Last night we had our party at Myrl Schreibman’s house. During the party we screened all of our edited scenes from our 409 – Directing the Actor course. Myrl’s section of the course focuses on getting engaging coverage of a scene. All of our scenes were shot in or around the sculpture garden that faces the film and theatre department. Some important things we learn from Myrl’s class are:

1. Cutting in your head

This is something you will hear a lot in Myrl’s class, generally as a direct criticism. Cutting in your head means shooting a scene based on a preconceived idea of how you will edit it, instead of how the reality of the scene dictates how it should be shot.

2. Inside/Outside the Relationship

I think the best way to demonstrate this is with two shots from my scene. In this shot, we are far outside of what is happening, and feel emotionally detached. This shot was not useable.

Whereas this shot, where we are emotionally identifying with the characters, or in the relationship, was used in the final product.

3. Eyeline

Are the characters actually looking at each other? Where are their eyes going?

For example, in this moment, my actress is not looking at the other actress. This could be jarring to an audience, especially if in this shot she is supposed to be looking at the other actress.

This is a very rudimentary discussion. A more in depth analysis can be found in Myrl’s book The Film Director Prepares, available in the store section of this website.

Here’s the edited scene:

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