Master With Coverage - Barton Fink

First the things I am exorbitantly happy about with this project. The location was stellar, and helped create the austerity I was hoping for with my framing. My actors filled their positions with great enthusiasm. The set was incredibly relaxed and everyone got things done efficiently. The subtlety and the references to the remainder of the movie were in place, I believe.

Now for some of the things I could work on or things that could have helped the shoot even better. The location became an issue about 30 minutes into us being there. Even though I had talked with four different people in the Smoot building and was eventually led to the campus police (thank you for the help there, Jeff), the janitorial supervisor had an incomprehensible beef with our presence. Just as we were about to begin shooting at 6:30 PM, she came at us with a full on assault. She was incredibly nervous and angry, and very adamant that she could not work around us and needed the small space we were in for three hours. I was able to calm her down and remove any hard feelings on her end, but we were kicked out nonetheless. Thankfully, my actors and crew were able to push back the shoot three hours until 9:00 PM, and the police helping us into the building were happy to help later as well. This was not anywhere near ideal, as I wanted to have everyone out by 9:00 PM instead of midnight, but the shoot still had a great air of camaraderie. In fact, the extra three hours before shooting really helped my two actors get comfortable with each other.

One thing I would have changed is exhorting my actors not to view the source material before the shoot. It led to a hard time ensuring that even though the performance was not the same as the original, it was excellent in the way I had been intending when I was orchestrating the scene. He did very well, but he was consistently not happy with his delivery.

I think my use of the space is interesting, but if I had the chance for a do over, I would likely use it with more subtlety. The extreme wide on Chet’s character are visually exciting, but they may be a touch past the line of the feeling I was intending. Also, there were some bumpy equipment moves with the tracking shot and a dolly in in the middle. I’m sad for these things, but it didn’t take away too much from the scene. This scene was about the location and anxiety Barton fink’s character is experiencing, and I think I stayed true to that central piece.