Artist Statement

Revolutionary Road (Scripted Scene with coverage)

(I realized that this never got posted, my bad)

This was by far the most difficult scene I took upon myself. The content is heavy, the thematic elements are pretty dark, and overall it required certain elevated levels of commitment that I worried about achieving. All in all, I am overly satisfied with the end product. I was really trying to go for the raw emotion, the conflicts of couples who love one another but that love is complicated, and tainted also with slivers of hatred and loss. I mostly shot for a focus on the blocking and style of camera work. I wanted April's character to constantly be backed up against a 'wall,' while still trying to lash back from this cage. I wanted Frank's character to be violent and evasive, controlling and harmful--but still held in by the love he knows he has.

I played with camera style by using handheld shots, close and up in the action to add a sense of reality/documentary feel. The original plan was to build tension this way, though with some editing conflicts, we jumped to the handheld much quicker than I anticipated. I wanted the distant handheld shots to convey an overseeing audience feel, and hit you right in the feels, which i think worked well. Overall, the editing was the bulk of the time mixed with finding and emotionally sufficient soundtrack. Kudos to 'bensound' for the score, and for my amazing actors who committed much more than i could have ever hoped, finally to Drew for his excellent skill with camera work. Great job everybody.