Since I knew that Sydney Haven wants to be a director, I asked her to be part of my group. I knew that I could trust her to carry out her responsibilities as a director, and I knew that she would respect the story and do it justice. This piece could have easily been overdone, and since the script is something that I have been working on for about three years now, I wanted to make sure that the director didn't make novice mistakes that would cause it to be melodramatic. Sydney was the right choice.
Kelsey Eick is a great person to work with because she is so versatile and easy going. She is also a great sound person, both as a boom operator and sound editor, so we inviting her to join our crew was an obvious decision.
The idea for "Normal" actually came from a feature length film that I wrote as a sophomore at Stephens, and since I have always been interested in films that impact people, I had written this one specifically for that purpose. Once the group decided to go forward with the idea, I rewrote one of the more pivotal scenes and sent it to Sydney for revision. This was easy to do because I trust her opinion and know that any changes she makes is in the best interest of the script.
Casting the film was fairly easy, because we already knew that we wanted to use Melissa Boatright. Sydney had just worked with her on "Paper Girl", where she was delightful on set, and I had wanted to work with her since her freshman year, so we decided to ask her to join the project. After she was onboard, we wanted to have her perform opposite Mariah Lee, but when schedule conflicts made that impossible, we chose to use Monica Wood. I had worked with her in several projects, so I knew she could pull off the part, and she turned out to be an excellent decision.
During pre-production of "Normal", Sydney and I decided that we would co-direct the film. She could tell that I was really close to the project, and she was feeling a little burnt out after "Paper Girl". This was a decision we made together, and it was not because I thought she couldn't do the job. We collaborated on everything to make things easier on ourselves, and to try and get the best product. With this in mind, we decided that I would make the original shot list (which makes since considering that I was the one running the camera), and Sydney would change whatever she thought needed to be changed, and if there was something we disagreed on, we discussed it until we could find a solution. On set, Sydney did most of the working with the actors, leaving me to watch the camera and decide if a take was good or not, and to give the actors notes when there was something that visually stuck out on camera.
The scene that we chose for "Normal" was originally set in an abandoned train car. Since there isn't one of these in Columbia, we went back to the drawing board and brainstormed. As a team we agreed that the environment should not be a warm, comfortable one, because the conversation was not one you would have in your bedroom or living room where your parents could overhear. We wanted to environment to reflect the way these girls felt, and that was cold and abandoned. With that in mind, we decided to use the pool, and although there wasn't a lot of light in the space, it worked perfectly for the scene.
During the shoot, most of my focus was on running the camera. Everything was handheld, so I had to try and keep the camera steady, but also give it just enough shake to make it seem like a documentary. If I had let the camera rest on the ledge or something like that, it would have seemed like it was on a tripod, and then it would not match the other hand held shots, so the entire things was shot with me holding the camera. Another call that I had to make was when to use zooms. I didn't want to zoom during a character's lines, because if it didn't work we would have lost the line, but the scene called for a visual shift towards intimacy as the conversation grew more intense. Zooms would also add to the more documentary feel of the piece, since they are often used when the camera cannot be moved in due to time restraints and practicality. Luckily I knew when the tone of the scene was going to shift, so I could anticipate and plan when to zoom in. Ultimately I think the point at which I zoomed worked nicely, because even though you don't actually see the zoom in the film, the shots do get closer to the actors throughout the conversation.
One thing that I wish I had thought of while we were filming was cheating the actors more towards the light sources we had. The reason we put them in the pool was that it looked brighter, during test shots, than having them sit on the ledge of the pool. Once we discovered that we could turn on the lights inside the pool, I wish that we had thought to move them and turn them more towards those lights. We did cheat the actress a little towards the light source, but it just wasn't enough.
Overall I think our group did a great job. We worked together nicely, and we all pulled our own weight. There weren't very clearly defined roles for most of us because the crew was so small and everyone cared about the project enough to want to help improve it. We didn't have issues on set because we respected each other's opinions and we also put together a group that had nice chemistry. The finished product received good feedback, and in my opinion did justice to the real people dealing with the same issues.
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