Noirish Project Blog: “Using Improvised Scenes With A Script”

Noirish Project Blog: “Using Improvised Scenes With A Script”

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Mostly, we are making Noirish Project from a fully crafted script. However, there are certain sections in the film which we will be improvised. I know in advance the broad purpose of these sections in terms of the storytelling, but the specific content (ie- the dialogue and actors movements) will be created through doing improvisations on the day of shooting. We will be working on one such improvised section next week. Our protagonists, Jimmy and Billy, find themselves in the woods, searching for the country manor of the local gangster. As their journey progresses, they become unsure as to whether they are getting lost or not, but carry on regardless, however, a vague feeling of uncertainty is in the air.

I will not be going into this with no clue as to what I want to shoot, but neither do I have a fixed idea, I have only broad notions. The cinematographic decisions will be made in response to the location and the needs of the action, and the improvisations will slot into the context created. For the scripted sections of the film, I have a very fixed idea about the compositions I want, where the characters will be placed within the frame and what they will do, I favour a certain deliberateness. That way of working is forgotten while we are in the woods. Doing this section without my usual preparation and system for working, will mean having to make very fast decisions in the moment. The results therefore, will be vaguer, lacking my deliberate intentions, lacking conviction. And the object of this approach, is to bring the intentions of the characters in line with that of the filmmaking.

The characters in the film, and the filmmaking itself, will be less certain while we are in the forest. Which is exactly the feeling we want to create for the scenes themselves.