Directors Statement - Directing John Fawcetts Orphan Black

Casting:

For my casting I was very particular in who I messaged directly, it was in the project brief that the actors we use have to bare a similar resemblance to the actual actors. They had to be the same sex and race and I think that either dark or fair hair colour would also be on that list if you where to be that particular.

I went through casting call pro and for both the character of Sarah/Beth and Jamie and went on those guidelines to message people as I'd had little luck through putting up an advert. I did get a lot of messages back mostly with people saying they could not make it or that they where unsure so I perused the people that seemed most interested. Jessica who I eventually chose to play the role as Sarah/beth sent me a video of her reading a few lines from the script which really showed me she wanted to be a part of it and her acting abilities where shown in the video so that's why I chose her

As for the role of Felix it was tougher,  messaged more people but most of them responded after I had finished filming! I wanted to get Jamie as soon as I messaged him because he really fitted my idea of what Felix's character would look like. After messages back and forth we sorted out the days and both of the actors that helped me out did incredibly because even by my accord I feel like I was a little worried about not getting it all filmed so maybe I was not as clear with my ideas as I probably could have been.

Locations:

I knew right away my best chance of getting a train station to use would be the spa valley railway in tunbridge wells. They didn't reply initially so i messaged many other stations which all said no. After considering changing this location I decided to ask my dad who has contacts at the council to see if he could get in contact with them. As soon as I had the email of Jonnie at the spa valley railway it was sorted in no time which was great and then I knew I would base my whole film in Tunbridge wells. 

I got in contact with a numerous amount of cafe's in tunbridge wells for my last scene between sarah and felix and most of them responded meaning I had a good choice for one I thought would work best. I decided to go with Basil, it was slightly tucked away so without really know how busy it would be I sorted that out with them which they where also great about.

Rest of the scenes I did on the fly as they didn't need any permission and they all worked flawlessly.

Production/costume design:

In this blog post here I show all the character costume I had planned. I went back and forth with jessica and jamie on email to sort out what they would both be wearing. I gave them both guidelines on what I'd ideally want them to wear and they both did a very good job in having the right costume. I wanted to replicate something similar to what they have in the actual show but maybe not make it feel so forced so the makeup was not so extreme. As for design on set we did not have to change much, we where lucky to have a end section of a carriage to ourselves meaning that we could get a lot of different angels. In the cafe scene we slightly moved around some chairs to get the ideal shot but in general everything was left as it was so I did not mess up with continuity.


Sound design:

I was told this was a big part of what would make my scene better so I really focussed on getting the right sound. I knew I wanted it to seem mysterious and with the eerie sounds throughout I think I managed to create that effect. I had wind whistling as well as a creepy beat whilst in the car park because I felt along with Simon that it gave that scene more tension as it was a scene that needed it. In all honesty I struggled to make the scene with beth being hit by the train realistic due to the limitations I had with location and what i was able to film. I did my best but i realise that little sequence is probably the weakest part of my project. For the cafe scene I tried something different instead of a buzz track which I had added to the rest of the project. I added music being played by a busker as backing as I felt that could have been realistic to the street location. I think it's different and it works so I kept it in as I think the actual scene that John Fawcett create has background music from the bar in that scene so I wanted to keep that kind of similar.

Camera approach:

I mostly shot handheld which I think means that the tension I needed to create was there and it would have probably not been there if it was still on a tripod. The subtle movement being handheld did make a difference. I liked filming like that however I did want to use a tripod shot for the cafe scene as I feel handheld would make the scene near unwatchable. Overall i I wanted george on the camera to try and be closer to the characters than we are in the actual scene.

Mood/tone/visual style:

I wanted to create tension in my scene, that was the main goal. John Fawcett does an incredible job of that in the actual scene and I wanted to create something like that fear in my scene. Whilst I had a lot more limitations to my project than he did it was no reason not to give a go and see what I could create. I spent a lot of time editing the sound and making sure that it had the right mood because if the music didn't quite fit it can make the scene seem very different to what it's suppose to convey. Something John Fawcett does is use music to create suspense and that is something I had tried to use to my advantage as well however I do admit you don't feel as immersed in the scene as you do the real one.


Editing:

Whilst I was editing I came across a few issues that had happened whilst filming. Most notably was the smudges on the camera at the cafe scene whilst looking at Sarah. This is something I couldn't really edit so unfortunately it had to stay. 

Apart from that issue I had to do some basic colour correction which I had meant that the sky was the same colour in Beth's shots as in Sarah's shots which can be seen edited in this video below.

As for editing style I wanted to make it snappy editing when it felt right but in general this scene likes slightly longer cuts so it doesn't ruin the suspense. It's a fine line and everyone has a different opinion on what is right but I tried to stay quite neutral and not swing either way.

I liked a few shots in particular, especially in this scene below. The colour of the sign was strangely great and was iconic to that scene. I think most people will remember it, even though it's just a "way out" sign. I also like the over the shoulder shot looking at the ID card as I think it gives good detail on what Sarah is seeing.

I