 But it was not possible to do this movie, in this matter of time, without a solid rehearsal period. |
| It's kind of dangerous to cut in the camera, but that's the only way I know how to direct. |
| I'm always moving forward. |
| It goes back to a style of moviemaking I remember seeing as a child, in movies like The Man With The Golden Arm, which I think was shot all on a sound stage. |
| That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If you have a vision, you don't have to cover every scene. |
| A director just pushes them a little this way or that way. |
| The production team's first meeting took place at my house. I had ideas and a color scheme in mind, how I wanted the movie to look, because that has to be a real collaboration. |
| The clothes back in those days were made so much better than clothes are today. They actually took time to make clothes to fit a woman's body. Today they make clothes that fit sizes, so it stretches to fit this and that. |
| I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look. |
| There are some scenes that work beautifully in a moving, sweeping master, which is how I like to work. |
| Michael Ralph brilliantly plays the street prophet, a West Indian who foreshadows the Harlem riot. |
| But out of limitations comes creativity. |
| The radio for these women is like television is for us today, which is really like looking at the radio. |
| I got my dailies every day, although I couldn't always look at them because I was usually preparing for the next day's shoot, both as an actress and as the director. |
| As far as pacing the shoot is concerned, I know when I've got it. I don't think there's any reason to take ten takes unless you need them. |
| Time management is a big part of the director's job. |
| Everything has to be well thought out - what do you really need, when can you do with less coverage. |
| You have to examine a scene on the page first. Then you get into the basics of acting: Who are you? Who are you talking to? How do you feel about that person? |
| The biggest challenge was that we had to shoot so quickly and with such a limited budget. |
| The riot isn't seen in the movie, but it is alluded to. He has this one speech that gives a great sense of texture and paints a picture of what was happening in Harlem then. |
