Stepping on set to direct a scene I’ve been working on for weeks, months, or even years is my favorite part of directing.

It’s when imagination meets reality and you get to play out what only existed in your head up to this point.

Today we’re taking a deep dive into directing a pivotal scene from Wild Boys. I want to take you back to the set and let you experience what was going through my mind as we were capturing Kate’s first meeting with the Wild Boys.

If you would like to watch the scene before we start, check it out here: https://youtu.be/LxQU86Q8hbE

Let’s roll.

Why this day was so important

Our film takes off for real when Kate meets the Wild Boys. It’s a twist that shapes the rest of the story.

In this sequence, Kate goes from lost to terrified, fleeing for her life, to confused before she returns to her original mission, determined to find her treasure.

We dedicated an entire day of our meager schedule to shoot it.

Our plan was simple:

• Shoot the second part, with lots of dialogue before lunch, 10 pages in total
• Switch to the first part with lots of action after lunch

The biggest reason was the sun.

We were shooting outside in the forest and had to make the sun work for our purposes.

When we location-scouted and found the spot where Kate first sees the Wild Boys, it was obvious that we needed to shoot there as close to sunset as possible.

That helped us zone in on finding a location for the second part of the sequence that would look good in the morning.

If you’re shooting outside, with little or no light modifiers, this is the kind of stuff you think about all the time.

How do we make the location work for us?

I was happy with our locations for the day, but I’m not going to lie; the first part of our schedule scared me.

10 pages in a couple of hours is A LOT.

I worried we would have to rush through parts of such an important scene.

I spent a lot of time with the three actors rehearsing. Getting them comfortable with the material and each other’s characters. I wanted us to be able to get right into it once the camera was rolling.

I’m glad we did.

A lot can change in a month

When we first planned our production, we were set to shoot in early to mid September. It would still be quite hot up in the mountains, but not as bad as during the height of summer.

We didn’t question our cast’s minimal wardrobe at all.

After our schedule was pushed because of the forest fire, the change in temperature above 7000 ft in elevation was drastic.

As we stepped on set around 6:30 am, our breath fogged, and our poor actors were dressed for summer. The Wild Boys only wore their loincloths.

This was going to be a challenge.

We grabbed all the blankets we could find, and our crew did an awesome job of keeping the cast warm between takes.

To make it a little more bearable, we had to shoot shorter takes and get the actors wrapped up quickly.

We broke the scene into chunks and shot in story order to help the actors stay in the moment.

We also blocked the scene in a way that divided it into three parts, based on how the actors moved.

• The first part when Kate wakes up.
• The second part when Kate hides behind the tree.
• The third part when they all get up and talk about the treasure.

The way an actor moves in a scene is a big part of their performance.

We used Kate’s body positioning to show how she’s feeling. She starts flat on the ground, then crawls away to save herself. When she hides behind the tree, she’s a little more upright, but the Wild Boys still tower over her.

As she gains confidence and takes initiative, she stands up and confronts the Wild Boys face-to-face.

A lot of beginner directors think of movement as camera movement. Using blocking and how the actors move is often far quicker and easier than trying to do a complex camera move. When you choreograph how an actor moves, as well as how the camera moves, you unlock real dynamic cinema.

That’s why the first thing I do when we get on set is block the scene we’re about to shoot.

Working with the actors

By the time we get to set, I’ve already spent a good chunk of time working with the actors. We've talked through the scene and rehearsed until we all know how we want to play it. We have a good idea of how the scene will turn, but once you get on set, you get a whole new level of specificity.

I like to give the actors the first stab at blocking a scene.

When we’re outside, like in this scene, we define the area where the scene takes place, and I let them play it out. After a first run-through, we usually make adjustments based on what’s working and what could be improved.

In this scene, we had a couple of “anchors." The starting position was fixed because the Wild Boys are mid-action when Kate awakens, and the tree was another anchor. The scene ended up playing out in a back-and-forth between these two positions.

In the first blocking rehearsal, Kate ran over to the tree and hid behind it, standing. Something felt off, so I asked her to crawl over and sink down behind the tree instead.

That tiny change added more desperation to her flight and also made her more vulnerable when the Wild Boys caught up to her.

Whenever I’m making adjustments like this, it’s always with the story in mind.

If something isn’t working, it’s my job to come up with solutions we can try. For the actors to be able to change their performances, it’s often better to try changing their physical actions than to tell them to play a different feeling.

“Try crawling instead of running” is much more actionable than if I’d asked Kate to “act more scared.” I might want her to act more scared, but it’s my job to translate that into something she can actually do, so it helps her shape her performance.

This scene was a roller coaster for Kate, and my goal was to use the blocking to help her play Kate’s arc in the scene.

It’s also the first meeting between Kate and the Wild Boys, and giving the boys a proper introduction was important.

Throughout the scene, I used blocking to differentiate their characters. Red is always closer to Kate than Jondeer. He’s the one who initiates contact, while Jondeer wants Kate to leave and forget them.

Our main trio has great chemistry. One of the things I love about working with them is how well they listen and take cues from each other.

One of the most important things for me to watch throughout such a long, winding scene is their energy levels. Sometimes one of the actors would come into a take with a little low energy, and the two others immediately adapted to that tone. It was my job to step in and remind them, "Hey, we just came from this super stressful moment; let’s keep that in mind as we move to this next part of the scene.”

With a simple note like that, the actors adjusted their performances and brought the energy from the last part we’d shot into this new one.

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