Recently I directed a scene from David Auburn's play, Proof. I hadn't anticipated it to rain on the day of the shoot but we did the shoot anyway. In the scene, the two characters, Catherine and Claire, are sisters whose father has just passed. The story is set in Chicago on a porch overlooking a lake and being located in Vegas, this was somewhat of a challenge for my DP, but he was able to pull it off and when you watch the scene, you actually can't tell that it was shot in the middle of the desert.
Although the rain had my crew and I in a sort of funk, I still feel that going through with it and having shot the scene during a gloomy and rainy day added weight to the context and overall emphasized the dreadful situation that Catherine and Claire find themselves in. The sound of the rain and thunder filling the silence between the two makes their relationship feel heavy and doomed and taking that approach towards the scene, I feel, was inventive on our part. The characters stayed the same, the dialogue stayed the same, but it was an entirely different scene from what it would have been if it were shot on a sunny day with a light breeze.
Despite everyone being cold and wet, we managed to do the whole scene within 4 hours with no breaks. Although my actors had felt a bit off their game due to the funky weather, it certainly did not look like it. Both of them gave me what I was looking for: the sister that cares too much and the sister that doesn’t care enough, and I feel that the dynamic performances they gave are engaging and most importantly, true to the story.
If you want to watch the scene, check it out here.
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