vicious casting assistant staring at me with daggers and I got the sense that I was more than valid as a human being. Ahhhhh…. back to the real world.”
Chris, thanks for posting. It’s nice hearing about what an actor feels and thinks during our auditions at sabi. We try to keep them warm and inviting (and creative) as often as possible - and also we try to keep them useful to both the filmmakers as well as the actors that graciously share their time with us. There are times that this process doesn’t go as planned, and there have been people we have collaborated with that initially didn’t fully understand why auditions at sabi pictures are handled so delicately and carefully.
THE ACTOR:
Often it is our duty to inform them immediately, that quite simply, the Actor is to be regarded as the star from the moment they walk through the door and should be treated with kindness. We let them know that the actor that is ultimately cast — is the guide that holds the key to unlocking the deeper, inner workings of the character.
When Sabi sets out to make a film (and begins the casting process) we’re ultimately not looking for a pre-conceived notion of the character that already resides in our head (if we were satisfied with the depiction in our head, why make a movie?) Rather, I believe at this stage, sabi’s casting process tries to find the actor that can teach us more about the character we’re creating… real, human details and insights into fears, emotions, and hidden qualities that we couldn’t have otherwise known.
These details, and what happens in the casting process (which is really the first rehearsal) often find their way into the film – and every moment during auditions and rehearsals help develop the chemistry of emotions that we will circle around for the duration of production. Most importantly, the audition begins the actor-director relationship.
EXAMPLES:
It was amazing watching how Zak integrated things he saw, tried and learned from the audition process of “Heart of Now” right into the production phase of the film. I too changed scenes to better fit who Julie and William were becoming when I had finally found Martie Ashworth and Larry Strauss for “White Knuckles”. The insights that Kelly and Marion brought to Zak and vice versa during the auditions created a bridge. And to see J. Erik Reese and gang do it once again in Moments with you, Aqua, Mark and Malcolm, was once more - a truly remarkable process to watch*.
All three films were ultimately enhanced because of this attention to an otherwise mundane, and often cold, calculating experience (as you described).
We learned a great deal from the process of a film called “Blue in Green”, which was a feature that Zak and I produced along with 5 others in a collaborative called Unica, and under the auspices of producer Ron Austin and Poet/Journalist Gabriel Meyer. In “Blue in Green”, we didn’t even have auditions – we just staged group meetings where everyone discussed issues personal, social and spiritual - and then six weeks of rehearsals. Both the group sessions and the rehearsals were critical to the telling of the deeply improvised film.
In the cast of “Blue in Green”, Unica had found the story of the film with the actors that stayed - and Unica developed these unique characters in complete collaboration with the actors that would play them. In my opinion, it was a completely successful experiment.
*I want to reiterate that the processes described above may be unique, but are by no means new or original or exclusive to Sabi Pictures or Unica or otherwise.
EXPLORATION:
Really, whenever a filmmaker casts for a project they are deeply passionate about, they intuitively settle on the final actors for the same reasons, using the same techniques involuntarily.
The real fundamental difference lies in the amount of exploration that happens after the casting decisions are made. And the extent to which Sabi intends to explore in our films sets us apart (in my humble opinion) from most projects that are made more ‘conventionally’.
The exploration - going deeper - is something that we try to do from the very beginning. The peeling away at the character, at their emotions, at their deepest source of suffering - is pretty much continuous (and necessary to the success of the experiment) from initial casting to the final edit.
When casting for our films, Sabi filmmakers are often looking for an actor that brings to life the heart and soul of the character by giving us insight (or creating the right questions) which we then filter and translate into the story/characters/dialogue. It’s an organic (or ‘natural’) process in our estimation – and there is never a script that doesn’t change because of auditions and rehearsals. Simply put, it’s about respect.
Respect for one’s fellow artist. Respect for what the actor brings to an art film, and lastly, respect for a process that seeks to uncover fundamental and transcendent truths about the character through a collaboration between the director, all of the rest of the crew, and most importantly - the heart, soul and mind of the artist/actor.
Of course, we sincerely hope that you (the actor/artist) can let us know what we can do better, as all of the above is a constantly evolving, refining process.
And we’re always learning…
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
by Kevin K. Shah
Larry Strauss has truly given the performance of a lifetime in this film, and I hope that the process of submitting to film festivals helps this film to get out there. I hope that he can reap the rewards of having given such a noteworthy performance, and by rewards — I mean simply the internal rewards one feels as an artist getting his film seen. The same goes for Martie Ashworth and Sue Gaetzman, who are also incredibly talented and deserving of similar audience appreciation. I have good hopes.
