A Game Of Sardines… In A Telephone Box?!

Introduction

 I was given the task to forge a performance based on the script of an episode called ‘Sardines’ on the TV programme ‘No.9’. My class and I was grouped in twos and threes to tackle a specific section of the script - my group of three was given the opening to the show. I was extremely excited to take this task on as this was our first ever set works to create, and I was extremely pleased with the outcome! Read on to see the final product!

Rehearsal time!

Before rehearsal process, I watched the full episode of ‘Sardines’ to get a feel of the episode and to learn the content of it. The ‘awkward’ atmosphere that the characters illustrate in the episode makes it entertaining to watch and hilarious to the audience! However, what I noticed was that the actors were not forcing the comedy element - they were purposefully choosing to make subtle gestures and using their body language minimally such as small eye rolls or small general mouth sounds due to their knowledge of how the cameras and mics will notice these actions and will still give a comedic outcome. ‘David K. (Director). (2014) Inside No.9 [TV Series]. BBC Television.’

During first rehearsals, my group swapped characters after reading full run-throughs of the script to understand each characters’ traits and personality. We collectively began brainstorming ideas for our location of our performance. An idea that my peer Sarah produced was setting the scene in a telephone box: all actors could fit in but have the similarly cramped feeling of the wardrobe in the episode. The potential for a creative variety of camera shots was unlimited: Over the shoulder shots, wide shots from outside the box - even shots that would Angel from above and below! 

Camera angles are a key aspect to film-acting, as your audience can infer a lot from one single shot. While workshopping our ideas, I researched a clip from 2001 The Hobbit where the camera was angled up from below, showing Sam against a wall of a cliff looking to the side with frightened expression, while Golem was on top of the cliff looking down to Sam with and crazed eyes. ‘Middle-Earth Marvels, 2018, September 7th, Riders In The Dark 1 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [Video]’.

Displaying a hierarchy in power between the two characters in one shot, and I find this influential towards the hierarchy of my character Rebecca and Ian’s awkward acquaintance.

A valuable idea of mine was to experiment with various formations to stand within the telephone box to enhance the ‘awkward’ atmosphere. For example, I stood to face with Ian and Carl to purposefully squeeze between Rebecca and Ian, standing at the back for Ian to look down and ‘belittle’ me. This position allowed us to all be looking at each other and seeming more squished together.

Filming Process

I was efficient in contacting the film members to set up a group chat and inform them of our ideas; We aimed to be in contact with everyone as soon as possible to ensure than we could film our project in enough time.

Everyone was punctual and prepared - with our group’s lines fully learnt and the film students had their filming equipment ready. Meeting up with the film students, we walked to the set phone box. However, when we arrived, the phone box that we were going to film with was under refurbishment. To overcome this, our collective group searched for another telephone box to film with and were successful in finding another telephone box as there is multiple in our area of filming.

Conclusion

Whilst filming, the session lasted about an hour and a half to get as many shots and camera angles as possible to overlap each other. But overall, the filming ran quite smoothly. I really enjoyed working with the film students and learning the contrasting differences and similarities of film acting and on-stage acting, and I cannot wait to see what other film projects I get involved with!

Here is the final product!