Ruby Skye P.I.

Ruby Skye P.I. Director Kelly Harms tells us how he helps young actors prepare for a scene

When we cast our characters in Ruby Skye P.I., I gave each of the three leads (Madison, Kevin and Marlee) a sheet of paper with 6 simple questions and a blank notebook to fill up with the answers.

The questions were designed by an American acting teacher named Uta Hagen (my old acting teacher … and I’m old) to help an actor begin to build their character and ranged from ‘Where am I?’ to ‘What are my relationships?’

I expected them to answer all of the questions for each scene (and I mean each and every scene), but there were only two questions on that sheet that I, as the director, really wanted them to explore and could tell instantly if they had or had not.

The questions are ‘What do I want?’ and ‘What do I do to get what I want?’

Why are these questions so important for actors to answer?  Have you ever watched a film or TV series where there’s a particular actor that you think is bad?  Every time the actor comes up on screen, they look blank or, worse, they don’t seem to belong?  It’s possible that they might just be a bad actor, but it’s more likely that they have no clue who their character is or why they’re saying a line of dialogue.

What do you want??

Can you imagine a scenario in your everyday life (talking on the phone with a friend, studying for an exam, etc.) where you DON’T want anything?

Whether it’s our parents, friends, or a stranger, we always want something out of a situation.  Or NOT want something, which is still wanting.

Maybe, it’s not wanting to do your homework.  Or it might be wanting to ask a friend for a favor.

Then, when we know what we want (or not want), we usually do something to achieve that goal – we may act too tired so someone else has to walk the dog, or we may volunteer to do the dishes when we want to ask our Dad for a favor.  And the cycle continues to repeat itself.

It’s very simple, but very important for an actor.  What do you want and what do you do to get what you want?

I want sleep.

Kelly

While discussing the incredible burden that our mostly young and inexperienced actors would be under, Team Ruby Skye P.I. were unanimous on the necessity of a rigorous rehearsal schedule.

Tuesday, August 10^th: Day One – rehearsal with Madison (Ruby), and Kevin (Griffin). We begin with a lot of actor/director talk (expectations, character, intention of character) and, quickly, put a few scenes up. I go rapidly between the arbitrary scenes, hopefully giving them a taste of block shooting (shooting whatever scene, no matter the sequence, that takes place at a given location). Shortly thereafter, I get confused, and both actors constantly remind me of what scene we’re working on. I load them down with homework.

Wednesday, August 11^th: Day Two – All day rehearsal. Almost every actor that’s been cast has an allotted time. Alex Dacev (Director of Photography) brings a camera and sets up shots, complete with marks and eye-lines. It’s a chance for the actors to meet each other and Alex, work the designated scene in front of the camera, and hear my (or Jill’s) thoughts on their character. Rehearsal is delayed often because I have questions about certain camera functions for Alex.

Thursday, August 12^th: Day Three Rehearsal – Madison, Kevin and Marlee (Hailey, who has just returned from camp) are together for the first time. I, again, stress expectations, character, and technique with all three. I put them through a vigorous schedule of theatre-games (accents, emotions, and physicality) and throw multiple scenes at them quickly – hoping to underscore the exhaustion that inevitably sets in while filming. After three hours, I need a break. I’m really, really tired and decide to wrap them early.

Friday, August 13^th: Day Four of Rehearsal – Final day with my three leads. While I dip in and out to a variety of meetings, I really hope that they can use the time to bond. Upon returning from a meeting, I find all three playing a video game. I linger (because it looked really fun), but I don’t think that they noticed me. Thankfully, I had another meeting to attend to and, again returning, felt as if I were interrupting something of a ‘club’. I issue homework and wrap them immediately.

Ruby Skye P.I. need not worry about acting ‘chops’ – these actors are phenomenal!

Kelly

Let me preface this entry by explaining how lucky Ruby Skye P.I. is with an amazing camera, lighting and grip crew! They are spectacularly talented at their respective jobs and I often watch them in awe – Alex D. (DOP), Alex L. (1^st Assistant Camera), Jack (2^nd AC), Igor (Gaffer) and TJ (Key Grip) are a literal dream team of technicians and artists. Alex Dacev and I have worked together on many productions and he’s, truly, an extraordinary talent.

The tools of my trade are very few. I imagine what the scene looks like, draw storyboards (pictures) of where the characters should be and, finally, do a shot list with a simple diagram of the location and camera positions. It’s then Alex’s job, with his crew, to make it look very beautiful (or, at least, how I imagined it to be) and to capture those images while I focus on the performance of actors. Usually, the director hands over the shot list at the beginning of the day so the DOP knows what is to be shot. With Alex, I often skip that step because I believe he can read my mind – and he’s proved my theory correct many times before.

So imagine my surprise, confusion and disappointment when Alex approached me and said that he couldn’t make a certain shot happen. He insisted that it was impossible (I’d never heard the words out of his mouth!), claiming that I’d miscalculated. Miscalculated? I scoffed at the mere suggestion. When I came to set, I consulted my shot list and realized that I’d miscalculated. Massively. I ‘imagined’ the camera miraculously moving through a very large, concrete beam.

