What would you do if you won thousands?
ROSHAN ROHATGI'S DIARY
Oct 9th – Oct 19th - Preparation, Recall for Audition, Cast
From Oct 9th developed character background for ‘Sam’ a social worker from Scotland – namely Glasgow. Developed the reasons as to why Sam was in London in the first place and what it was he was looking to achieve. The development of the back story was pretty random to be honest but I felt it gave a certain woundedness to the character.
I received help from Westminster City Council – in particular one of their social workers who gave me some pretty good guidance as to the motivations behind the work he does, what type of person does this kind of work. It was a good insight into the mechanics of social work and helped me develop ‘Sam’. In dealing with the social worker I found myself learning that it is quite an instinctive profession in that books can teach you theory but dealing with people and their troubles is not so straight forward. Needs a lot of improvisation. Sam from this point on started to take shape. A social worker dealing with troubled kids namely teens. A healer.
Oct 28th
Talked with James as regards the Scottish connection. Discussed where we were from in real life and therefore for the character backgrounds. Developed some common ground in terms of What films we like that we could bring to the rehearsals and use in ‘chitchat’ for the characters as well as in improvised scenes.
Continued on character development. On guidance from Rachel developed Sam’s interest in Graffiti.
Oct 30th
Met with Rachel’s contact Nancy MacDonald and talked to her about Graffiti. Borrowed her book on street graffiti and the motivation behind it. Why kids do it. The book was not just about graffiti itself but the psychology behind the people that do it. What it means, why they do it in the first place. It taught me about the street pecking order / culture amongst other things.
Oct 30th
Sent over 10Q’s to Rachel for the Sam character on Graffiti. Based on Banksy. Continued to read the book on Graffiti. Developed an angle for Sam and Graffiti and the kids he helps.
Nov 1st
First meeting at Actors Centre today. 10.30 – 17.30 Devising.
Talked about the characters and their motivations. Spent time chatting to the other actors on their respective characters after all introductions done. Listened to Rachel discussing the story behind the characters meeting. What would be the situation where they all meet. We all talked about our characters. Talked about Sam’s background and Graffiti. Got more information from the other characters about their interests and what they want. Also learnt about their respective topics that they had chosen.
Looked at location on whiteboard and got an idea of what the outdoor set up would be. Hard to imagine it though in reality at this point. Did some impro with the character Teressa.
Nov 3/4th Weekend
Thought more abut Sam’s motivation. Why did he need the gameshow winnings. What he would do with it. Got more into the mindset of Sam.
Finished reading the Graffiti book. Feel I am an expert on graffiti now. Don’t ever want to see graffiti again given that I am now dreaming about graffiti. Started reading a new book – nothing to do with graffiti.
Nov 5th Monday
Actors Centre 6pm-9pm
Spent more time discussing the shape of what we were going to do. Did some impro and thought more of the characters. Watched the other actors do some dialogue and scenes. Discussed more about the set-up to understand why we have all come together. I know a lot more about the other characters
now.Nov 6th Tues
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Devising again. Went through some dialogue on scenes prepared by Rachel and also did some impro. Began to see character take shape and the other characters also. Doing rehearsals on camera and watched some scenes on playback. Good to see the interaction between characters and what to work on and what works.
Nov 7th Wed
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Going through lines today and reading through scenes prepped by Rachel.
Listening to characters playing off each other sounded more real and got into the game more. I could see where each character was going and thinking. It’s a small room here so there is not much movement. We can move around a bit but on our feet pacing around and saying the lines. Did some more impro work. Everything helps. Rachel is thinking of new lines and directions and shape as we go along.
Nov 8th Thurs
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Took off from where we left off yesterday. More new lines today. Going through more of the character arc. Where do they each and individually begin and where do they end. We had to think more internally today. Less about the interaction with the others and more about what they are feeling. What this all means to them. We did go through lines but motivation was more of todays approach.At home thought about what Sam would do with the money. What does the character really want.
