Last night I had the pleasure of catching Steven Knight's newest, Locke, featuring Tom Hardy. The premise of the film is a man's journey as he drives and speaks to various characters via Bluetooth, with the titular character of Ivan Locke at the wheel.


Locke is an interesting study in film for its efficiency, fantastic acting, and excellent writing. It took five days to film it, with one setting (a BMW) and one character. I won't be reviewing plot details as the film's writing is so well done that it's worth seeing for Knight's skillful reveals.

Ivan Locke, a dedicated family man and successful construction manager, receives a phone call on the eve of the biggest challenge of his career that sets in motion a series of events that threaten his careful cultivated existence.

With one location/one actor films, the script and direction must be very strong. Prior films like this are Phone Booth (2002) and Buried (2007), both with strong male leads in dire situations. Locke, takes the whole one character film to a new level, the plot much more a modern life study on human error and the important things in life.

Knight has done something many filmmakers strive to do: create a character in a situation who are riveted by, even if the circumstances are mundane. The plot is slowly revealed, like peeling away layers of an onion. When Locke is introduced you don't know what to expect, is there a bomb in the car? Is he part of a large drug conspiracy?

Everything is revealed through conversations with other characters, and when the plot is fully "in your face", you are pleasantly surprised and captivated by the humanness of it all. Knight should be very proud of what he's accomplished as Locke is a wonderful character study, it touches on all aspects of right and wrong, family, love and responsibility. There is never a question of why Locke is doing what he's doing, the character is so well written that motivations and ethics are crystal clear.

Of course, to pull this off you need a powerhouse actor, none other than the transformative Tom Hardy. His genuine and fully realised character is mesmerizing on screen. Actors, watch this to see what great acting is. Hardy's face and voice take you into the tumultuous and intimate word of Locke, I found myself so drawn to this man confronting his mistake. It was all very real and personal. After all, acting is all about private moments made public.

Put together great direction, acting and writing and you have an intimate portrait of a man's life turning upside down. The sound and music are perfect, cinematography is great for what few shots were available.

Indie Filmmakers - this is a great study in ways to be an efficient filmmaker while telling a great story, no special effects, dozens of locations or big budgets needed. 

The last time I did a film school post was two weeks ago! I apologize for the big break in posts but it's called an intensive for a reason. I've had some requests to write about my program at Ryerson (Summer Film School) and will be breaking it down to the classes I've attended.

Ryerson's Sound Stage

Motion Picture Production:

The last two weeks consisted of filming our first assignment, a 30 second documentary style film with a still camera. The equipment? A Bell & Howell 16mm. This thing has got a parallax lens, what does that mean? It means when you look through the lens you don't see what's going to be on the film!

Crazy, I know. As a digital age millenial, I had a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around this. We actually had to use a tape measure to check the distance from the lens to the subject, adjusting it manually. Then we had to use a light metre to manually measure the aperture and f-stop.

This was definitely a learning experience, once we developed the film we saw our mistakes, our out of focus shots or over/underexposed shots. Now this may be an archaic way to produce films but the images were beautiful! I would say I have a love-hate relationship with film but I am excited to create more projects using the medium.

So, here is some recommended readings/viewings from our MOPRO class:

No electricity needed, just wind and go!

1.  "Toward True Cinema" - Vorkapich Theory - we are currently learning about film history and now examining experimental film and using the medium not just as a way to reproduce theatre or photography but as a way to play with motion and emotion. Salvko Vorkapich is who we are studying and modelling our assignment #2 after.
   *unfortunately I cannot find the article online but look it up for one of the founding articles of avant garde cinema
   
2. "Meshes in the Afternoon" (Vimeo) - Maya Deren is one of the founders of experimental/personal film. We watched this in class yesterday and were all stunned by the in-camera effects, Freudian themes and eerie storytelling.
   
   
3. "Stages of Production & Personnel" (PDF) - Some film school information about the basics on a production. 

This is my first week as a student in Ryerson University's Summer Film School. The course is a 12 week intensive program giving students a chance to write, produce, edit and direct their own films. I will be chronicling my experience for all who are interested in reading!

First day and I get on the dolly for a scene run-through!