My producer (and 1^st Assistant Director), Kerry Young, reminds me often that just because it’s in my head (and possibly on paper) that it might be intelligent to ‘share’ that vision before hand.

I now hand my shot list over to Alex every morning. Still, I wonder why he, and his miracle-making crew, couldn’t make the beam disappear.

Kelly

Let me preface this entry by explaining how lucky Ruby Skye P.I. is with an amazing camera, lighting and grip crew!  They are spectacularly talented at their respective jobs and I often watch them in awe – Alex D. (DOP), Alex L. (1^st Assistant Camera), Jack (2^nd AC), Igor (Gaffer) and TJ (Key Grip) are a literal dream team of technicians and artists.  Alex Dacev and I have worked together on many productions and he’s, truly, an extraordinary talent.

The tools of my trade are very few.  I imagine what the scene looks like, draw storyboards (pictures) of where the characters should be and, finally, do a shot list with a simple diagram of the location and camera positions.  It’s then Alex’s job, with his crew, to make it look very beautiful (or, at least, how I imagined it to be) and to capture those images while I focus on the performance of actors.  Usually, the director hands over the shot list at the beginning of the day so the DOP knows what is to be shot.  With Alex, I often skip that step because I believe he can read my mind – and he’s proved my theory correct many times before.

So imagine my surprise, confusion and disappointment when Alex approached me and said that he couldn’t make a certain shot happen.  He insisted that it was impossible (I’d never heard the words out of his mouth!), claiming that I’d miscalculated.  Miscalculated?  I scoffed at the mere suggestion.  When I came to set, I consulted my shot list and realized that I’d miscalculated.  Massively.  I ‘imagined’ the camera miraculously moving through a very large, concrete beam.

My producer (and 1^st Assistant Director), Kerry Young, reminds me often that just because it’s in my head (and possibly on paper) that it might be intelligent to ‘share’ that vision before hand.

I now hand my shot list over to Alex every morning.  Still, I wonder why he, and his miracle-making crew, couldn’t make the beam disappear.

Kelly

While discussing the incredible burden that our mostly young and inexperienced actors would be under, Team Ruby Skye P.I. were unanimous on the necessity of a rigorous rehearsal schedule.

Tuesday, August 10^th: Day One – rehearsal with Madison (Ruby), and Kevin (Griffin).  We begin with a lot of actor/director talk (expectations, character, intention of character) and, quickly, put a few scenes up.  I go rapidly between the arbitrary scenes, hopefully giving them a taste of block shooting (shooting whatever scene, no matter the sequence, that takes place at a given location).  Shortly thereafter, I get confused, and both actors constantly remind me of what scene we’re working on.  I load them down with homework.

Wednesday, August 11^th: Day Two – All day rehearsal.  Almost every actor that’s been cast has an allotted time.  Alex Dacev (Director of Photography) brings a camera and sets up shots, complete with marks and eye-lines.  It’s a chance for the actors to meet each other and Alex, work the designated scene in front of the camera, and hear my (or Jill’s) thoughts on their character.  Rehearsal is delayed often because I have questions about certain camera functions for Alex.

Thursday, August 12^th: Day Three Rehearsal – Madison, Kevin and Marlee (Hailey, who has just returned from camp) are together for the first time.  I, again, stress expectations, character, and technique with all three.  I put them through a vigorous schedule of theatre-games (accents, emotions, and physicality) and throw multiple scenes at them quickly – hoping to underscore the exhaustion that inevitably sets in while filming.  After three hours, I need a break.  I’m really, really tired and decide to wrap them early.

Friday, August 13^th: Day Four of Rehearsal – Final day with my three leads.  While I dip in and out to a variety of meetings, I really hope that they can use the time to bond.  Upon returning from a meeting, I find all three playing a video game.  I linger (because it looked really fun), but I don’t think that they noticed me.  Thankfully, I had another meeting to attend to and, again returning, felt as if I were interrupting something of a ‘club’.  I issue homework and wrap them immediately.

Ruby Skye P.I. need not worry about acting ‘chops’ – these actors are phenomenal!

Kelly

Meet Kelly Harms, the amazing director of Ruby Skye P.I. Here’s an instalment of Kelly’s production diary:

Monday, August 9 – Quite simply, a finished film will only be as good as the script allows it to be. I believe, due to the genius of Jill and Julie, we have an amazing script. Then, no matter how great the script is, a production needs wonderfully amazing actors to lift the words off of the page and bring the story to life.

The Read-through is about to begin and I hope the actors remember who we are. Further, I hope the actors are as good as we remember them to be in the audition. As much as we, the creative team of Ruby Skye PI, have deliberated over the audition tapes, convinced ourselves of the incredible brilliance of our chosen cast, mistakes can and do happen. Very quickly, I realize that it sounds as amazing as we’d hoped it would. Then, the actors relax and find a rhythm and playfulness, and it sounds even more amazing than I could’ve hoped.

The read-through is over and there’s a palpable buzz of excitement that immediately spreads among those who have watched. Except for me. I feel an incredible and immense fear seep out of every pore of my body. Why fear? Because we have an amazing script, with amazing actors and it now needs to be filmed. Apparently, I could do some real damage.

Kelly