Nov 12th Monday
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Finally remembered to bring in the Banksy book. Ran scenes. Developed more angles / ideas of how scenes would work. With not too long to go and Rachel sending us new drafts spending time delivering the lines and interacting with oneanother to see how things work. Its good fun to see how things are evolving now. We are running lines and changing them at times like today and then re-doing things. Being part of the development is a great approach. Rachel is throwing stuff at us and making us say different things – trying to capture what would work and what doesn’t.
Nov 13th Tues
Actors Centre 6-9pm
New Draft. Went through more scenes today. Reading new material in combination with the pre-written material. The pace is picking up a bit as we are not a million miles away from shoot date.
Pretty comfortable with Sam now. Receiving more direction from Rachel as to her perceptions of the character and what she would like me to do with Sam.
Nov 15th Thurs
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Taken on board notes from Rachel and trying to get the right emotions for Sam. When not involved in reading lines or rehearsing scenes thinking more about the direction given. What do I need to get across for Sam. It’s a more subtle approach with him. Sam is more complex than I thought.
The pace is much faster now. We are going through a lot of scenes and making changes and notes and redoing them until everyone is happy. Rachel is producing draft after draft now!
Nov 19th Monday
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Off page for the most part. Everyone is in the same boat. We know a lot of the dialogue now and it showed today. There are still bits we don’t know and lines are being re-written and jigged about a bit which is keeping everyone sharp. A combo of running scenes today as well as impro and then discussion and what we all think.
An exhausting day.
Nov 20th Tues
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Ran as much as we could today. Much like Monday. Ran loads of scenes and did a little impro with James on one of the scenes. Can see it coming together.
Nov 21st Wed
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Nov 22nd Thursday
Actors Centre 6-9pm
Nov 23rd
** On Site Rehearsal **
Prob the coldest day there has been in 2007. Early on set. Good to see where we were going to be shooting the next day. Made it a lot easier for tomorrow to know exactly where the set-ups were going to be, the shots and the scenes.
We blocked through most of the scenes and ran some dialogue. Went through the movements and where and what each of us would be doing if in shot.
Saw the graffiti and saw what Rachel had been going on about with respect to it. Happy that tomorrow we will not waste time needing to walk through things. We were all happy happy with the rehearsals and walk through.
When not in shot learnt the importance of keeping warm and wearing more clothes tomorrow to stave of impending death by cold. This is colder than Scotland has ever been.
Looked like Rudolph the reindeer. Brown skin – big red nose.
Nov 24th Shoot Day
Crew on site. Shooting on HD Cam. It was early. Was in the 2nd Scene shot. The second coldest day of 2007. Today wore so many clothes looked like smaller Glasgow Indian version of Ray Winstone. Sam had put on 5 stone overnight.
Most of my shots done in the first 5 set ups. Big break in middle. Did some continuity ( keeping a tab of the shots done, the set-up, where things were, and what Rachel liked or did not like for edit purposes ). Enjoyed this as learnt a lot about the shoot process. Did not think like an actor and felt more involved behind camera. Would like to get involved on the direction side I think someday.
Later in the day when the sun was beginning to go down completed my shots with the character George. We wrapped for the day shortly after. It was a good day but did not get as much done as we thought. Realise tomorrow was going to be a full on day to capture all the shots.
Nov 25th Shoot Day
All guns were blazing straight out the gate today. We needed to get a huge amount done.
I was involved in quite a few scenes today as were we all. We shot the silent scenes of us doing ‘nothing’ as well as my scenes with ‘Teressa’, ‘Alex ( the protagnist )’ ‘Anna’. We had to hurry some of the scenes along as we needed to get a lot done. The weather held up again and we were lucky of no rain. Shot scenes hand held like the fight scene and the Teressa fighting Jason scene. Also Sam going for Jason was hand held. Went well. All the shots were done which was amazing given the amount. All credit to everyone involved. Rachel did a great job pushing it through and her crew were superb in their commitment to the cause. The only downside was the ‘burger ‘ thing in the morning.
Did a lot more continuity today. Really learnt a lot about shooting and the camera set up, going hand-held, tracking, lighting, and the importance of continuity.
We got it done. Felt great to finish given the process from start to end rehearsal and development wise and the madness of the shooting.
IT’S A WRAP!!!!
I’m off to sleep for a few days.
Watch the film (32Mb file)