It's been a while since I've been to an acting class and when I was in Vancouver visiting I dropped into my old haunt, at Shea Hampton's studio. Seeing my lovely friends definitely made me nostalgic to the days of being a thespian, it also made me realize many things from the new perspective of a writer/director.

As a filmmaker it is your responsibility to make sure cast and crew cooperate,  even if you have an amazing script/cinematographer/etc, your film can flounder if there is no teamwork.

Joss Whedon and really famous faces, on set.

1. Learning How to Work With Actors

There is a well known gap on film sets between the crew and the actors. Oftentimes I have found that resentment and tension can arise because of the misunderstanding between roles. Crew will complain about lazy actors and actors will complain about harsh directors.

This is why it is important for filmmakers to attend at least one acting class, to see how much heart and soul actors put into their craft. For filmmakers their craft is the camera, the shot, the story - for the actor, their craft is their emotional life and vulnerability. Two artists with two different tools, one with a camera, the other with their mind and body. 

Actors are actually cry-babies!

Attending an acting class allows you to witness how much work actors put, not only to memorizing their lines, but in getting to be vulnerable. On-set you're so busy prepping the lighting or directing the shot that you don't see how the actor spends their time getting emotionally prepped for a scene.

This is important especially if you're a technical director, it is important for you to go to a class to learn how to direct actors. The acting language can be the biggest barrier between an actor and their director. When the director tells the actor to "Look more sad" this will result in a lot of retakes.

An acting class will show you how actors respond best and how they actually aren't narcissists but sensitive artists that really want to please you!


2. Understanding Different Interpretations

Acting is interpreting the script, it is reading between the lines and responding to what happens in the scene. What makes an actor stand out is their interpretation of the story and character. A lot of the times this can be mistaken for bad acting.

Going to an acting class you can usually see numerous actors doing the same scene and how it changes from person to person. This is important to understand that each actor brings something of themselves to the character and some may be more suited than another. Their interpretation is what can make or break a role!
Seeing various takes from different actors on one scene can really open your eyes. Sometimes an actor will completely surprise you, whether it is with their looks/take on the character/speech!

Going to an acting class will keep your mind open to the possibilities a character and actor can offer, it will also make you realise that most actors aren't bad, their interpretation just didn't suit your vision. 


3. Auditions Are Terrifying

As I come from an acting background I understand the horrors and stress of auditions: the hours you spend pouring over a script or rehearsing with a friend, the money you spend to get an acting coach to assist, that shift you had to get covered at work... all to walk in a room for five minutes and be written off.

Having sat on both sides of the audition room I can identify with the terror of the actor as well as the exhaustion of the director/producer/casting director. Seeing numerous amounts of people a day butchering your script can put you on edge. But if you attend an acting class and see how passionate and for lack of a better word, desperate, actors are you would actually feel more empathy towards them.

After all, they spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on acting training/headshots/submissions, just so they could act in front of you for three minutes.

Lastly, you bridge the gap. 

Everyone on set wants to tell a compelling and authentic story, no one wants to be on a film that is ripped apart. Attending an acting class when you're a writer/director/crew member is an act of good faith, a helping hand to the other side of the camera. We all want to create something amazing and memorable, if you come to an acting class you could find your next muse or a fellow collaborator!

An example of great partnerships.

What makes a great filmmaker is not just their dolly shot or expensive equipment or groundbreaking script - it's their ability to lead a team to create a world where audiences can escape. Be a great and partner with your actors and crew! 

Horror is a genre of film that can sell, it's the highest grossing genre worldwide and easy to make on a low budget. The thing with horror is that as bad as it can be people will still watch it because it's great entertainment and audiences enjoy being scared.

There is an art to making a good horror film though. It is easy to step over the line of gore or cheap thrills. I recently watched a horror film this weekend that inspired me to write this blog post.

Now, I cannot watch horror because I have a wild imagination and get scared out of my mind! I usually have to spoil the plot for myself then I can stand to watch it because I know what's coming. This film I let myself go on the ride and really enjoyed it, as scared as I was.

This blog post will study the film and be a plan for any aspiring horror writer, *warning spoilers*.

Key point of horror films/scripts: most scripts will have your ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies, the main thing in horror is that your script must always get worse for the characters.

