I know I’ve only just written, and I’m sorry to take over your RSS feeds, but I humbly and last-minutely seek your advice… I’ll do my best to keep it concise this time. Just when I thought things were beginning to wrap up, my subjects started dropping bombshells, Sumit in particular. Over the course of several days, I’ve been filming him repeatedly cheating on the weeklong exam they’ve been taking. (Many of the boys have cheated to some extent, but Sumit has been the only one who’s been open to me filming it.) Then, on Tuesday morning, he got into a fist fight with an older student over an allegedly stolen bag. I missed the fight—the whole thing went down in a split second—but he was unbelievably kind in letting me film his meeting with the principal. I’ve got all the footage I’d ever need if I wanted to paint him as your stereotypical teenage rebel, but here’s the problem: he’s so much more than that. I can see through the thick walls he’s built around himself; we’ve shared tender moments off camera, and I sometimes find him sitting in rooms by himself, staring out of windows and thinking. A two-dimensional portrayal would be an incredible disservice to him. Every time I try to film any indication of these inner workings, though, he’s quick to leave the frame and withdraws from me further, bumping up his “tough guy” image another notch. To echo Elisa’s thoughts, how much can you really ask someone to show a side of himself he wants to keep hidden?
My mantra this summer has been to let things play out on their own, to resist controlling and interfering, but time is running out. With Hindu holiday season is in full swing, I only have six days left to shoot, barring strikes and bus accidents (or another 6 AM solar eclipse… I still can’t believe the government declared a full-day public holiday for that). My search for a conclusion continues, and using the final scene to add something unexpected to the audience’s knowledge of his character could be very productive. I’ve got my big translation sesh with the interpreter tomorrow, which I hope will bear some fruit, and there’s always the hope that subtle moments will reveal themselves in the coming months. Blind hope in exiting footage aside, is there anything I can do in the coming days to bring out another side to Sumit? I’m afraid I already know the answer to this (and not an answer I like), but I’m still hoping your combined wisdom can provide me with some much-needed insight.
hey ty, wisdom I have not but faith that you will find someway to indicate these more elusive aspects of sumit through your footage and editing I do. hope your translation session might provide some insights (the last one, as I recal it (the birth of the sandwich metaphor), helped a lot? ) and that you experience few last moments of serendipity to end your stay on.
ReplyDelete(for the first time I had a shooting experience with "live" children on friday--very animate characters. I think I have a much greater appreciation for the challenges you mentioned in your earlier postings about the camera and kids....but can talk more in the fall! )
all best,
cynthia
Sorry if this response comes too late, Ty, but just a thought: sounds like pushing the stereotype could work productively in that often the tough guy who plays up the tough guy routine, in the very flaunting of his hard shell, can garner sympathy fr the audience because they can pick up on the fact that it's a spectacle even just from watching a simple moment or two that differs in tone drastically from his usual behavior. So, if you can show a few seconds of him sitting alone, staring out windows... that might be enough. Getting the 'pensive' shot is not exactly a novel way to try to reveal 'inner workings' but a couple of stereotypical movie moments that read for an audience in a 'universal' way could work in your favor and not come across as trite given that the rest of the footage will be creative and unique (I'm sure!)... Hope that provides some assurance.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see it all,
ATN