Friday 13 June
Scene 79 – Ward C – cells on the 3rd floor
“This is storytelling: pure information,” Marty tells me. In this scene it’s very interesting the way light is used dramatically. On the one hand there’s the light of the set, the cell, which doesn’t function well in terms of the narrative – it goes on and off in key dramatic moments of the scene.
Then there’s the light that comes from the matches that Teddy lights, which also go out. It’s very interesting and powerful – the combination of these two sources of light depending on the dramatic charge of the dialogue in this scene.
In this scene, the camera often literally adopts the point of view of Teddy. The patients who are locked away in their cells look at Teddy and react as he arrives, moving closer to them. They look at and directly approach the camera shaft. That is quite disturbing.
Wednesday 18 June
Scene 117 - Int. lighthouse
They’ve been rehearsing since we got here. Just Marty, Leo and Ben Kingsley. It’s a long, complicated scene. The dramatic finale of the film. The rest of us, the rest of the crew, are waiting outside the set. Waiting and listening.
In complete silence. Everybody’s moving slowly, not wanting to make any noise. Like we were in a child delivery ward.
Later, shooting starts. In the shots with dialogue Marty looks at them through the video assist and moves his arms and hands along with the rhythm, like an orchestra conductor with his instruments.
He wants to direct them during the take and at times he anticipates, with a gesture, what the actor is about to do.
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