I have a confession. I didn't know how to structure this weeks' blog regarding the 4th episode of Series 3 Confession. so I asked Rhys Jones, who directed this episode, to ask me some questions and thought I'd have a go at answering those. He hasn't made it easy for me though. Watch the episode, and then have a read of the short interview below.
The first draft of Confession, if I'm remembering right, was about a man who nobody would listen to. Sarah Louise Madison's involvement drastically changed the plot. Can you tell me a bit about that?
You're half right. It started off being quite a sci fi idea, a man riddled with guilt lives in a world where every one was silent. Since we were concentrating on the insular environment the idea was too big, and at this stage I changed it to a female lead. I thought it'd be more interesting, and the rest of the series was getting quite male heavy at this point.
This earth gone mute idea hung around, until I had a few lovely people read it and give me some feedback, all of which said it should be more self contained. I tinkered with it a bit but it wasn't clicking. This is where we chatted a lot I think, finding good stuff within there, but not enough coherence. But I battered it into some kind of shape, and as we made the crowdfund total and we celebrated I had the idea of Sarah Louise Madison. One thing felt like a stumbling block, I'd written the character as much older, so we asked, very cheekily, if Sarah could send us a video of her reading some lines.
WOW!
Even that was the most affecting thing we'd saw, and it suddenly clicked into place. This was about a girl who got married too quick, too young and was isolated in her marriage. So that changed, and the reason for her husband being quiet did, because it wasn't a murder I don't think in previous drafts. It became a lot better anyway.
I'd like to know you thoughts on the film, were you happy with how it turned out?
Yes. I was nervous about this one. It's one of our more striped back ones, and I know it features a lot of monologues, probably a bit too much dialogue. It's a location we've used before. But when I was sat in the edit I could feel the emotion within the film was there, and that was what I loved about this one. We tried something risky by looping the moment where Sarah's character tells Freddie, she loves him, over and over and I think it's a devastating moment. I know some people aren't as keen on this, as the twist just relies on who's dead and who's not, and is a reversal of expectations but nothing else, but it's my Mum's favourite so that's a win for me.
What works for you?
Sarah's performance. For some reason I love the shots where you can see her image within the camera and also looking down the lens. I think the reversal works really well too.
What doesn't?
As I've said it's probably got too much dialogue. It's a very Twisted Showcase film, we've been known to use minimalist cast and locations, keeping it small scale. I think this is sort of our last straight forward one of these, unless we get a great idea of course, but I feel we've done all we can with it. We do have one script for next series that features just one character, but it's a very out there idea, set in a future dystopia (are there any other kind) On a final note, James I think does well in this too, and his ignoring, not present attitude is quite horrifying in comparison to his wife who is pouring her heart out.
As always any other questions leave them in the comments. Come back next week for a quick round up of Empty Sofa and some news as to something new coming to you before Christmas.
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