BETWEEN TAKES

When I was starting out as a director, there was a quote by French filmmaker, Robert Bresson, that affected me. He wrote ‘What interests me is not what the actors show me, but what they hide from me, and, above all, what they do not suspect is in them.’ I realized he was talking about the inescapable power of the still photograph. The innate quality that the camera will always ‘find’, regardless of their acting. It can sometimes mean ‘placing them’ in the ‘photograph’ in such a way that your point is made before anyone starts ‘working’. A lot of experienced film actors know this and know how to exploit it.