Actors…am I right? The bain of any directors’ existence. In Connor Morley’s short film, The Scene, he plays a director forced to shoot an inept actor…I mean…film an inept actor.
Our story begins thusly…a man (Vlad Alexandrov) walks into a doctor’s (Samson Zilic) office and says he has a horrible rash. The doctor responds, “I’m not a doctor. I’m a zoologist!” Then followed by a punch line.
Before the doc can say “zebra,” the director (Connor Morley) yells cut as the line is “marine life scientist” and not “zoologist.” The director soon realizes he hired the wrong actor.
“I’m not a doctor. I’m a zoologist!”
Running at five minutes, The Scene is a very silly comedy sketch as Samson Zilic goes take after take, flubbing his line to disastrously humorous effect. Shot on a very DIY budget, we have a very straightforward sketch of an over-the-top actor who refuses to get the line right and a director going to extraordinary (or, in Hollywood speak…ordinary) lengths to deal with his actor.
If I were to give a bit of advice, the big one is to plan how you want to frame your shots ahead of time. The Scene feels like it was shot on the fly, and there’s a transition that happens when the cellphone is desperately trying to autofocus on the actor. Those moments can be easily reshot. Otherwise, solid effort.
"…flubbing his line to disastrously humorous effect."