However, I can’t help but wonder how ultimately this process will go. I’ve heard a lot of negative things about Film Festivals lately - particularly about some of the larger “independent” festivals. I hear things like, “it’s very political” or “you have to know someone” or “do you have stars?” These kinds of questions are very disheartening, and brings to question what the purpose of the film festivals are in the first place. Is it to get films that are harder to mass distribute seen? Is it to further the art of cinema through challenging filmmakers and audiences through original content?
I would prefer questions like, “is the film provacative?” or “Is the film original, fiercely independent, etc.?” To these kinds of questions, I would be more than happy to respond - and I would hope festivals are more often than not interested in these kinds of things rather than If the film is commercially viable (in the old model of distribution)
SUNDANCE 2009
.
I know there are a lot of emerging festivals out there that might be better suited for the kinds of films I hope to continue making, just as there are a lot of new emerging distribution models. But for White Knuckles, which we believe is not only studio-quality, but also commercially viable - we’re going to go the semi-traditional route at this time and submit to top-tier festivals for the first year, and then second-tier for the next, etc. There are festivals like the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles that are “real” festivals in that they care about the filmmakers, and they strive to bring together a community behind original independent films - but for now, they will have to wait.
Why? Because the hope is the White Knuckles can reach the widest audience possible, and I’m at this time intending to continue to protect the “World Premiere” status of the film for a festival where it might be considered for mass distribution. Of course, there in fact is a plan B - namely to distribute the film ourselves, but for that - stay tuned.
Tonight, I’ve officially submitted (through Withoutabox.com) White Knuckles to the Sundance Film Festival. Though this is the very first festival I’m submitting this film to, it certainly won’t be the last. And there is no special significance that Sundance is the first festival that White Knuckles will be going to - other than the fact that this kicks off the Festival submission process for this first feature film by Sabi Pictures.
Zak and I and our company have been relatively quiet on this gem of a picture that we hope to have on screens near you / in everyone’s hands soon. But now, it is officially time to begin the publicity train, and get this picture out there. In the coming months, we will submit to at least a dozen top tier festivals and try to get some more reviews on the film. We’ll also continue to build publicity materials, including releasing behind the scenes videos on the process of Sabi Pictures.
Wish us good luck with the Sundance submission, just in case luck is part of the equation. Regardless, the process has begun.
Saturday, August 2nd, 2008
by Kevin K. Shah
Our private preview screening of White Knuckles organized by Larry Strauss in conjunction with the Old Pro’s acting troupe went extremely well! There were a lot of people that stayed for the Q & A, asking & interacting with the filmmakers, Larry, Martie & myself. We also got to look at the film on the screen from a technical standpoint, and although the color was great, there are some small adjustments that will need to happen with the mix. Such is the usefulness of a private preview screening: first reactions, and technical massage. It didn’t help much that the projectionist was also running his own real time “mix” - i.e. riding the levels as the movie was playing - which is not recommended for any film, ever. This being said, the story and the film was still intact and not compromised - and I was very happy about the audience reaction. There was a lot of affirmations that the film is heading in the right direction.
The questions at the Q & A ranged from “are the tears in Larry’s eyes real in the emotional scenes” to “what inspired you to write this story” to “what does the ending mean to you?” Larry responded to the tear question with a description of how, “at this age, you’ve seen and felt it all - an it’s not hard to get yourself to that place anymore.” With response to the ending questions, we discussed the possibilities of what an ending of a film like this could mean for the future of the characters. Though there is closure, not everything is completely answered or handed over on a spoon - rather there is something left for the audience to consider, and more importantly “interpret.”
One particularly engaged audience member chimed in, “I love the ending the way it is because it can be showed to 20,000 people and they’ll walk away from it with 20,000 personal interpretations.” There was also a little debate about “what happened” after the last shot of the film, to which people had their own thoughts and feelings. Truth is, I think that the audience is right in whatever they believe happened, as long as they venture to continue thinking about the film days after they complete seeing it.
