2016 Film Directing – G2

Dear Mei, I think it is not fair to say it is a cultural problem with the caucasian actress. The scene was actually on Tom and Kris is an Asian actor. He even has the age of your main character and he has presented during the other rehearsals a lot of different characters. Also there is a universal language of film, acting and of storytelling. The beats of a scene, the turning points, the reactions - as small and hidden as they are - you will find in every movie. I think a lot of you have a story in mind including faces, characters they imagine, but the truth is: you will never find exact the person you are imagining. And that is what you have to cope with as a director. Even if you are shooting in a country that has a highly developed movie industry. So with every actor the role changes. And even more important: The director is always in search of the best actor possible with the highest acting skills since these actors have the power (good actors you can identify on the very many small things they do) to make the story believable and even more important to connect to the audience so strongly that emotions are created. Looking at your rehearsal I think your script still needs simply some work. And it is better to find it out during a rehearsal than while you are actually shooting the film or afterwards. In your script I feel a strong influence of the Japanese manga world. That is asian but not exactly Singaporean. But I actually don't care about this. The potential of your story is to to use the cat not only as a symbol but show the special relationship of Tom and the cat and the transformation of the main character through the relationship. And it is actually really good that you have worked with actors for the first time and don't worry about your own performance. Best, Sebastian

Dear Sebastian, I apologise for using the word "awkward" to describe my feelings during the rehearsal. The term could have mistakenly given a negative effect on my recount of the rehearsal during class. However, I think Ylenia is a great actress who is really versatile! My use of the word "awkward" was mainly used to described my own feelings of being unfamiliar with seeing a character I wrote with a Singaporean accent being voiced by another accent. Admittedly, I felt awkward initially, but I later realised it was not as crucial to the scene as I thought. I did not think anything negative of the actress' performance though. In fact, I thought she was really professional and patient with my lack of experience! As you explained above, it is true that we can never find the exact character we have fantasized about in the script. I realise it is much better to have a balance between the character and the actor. Every actor would have something new to bring to a role. Having gone to HCAC today has also shown me how different actors respond differently to various roles. They have their own stories to bring in too, which would greatly aid in storytelling! I also agree that I ought to work on my script and concept before even thinking about having the right actor to act in any of the roles. (Working hard at it currently!) It is also interesting to note that you feel a strong influence of the Japanese manga world. To be honest, I have not thought about that while writing - perhaps it is because I often watch Japanese and Taiwanese films and that has influenced me, although I wasn't aware of that. I'm also thankful for having Kris and Ylenia down to help us with our rehearsals during class. Being able to practise in class made me learn to pay more attention to actors and scenes in real life, instead of just looking at a script and imagining characters in my head. This also enabled me to understand more about what directing is about and how to better write dialogue. Today's excursion to HCAC also helped me understand the actor's perspective of filmmaking too. And I enjoyed discussing my characters' psychology with a few of the actors there, who were so generous and friendly with their stories with cats and their own struggles with stepping into adulthood! Best regards, Mei