NYC Indpendent Film Festival - FACE
We all wear masks; this is the story of one woman's mask, shot entirely in close-up in a single take.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Masa Gibson
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
My partner (Abby J. Smith) and I were interested in telling a quick story all in one take from one angle -- a closeup of the main character's face.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
You are thrust into such an intimate space with the character that you experience what the character is experiencing in ways that you may not have before.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
We wanted to blur the lines between the masks (both physical and metaphorical) that actors put on and those that non-actors put on in everyday life. We wanted the face itself to be the subject. I am an actor as well as a filmmaker, and so the challenges of performance as art are personal to me, but I believe that everyone wears masks of one sort or another and "performs" every day.
The masks we wear come in two types -- one type that we choose to don as we navigate the different parts of our lives, and one type that is endowed to us from birth, which we are stuck with for life. As for that latter kind, the mask we are stuck with for life can affect how we are seen and treated. We deliberately chose to make our protagonist a woman of color in a high-status, publicly scrutinized profession in the current-day U.S. to amplify these effects.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
SPOILER ALERT!!
The end product reflects the original vision, but the plan for capturing it evolved over the development period. The original idea was to follow the lead actor around on location with a hand-held or Steadicam unit. Some test shots drove home how difficult that would be given our limited resources, so we hatched the idea of having the actor stay in place and "moving" the background instead. When we did some testing of that concept with plate shots taken out on the street, we realized that we would need to be able to move the background live, in real time with the actor, rather than pre-taping them.
The next logical evolutionary step was to build the entire location in miniature and shoot it simultaneously with the actions of the actor. Abby's specialty is designing and building miniatures, so this was right up her alley.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
People seem to be impressed with the filming technique that we pulled off -- that's if they grasp the full implications of the setup, which we try to make clear in a "reveal" behind-the-scenes sequence that we show right before the end credits. In one case, this reveal elicited a strong negative reaction from a viewer, who felt like it "ruined" the emotional spell that had been cast by the film up to that point. Our response is that we want the film to function as bunraku puppetry or pointillist paintings -- for the story and the technique behind the story to co-exist for the audience.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
SPOILER ALERT!!
We've been surprised by how difficult it is to get audience members to fully comprehend the shooting technique we used, even when it's all there for them to see on the screen. Most people get that the actor is moving in front of a projection screen, but a lot don't get that what is being projected on that screen is footage from inside the miniature set. Almost no one gets that that footage is being shot live, in real time, simultaneously with the actor's performance. In one sense, it's satisfying to see how well the illusion works.
Without fail, most people's initial reaction has simply been to praise the lead actor, which is completely deserved on her part, and lets us know that we've done our job. The negative reaction mentioned above also was a surprise, but in a way it's also indicative of how moving the actor's performance was and how solid the spell we cast was.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
As any artists/filmmakers, we are always looking for ways to increase the exposure of our work.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
As the film is just a short, we aren't looking for distribution or sales, but of course we would be thrilled for it to show at additional festivals. We are also in early development stages for a feature film that uses the same shooting technique (this film was a proof-of-concept of sorts), so we are always looking for help on the producing side of things.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We'd like people to meditate on where the line between life and performance lies, and we'd also like to highlight the challenges faced by people who have been endowed with certain physical and biological traits (in the case of this story, female people of color).
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Was the emotional arc that we watched the actor's/character's face navigate "real"? Just because the circumstances were fictional, does that make the actor's performance "fake"? Are we ever not wearing masks?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We're in post-production for a short film (current cut: 24 minutes) that is similar to FACE in that it follows a single character the whole time in a single location. Unlike FACE, it was shot on location in an apartment and it is not all a single take.
Logline: A recovering addict trying to erase the online records of his past transgressions gets a call from a mysterious company that claims it can help him be forgotten--not only by the Internet, but by all the people that ever knew him and by the natural world itself. We are also developing a script for a feature-length film that uses the same shooting technique that was used for FACE, but following a number of characters in multiple extended takes.
Interview: April 2018
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTIAQ+, scifi, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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FACE
We all wear masks; this is the story of one woman's mask, shot entirely in close-up in a single take.
Length: 11:21
Director: Masa Gibson
Producer: Masa Gibson; Abby J. Smith
Writer: Masa Gibson
About the writer, director and producer:
Masa Gibson is a Meisner-trained actor with a BA in music and a PhD in linguistics. FACE is his fourth short film.
Abby J. Smith is a member of USA, Local 829 specializing in miniatures. Credits include Blade Runner 2049, The BFG, and ITV’s Thunderbirds Are Go!
Key cast: Ruby Thomas
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Film festival directors, producers
Social media handles:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FACETheFilm/
Made in association with: Marked Pictures
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
NYC Independent Film Festival (https://www.nycindieff.com/film/face)
Also, we are developing a dedicated web page for the film that will include not only the film itself but a number of exclusive behind-the-scenes clips that show the development process behind the shooting technique that was used for the film. The web page's launch will be announced from the film's Facebook page.