On a related note, I received a “I’d like to join the White Knuckles mailing list” post-card from someone at the screening that wrote “I loved your film. Below are some pictures from the introduction to the film, as well as the Q & A afterwards. Guests of honor in attendance: my parents. See below for pictures that Larry sent to me today:
Kevin K. Shah fields some questions from the audience
- Larry, Martie and Kevin in Laguna Woods, CA
larry and kevin set-up the experience.
- Laguna Q & A for the private preview screening.
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
by Kevin K. Shah
White Knuckles was born out of a deep desire to explore a story with a group of artists through the collaborative medium of film – and to explore it as much as possible while the story is happening – while it’s on its feet in production – while the characters fully inhabit the actors.
The means of accomplishing this would be a team of artists that could invest themselves personally in the shared vision of the project, and could work as a unified whole that could shift, adapt and adjust whenever the story changed based on the flexible nature of capturing dramatic improvisation. This could only be accomplished by maintaining a collective atmosphere of safety and trust with the crew, filmmakers and the cast. An atmosphere where the actors could feel like they can fully explore their characters without any judgments or self-direction. A creative space where the actors can go deeper in the improvisational present moment, and the filmmakers and the crew can support and guide them along. A truly interdependent process where there are no idle hands on set – a place where everyone is involved, and each member on the production is truly critical.
With White Knuckles, we wanted to see what would happen if we wrote a script and then took it away at some point during production – when the film begins to breathe on its own. We wanted to see “what happens with the characters” and we wanted to see “where will the story go?” It was in a large part about curiousity. Though we had a screenplay that would be great to shoot - we thought that perhaps guiding the improvisation initially, we could fully let go later and produce real surprises and true-to-life dialogue and moments that could not have otherwise been planned.
To do this in a drama that goes to the places White Knuckles does - it took the safety net of the rest of the cast and crew to make this work. Really, it took each other – and every individual working together as a unified whole to make this real “Interdependent” film happen.
There is a point in every soulful, artful film production where the actors seem to fully inhabit the characters, sooner or later. On set, sometimes this happens early – other times certain key aspects of the character emerge later depending on the circumstance. But ultimately – there is a collaborative search for truth that makes ‘a film by Sabi Pictures’ – and if the film is honest (as I believe White Knuckles is) than perhaps it will be blessed to find its audience.
It is a rare group of talented filmmakers that converged to create White Knuckles. And what we have in this film, is in my humble opinion, a true example of interdependent filmmaking. As filmmakers - we all simply wanted to be able to let go of pages and pre-conceived notions and rather listen very closely to what comes out of (and what comes from within the soul) of the character. We wanted to hear an authentic voice, and wanted to see the story that was the deeper, more meaningful, more real version (than the duplication of the intentions on the page). We want to see the sum that is greater than it’s parts – a piece of real art emerging from our collective creative contributions together.
This is ultimately the collective desire of a collaborative group of artists working on an Interdependent Film. Interdependent Filmmaking is the kind of filmmaking where one uses “us” and “we” and “our” more often than they use “I” when describing the process of making that film. We think that White Knuckles is unique because of the interdependent nature of the shoot. The WK website’s “Creative” section details examples of how many of us together collaborated on this film, and there will also be some behind the scenes posted to get a look at the faces that made it happen.
As with every interdependent film, there are so many hands on the work that it is hard to summarize or describe the process of each member that took part – but each person’s contribution made the film possible. And though the credits on the film will generally reveal every person’s name that contributed – there are so many more roles that were filled by each member than can possibly be listed.
Calling White Knuckles and interdependent film is a way to say Thank You – to acknowledge that the film could not be possible without the entire interwoven web of creative contributions, a network of interdependent people, that all get behind one idea. It’s a beautiful thing when it works, and it is the most fulfilling kind of filmmaking. And Interdependent Filmmaking is the evolution of the art form, in my humble opinion.
I’m honored to have been a part of this process at Sabi Pictures. Sure it is an ever-changing and an ever-evolving process with each new story - but the unique way of making each film bears one thing in common between everything we’ve made: there is simply no room and no time for inflated egos when a group of artists want to venture into the great unknown of making a film together. There is only room to learn from one another, for true collaboration, for support of each other under any circumstance, and for the collective desire to see the story through to the end no matter what.
We had a very talented group of individuals that came together to bring you the interdependent film White Knuckles – as well as Heart of Now. We guided the stories to the end rather than pushed them, and what resulted from the process thus far may move you, and perhaps even surprise you.
Kevin K. Shah
Interdependent Filmmaker from White Knuckles
