SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: Catherine Stewart is the director of
While You Weren’t Looking – a South African film which has won a
number of awards and is set to travel globally in 2016. This is Stewart’s debut
feature film, before which she had obtained her Master’s degree in Fine Art from
Columbia University majoring in directing and screenwriting, and returned to South
Africa to direct documentaries, short films and TV dramas.
While You Weren’t Looking features the stories of different lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender relationships which intertwine and present
themselves in the context of the new South Africa. The film features a number of
sex scenes – which are notoriously hard to execute, even for a seasoned director
like Stewart. Here, she offers some of her thoughts on the experience.
How do you make a sex scene natural when it’s the most unnatural
situation you could be in?
It’s the actors who breathe life and naturalness into a scene of sensual intimacy on
screen. All acting is brave, but the vulnerability of being almost naked on set and
acting in a sensual and emotional way is extreme. A scene with a sexual encounter
between characters requires extra preparation, sensitivity, clarity, and care from a
director to be able to ask the actors for the extreme vulnerability they must bring
to their performance.
My job as a director is to give the actors whatever they need to feel safe and
supported and able to perform in the way that is right for the scene and the
character. I ask for a closed set, with as few people present as possible when
filming scenes with any kind of nudity. And I make sure that the crew who are
present are completely supportive and respectful of the actors. It’s the director’s job
to insist on that, to set the tone and culture on set, and protect the actors.
In the past I have had situations where a producer, who has never shown up on set
before that day, suddenly appears, wanting to watch the filming of the sex scene.
That kind of voyeuristic gaze has no place on set. I’m fierce about protecting actors
from that sort of thing. I match their bravery in their craft, their generosity in
offering up their emotions and physicality to tell the story with a fierce and
respectful protectiveness of them.
I keep the actors covered up as much as possible on set so that even in the
outtakes there is no nudity that they aren’t comfortable with. The actors wear
merkins (pubic coverings) to hide their private parts and I don’t shoot anything that
isn’t absolutely necessary for the scene and the story. My ferocity about this makes
the actors feel safe with me and trust me. They know I will protect them, out of
respect and honour for what they are offering me and the story.
What is your preparation and rehearsal process like with the actors
involved?
Long before we film the sex scene, the actors and I will have spoken at length
about every aspect of the characters they are playing in the film’s story, so by the
time we get to the sex scene, the actors and I understand who the character is,
what motivates and affects them, and how their sensual intimacy in the scene is
important for the story.
In many ways a sex scene in cinema is a dance between the actors and the
camera; it requires rehearsal, timing, blocking, choreographing, storyboarding, and
planning. The actors feel safe knowing that I am looking at the frame and lighting
and directing their movements very specifically to make sure everything supports
the story and drama of the scene. To this end, I block the sex scenes very
specifically. For example I’ll look at which way the actor’s head turns when they go
to kiss the other person so that the light works on their faces and so that the frame
works for the camera. I’ll look at how many kisses they share and for how long.
How is their body supported, what do they lean against. All of these details of
movement and lighting need to be choreographed and directed.
I keep direction very specific in a sex scene because it is such an intimate form of
acting, and I think having the director compose and choreograph and arrange the
movements of the actors precisely in a sex scene gives the actors a clear and
comfortable frame into which they can then bring their authentic performance.
I always have a very clear plan of how I’m going to shoot the sex scenes. Long
before we get on set to film it I have worked out with the cinematographer how
we’re lighting it, what lenses we’re using, what kinds of shots I want for the
different parts of the scene. I explain the plan to the actors so that they know
exactly what to expect, which bits of the scenes they need to perform with which
parts of their body and in which order. That way they know what is being seen and
what is required for each shot.
How do you ensure that the crew and cast are comfortable enough to
portray authentic intimacy?
I make sure we don’t shoot the sex scenes on the first few days of the shoot.
Initially, a sex scene in While You Weren’t Looking was scheduled right
at the beginning of the shoot. I spoke to the producers and schedulers and asked
them to move it to later, so that by the time we got to the sex scene the actors
were very comfortable with their characters, and also with each other, having
played many other scenes together. You want the actors to know and trust each
other as actors, and to have a working relationship with each other, so that they
bring that trusting relationship, that respect, and that knowledge of the relationship
between their two characters to the way they play the scene where the two
characters interact sensually.
You also want the actors to feel comfortable with the crew and vice versa. After a
few weeks of shooting a film, the crew and cast are a team, all passionately
committed to the same endeavour. People trust each other and are comfortable
working together. The crew will do everything they can to allow the actors to give
their best performance, and the actors will do everything they can to give that best
performance, because they know how hard everyone on the crew is working to
make the film as beautiful and powerful as it can be, to tell the story as well as we
all can. In that way, we all want the same thing, in the sex scene, for it to be as
beautiful and powerful as it can be, so everyone does whatever it takes to achieve
that with full respect for what everyone else is bringing to the scene, but
particularly to the actors who bring their bodies and emotions to enacting the scene
with enormous vulnerability.
How have you used these scenes in While You Weren’t
Looking to drive the story and develop characters?
The sex he pays for on the beachfront is symptomatic of Mack’s emotional
wasteland, which spurs him to seek out his long lost first love.
The passion her anniversary gift ignites in her sets up the enormous betrayal Terri
will feel later in the story when she realises the gift was meant for another.
And when Asanda decides to undress and kiss Shado, she is exploring who she is in
the world, what her sexuality is, and how she wants to express that in her life.
For each of the characters, their sexuality is intrinsic to the drama told in the film.
What were your biggest challenges and how did you tackle them?
The biggest challenge in the sex scene between the two young girls in While
You Weren’t Looking, Asanda and Shado, was that we were shooting in a tiny
space in a back room in Khayelitsha. The scene was lit exclusively with candles, as
we wanted a very soft authentic light and the character did not have electricity in
her house.
What with the small space, and the candles everywhere for the lighting, there was
practically no space for anyone in the room except the DOP, myself, the boom
swinger and the two actors. At one point the boom swinger was holding candles to
help with lighting, while also swinging the boom. Everyone did everything we could
to pull it together to make the shots work. The actors see that in a crew, and they
bring their best work to the screen too. Everyone is just committed to making the
story as beautiful and powerful as possible.
Needless to say, between takes, the actresses would dissolve into giggles, because
sex is also a very funny thing to be pretending to do, and be filmed pretending to
do, so there was a lot of laughter too before we regrouped and went for another
take. It really is performance at another level and a playful sense of humour about
it all really helps.