"The Descent" (2005) is an older horror film by English Director/Writer Neil Marshall, and I think it is a fine specimen of horror that also breaks convention.

The first thing about this film is that it weaves a finer subplot into the relationships of the women that are being terrorized. We open with a close group of thrillseekers finishing a trip of white water rafting. Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) is our protagonist and we are shocked right away with a tragic freak accident where she loses her husband and young daughter.

One year later, she is reunited with her group of girlfriends, all strong women. Another bonus point for Marshall's script is that he went with an all female cast. This creates an interesting dynamic and a fresh perspective for horror films.

Sarah's best friend is Juno, played by Natalie Mendoza. Another bonus for Marshall is casting a woman of colour in one of the lead roles.

These women aren't your archetypes that you find in horror films, they are strong, smart and gutsy. Their reunion is an attempt to reconcile their friendship after the accident.

Lesson One: Strong, interesting characters with relationships - open the film with something shocking.


Cue the part where a group of friends drive out to a remote location to indulge in an adrenaline filled adventure, gone wrong. This is the plot for most horror films and as a writer or director it is up to you to twist the tale as much as you can.

In "The Descent" the women enter an unexplored cave system, their only entrance falls in on them. The film is scary already without any fantastic plots as the claustrophobia, darkness and hopelessness of being trapped in a cave system is so real it's frightening.

All female cast

Lesson Two: Your audience can be scared simply by grounding the film in reality and using basic human fears - darkness, closed spaces, no chance of rescue

The women band together to get out of the cave system. My favourite part of Marshall's script is when the characters are all panicking about being stuck and Juno speaks up - "If we stay here we die." I loved that line as it just showed truth, there's no point in dallying around and freaking out. She is a smart character with strong will.

Now, they begin to explore the cave and come across a chasm. This is a great scene that audiences cannot take their eyes off of. We watch as the women light a flare and see the width they have to pass, we tense up as they drop a rock and await the sound of rock hitting bottom - and it's a long way down.

Lesson Three: Create suspense by putting your characters into a situation that they have to solve, make the audience watch on the edge of their seats and unravel the story through this scene.

One of the women starts to climb across the cavern, inserting anchor plates into the cavern and roping across so that everyone can get through. This is a masterful scene in teaching us suspense, each anchor plate inserted tenses us up - we know something has to go wrong, what Marshall does is makes us wait and wait for it. He also reveals plot when she finds an old anchor plate in the cavern ceiling and uses it - someone's been here before.

I would say we are a third way through act two and this is where it gets good. Marshall builds tension by creating realistic circumstances - the women start to panic, one runs off and breaks her leg! The situation has just gotten worse, now what do they do?

Along with this obstacle, Sarah has seen something. The audience is with her when she shines her flashlight in the cavern, a single light searching for the source of sound... where is it? She shines her light, we watch in anticipation - and then, it's revealed! A creepy humanoid figure (humorously reminiscent of Gollum in LOTR). Then it's gone.

Lesson Four: Use darkness to your advantage, use the audience's imagination to play.

The women are now faced with a mysterious clan of cannibalistic humanoids (known as Crawlers). They are attacked in the dark, throats ripped out. It is a bloodbath, everyone runs off, scattered.

My favourite scene in this movie is when the Crawlers attack the women: one of them is down on the ground about to be devoured and Juno steps in, they fight over her friend, a bloody tug-of-war. She takes out her pickaxe and kicks it's ass, stabbing it - and then more crawlers come.

Natalie Mendoza as Juno.

This scene is amazing simply because the actress is faced with such an incredible circumstance and she does not give in. Her animal instinct comes out and she fights for her life.

Lesson Five: Give your audience a character to root for,  a champion that the audience can't help but admire in the situation - but give them flaws.

From here the film gets incredibly bloody and intense. A fight scene using a night-vision camera is admirable.

I don't want to spoil the rest of the film because it is an excellent study in horror, so I will leave the post at Five Lessons plus the Golden Lesson:

GOLDEN LESSON: This film really sticks out because of the emotional depth the characters are given: a love affair, betrayal, loyalty, friendship. All things that every film should have, regardless of genre!

The Descent is available on Netflix Canada.