Filmmakers Playing The Part

Another weekend was wasted on shooting a cinematography project with my group. I realized that the group of people I was working with were taking part in a performance of sorts. As communication students at Northwestern University in Qatar, we are made to take such courses that expose us to the façade that is the dynamics of a film set.

I’ll explain the play that students take part in through the events of this weekend. This group of students behave according to the social norms of film sets. Sometimes, some like to think they are Martin Scorsese and live in the moment. The interactions that take place amongst us can be explained through the use of Dramaturgy. It was obvious that through the media we consumed, we assumed we knew the obligations that each role on a film set was to take on. Dramaturgy includes the following aspects: setting, actors, audience, roles.

First, you have the clothes we wear. The clothes can be seen as part of the setting. Looking at the people around me I realize they aren’t dressed to the nines. In fact, they are dressed quite nicely, but in a very practical way. They wore jeans, T-shirt, and closed-toe shoes. They wear these clothes because they need to be able to move around, carry heavy boxes, and not have to worry about their clothes getting caught in the equipment. Also, the girls’ hair was tied up because, as every girl knows, there’s nothing more annoying that your hair sticking to the back of your neck.

The setting for this particular group is the actual university campus, but due to the nature of the work the setting varies depending on the setting used for filming. Our project took us to a coffee shop, the exhibition center, a park, and a beach. All these different settings have an effect on the story, and on the actual amount of work that students have to put in to adapt to various situations.

I like to think that there are two audiences for this group. First you have those who will show up to the screening of the film, and then those who are gawking at you while you’re trying to shoot in the middle of a coffee shop. The first type are the ones that the filmmakers want to please, and the others are just staring because it’s not normal to see three Qatari girls in an Abaya directing actors and attempting to lift heavy boxes.

As for the actors there are two of them, as well. There are the actors used in the film, and then we, the actual filmmakers are the ones who are acting out the roles we are each assigned. As the students taking on the task of putting this project together we try to show the people we are working with that we know what we are doing.

As budding filmmakers we need to know the lingo of the business. The way of speaking is part to authenticating the role. These words and terms that are used excessively on set, and when discussing other films are our own version of medical jargon. It is a specific way to talk when on set working on a project, but as I said it spills over into daily life situations when discussing with people outside the group. Sometimes one has to stop in order to explain what MOS means, explain how ramping works, or argue whether they preferred low key to high key for a their bedroom lighting. The way that we speak reflects the level of intellect that we have, and in some cases it’s all made up to sound artistic.

The roles of members are variable. There are dozens of different film roles that take place on a film set. Sometimes the role might include them taking on the position of director, and other times the gaffer. It depends on the situations and the actual head behind the production that takes taking place. As students we try to alternate between the roles as to get to try on the different masks of filmmaking. However, sometimes some people seem to claim a mask to themselves and decide they are going to be the next Quinton Tarantino.

Despite not being that into filmmaking myself, I have great respect towards those who do. The members of the group are some of the most hardworking, and helpful people I have encountered in my life. It was interesting to see that in order to put together a film, you had to pretend to be part of another.