Obscenes #01: Hospital Scene, “Fingers”

An ongoing personal reflection/deconstruction of scenes I’ve done, and how and why I did them. While “Fingers” is currently making the rounds on a DVD sampler published by Paste Magazine, the film will be screening at the 10th Annual deadCENTER film festival in Oklahoma City. The film will screen Friday, June 11th at 11:59pm at IAO Gallery. I’ll be there, so come by and say hello!

“Fingers” is a strange beast. After doing primarily documentaries in my undergraduate years, I decided to do a radical experimental narrative before I graduated, something to clean my palette before tackling some narratives.  The finished film has no dialogue and is told strictly through non-linear flashbacks. The film had no screenplay — it was shot completely off storyboards and a simple one page treatment.

The story centers around Paul, who reacts to the loss of his index finger the same way someone might grieve a loved one who passed away — his mind goes to unexpected places and recalls moments throughout his life where the finger played a role. Eventually the memories become more strained and confusing to the point he breaks out of them and returns to reality.

Part of what interested me about the project was simply the idea of touch, how fingers could be used to tickle, or explore, or offend. I loved thinking about – and exploring – the utility of our anatomy.

Original Hospital Scene (From Treatment):

Paul stands anxiously in a hospital waiting room. Two girls play “rock, paper, scissors” on the floor. Paul watches as scissors beats paper. The girls emulate the cutting with their hands, the imaginary scissors cutting into the loser’s outstretched fingers. Paul watches in anxious horror. A nurse taps his shoulder, startling him. She lets him know the birth went smoothly. His face relaxes. She leaves and comes out pushing a wheelchair containing his partner Amy and their baby. She is wheeled to  him. He crouches down and begins pleading, desperately sorry about missing the birth. Amy touches his cheek in silent forgiveness. He smiles and looks down to admire his child. He reaches into her arms to tickle the baby.

Heres the final scene:

When I was writing the short, I witnessed a child playing rock, paper, scissors with a friend at a fast food restaurant. It was hypnotizing to the point that I began silently keeping score! I immediately knew it would be an interesting, unnerving element to add the story. It rides that awkward line between comedy and drama that occurs frequently in other scenes. It’s been received as both at several festivals.

I was very deliberate with the dolly shot (:35). It is the only dolly shot in the movie, and when it arrives I think it adds a quiet power. The camera setup is distant to begin with. I intentionally wanted to dolly backwards, as if the viewer is catching a glimpse of a private, shared moment it probably shouldn’t. Forward dolly shots have a tendency to isolate — to close off the world around the characters. I like the sheepishness of the camera backtracking in this situation. The viewer is made to retreat. It has a discouraging effect, as opposed to the forced immersion of drifting forward.

I am very fond of a cheesy visual metaphor that appears briefly at the end of the scene. An orange glow shines through the blanket. I wanted it to represent the newborn child as “the light of his life.” We accomplished it by wrapping a mini-mole light in several layers of towels and putting it in our actress’ arms to act as a key light illuminating their faces from underneath. In retrospect, it might have been easier to simply emulate the effect in post, but I liked the idea at the time and our actress wasn’t burnt too badly…

Sound was less of a priority in this particular scene but the designer did a wonderful job. In most of the scenes, there is quite a bit of unsettling sound cues (helicopter blades, crashes, glasses rattling in a running dishwasher). This one was quiet, but very well layered. I love how the room becomes warm and full with sound, as if he’s coming out of a heightened awareness when the doctor startles him out of his daydream.

This is the first time Paul has touched his first child — an important memory for any father. In some ways, this is the climax of the film. The film takes a steep plunge into madness after this moment, and some of the best imagery of the film.

Up next: negligent babysitters, finger painting, and picked noses. Obscene #02: the Rooftop Sequence!