I’ve been looking forward to rehearsals for a long time.
The film has a very distinctive tone and I was eager to see how Michael and Alyssa would approach the two main characters.
The Climb is definitely a serious and sometimes depressing short film. I don’t think anyone will ever describe the film as cheerful but it does carry an important message and an uplifting finale. It’s going to be extremely challenging to pull off the heavy emotional scenes while maintaining a specific style throughout.
This past week, I finally got a chance to hear and see the movie. It’s looking and sounding great!
For our rehearsal process I took two unique approaches.
First, we went through the entire script and talked about any and all changes and notes I had for the actors. We literally dissected every single line of the screenplay and talked about every aspect of the story.
I believe it’s important to discuss each scene as a separate entity. In virtually every screenwriting book ever written they will tell you to have a beginning, middle and end to every scene. You take the same mindset into directing.
Each scene should be about something.
I wanted to communicate what I wanted each moment in the movie to be and then explain why. This way, the actors are aware on a basic level what I’m looking for when we start shooting.
At the same time, it’s important to give them enough room to evolve their approach to the characters without my involvement for a few weeks. This way, it’s the best of both worlds.
It was time to head to our main location.
We walked down to the main location and began going through every scene together again. They would read, I would comment and gather feedback and then we would try it a few more times before moving on.
I filmed everything.
Every scene we rehearsed was accompanied by an in depth conversation that led to several line changes and tweaks to the script.
It’s a fantastic process that we capped off by watching the footage I shot and really nailing down which areas rocked and which scenes still needed improvement.
No production will nail the first rehearsal but I was very encouraged by the results.
I really can’t wait to shoot this thing!
PS: Yes… I do the ‘hand frame’ move…
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