Writer/Director/Creator Veena Sud talks to The Inside Reel about perspective vs. perception, environment and characterization in regards to her Quibi series "The Stranger" recut as a feature film for Hulu.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 You want to know what this story is?
00:16 I will break you.
00:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:20 Yeah, because you were talking about the technology.
00:29 But then the perspective and perception,
00:32 if you go into that, just because the thing is
00:34 is that you decide to not show certain things on purpose.
00:38 And that's a great sort of motivator
00:40 for the misdirect or the unreliable narrator.
00:44 But can you talk about those details
00:46 and using that style within the environment
00:49 that you're showing, whether it be in East LA
00:52 or any of these places?
00:54 For people who don't even know--
00:55 I mean, I know LA very well.
00:57 So I know what you were doing in certain aspects.
01:00 But can you talk about perspective and perception
01:03 in that way, both in the psychology of the character
01:05 but also in the environment they're working in?
01:08 Yeah, I mean, the psychology of the character
01:10 in terms of perspective, here is someone
01:13 who does not know the earth that she's walking on.
01:17 She's fresh from Kansas.
01:19 She doesn't know Los Angeles.
01:20 She's an Uber driver.
01:21 The only thing that is dictating where she goes
01:24 is a phone and a GPS signal.
01:26 And so-- but she has no idea what LA looks like.
01:31 She has no idea what's Northwest, Southeast,
01:34 any of that.
01:34 She doesn't even understand when the highway guy is trying
01:37 to give her directions, a classic kind of LA moment,
01:40 over-direct her and taking 20 different highways.
01:43 And so I tried to--
01:45 I was really interested in someone
01:47 who does not know this city coming into this megatropolis,
01:51 essentially, and running for her life
01:56 over the course of a night of 12 hours.
01:59 And that kind of newness to this place
02:04 allowed her and us to then go into parts of LA,
02:08 which we Angelinas know and I love.
02:12 And I feel we never get to see on screen.
02:15 From Chinatown to East LA to the abandoned subways
02:20 at the bottom of Los Angeles, this history of our city
02:24 is pretty remarkable, to the Amtrak station.
02:27 There's so much classic, beautiful, historical LA.
02:30 And I wanted our hero, as she's running for her life,
02:34 to be in all those places.
02:36 Hey, what happened?
02:41 My passenger from tonight, he pulled a knife on me.
02:46 He attacked me.
02:48 If he finds me, he will kill me.
02:52 And then in terms of perspective,
02:54 not only was it part of the idea that on a vertical screen,
03:02 we should feel that everything is new again,
03:06 versus we watch screens kind of landscape
03:09 because we have eyes that are set left and right.
03:12 So it's a natural thing to want that kind of width
03:15 when we look at anything.
03:17 It's very unnatural to look at a vertical screen for how
03:21 we perceive things.
03:22 And so in terms of perception, what me and the DP Paul,
03:27 you talked about a lot was, how do you
03:29 create an idea of fullness when the classic way you
03:34 look at something is not there?
03:37 And so we see z-depth.
03:39 So it was this idea that instead of left, right, x, y,
03:44 you've got zero to z.
03:46 And so that's why we're always following her and running
03:50 after her, going through these environments
03:52 that naturally have very tight--
03:54 like a train or a car has very tight x and y.
03:58 So you can still feel them.
03:59 She's running through the train.
04:02 But you're also following kind of the z as well.
04:07 What?
04:07 What do you-- what do you--
04:09 what do you mean that someone's trying to kill you?
04:11 What does that mean?
04:13 That.
04:14 Literally that.
04:15 He pulls a knife on me.
04:17 He attacked me.
04:19 Are you-- are you being serious?
04:21 Because if you're being serious, you should not be talking to me.
04:22 You should be talking to them.
04:24 They-- they--
04:24 I can't.
04:25 I can't.
04:26 I'm sorry.
04:27 I can't.
04:30 He killed this woman.
04:32 He killed her with a knife from my apartment.
04:35 And people saw me running from the scene.
04:39 And I don't-- I don't know.
04:41 And I just don't--
04:42 I don't know anyone.
04:43 It's about action and reaction.
04:45 Because I did notice that, you know, showing--
04:48 you receive more empathy looking at certain characters,
04:50 especially Micah's character, if you--
04:52 because you-- you're able to rest on her for a little bit
04:54 before, like, the--
04:56 you do a needle drop, which I loved your needle drops,
04:58 by the way.
04:59 Your needle drops were beautiful.
05:00 But can you talk about action and reaction in drama?
05:04 You know, now that, you know, the more experience
05:06 you have and more things that you do, how you like to direct,
05:10 how you like to look at people's reaction on camera,
05:13 and how much you want to direct them in certain moments.
05:16 For example, this show, which was very
05:19 distinct in how you did it.
05:21 Yeah.
05:22 I mean, this is a very specific show,
05:23 because it's very much one woman's journey, you know?
05:26 And though she has a partner in crime and someone who helps her,
05:31 you know, who cares deeply for her and the protagonist,
05:35 it is, again, very much about the loneliness
05:38 of having something terrible happen to you
05:41 and no one will believe you.
05:44 You know, even-- he doesn't even believe her, you know?
05:47 And so to, like, reside kind of in that loneliness
05:53 and to-- and within that loneliness,
05:55 find strength that it doesn't [BLEEP] matter if no one
05:59 believes me.
06:00 I know what happened.
06:02 And I'm going to hold that power and know that is the truth.
06:06 And this is what's going to happen because of that, right?
06:09 Which is what she has to pretend.
06:11 And Micah is an extraordinary actress to work with,
06:16 because everything is on her face, you know?
06:20 Everything.
06:21 You know, the tiniest--
06:23 you know, she just-- she'll move through kind of the--
06:26 I mean, sitting on her face in a car while she's driving,
06:31 you know, and the amazing Dana Hahn
06:35 is telling her how he's going to kill her
06:37 and just staying with her.
06:39 You know, there's no repeated beats.
06:41 There's-- you see the reality of what that may feel like,
06:45 you know?
06:46 You never feel like there's acting.
06:48 She always goes there.
06:49 I don't know what--
06:50 and I only know you because I just moved here in Spiney.
06:54 I think that--
06:55 I just need you to trust me.
06:57 I--
06:58 Hey.
06:58 Uh, thanks, guys.
07:01 I appreciate you guys, you boys in blue.
07:03 We appreciate you.
07:05 By the way, man, stay sharp.
07:07 There's a knifing down in Hollywood Boulevard
07:09 about a half hour ago.
07:12 A knifing?
07:12 Wow, that's scary.
07:14 Yeah, something in the air.
07:17 Everyone's a little jumpy tonight.
07:20 Good night, ma'am.
07:21 Good night.
07:22 And so Will's so extraordinary.
07:27 I mean, with the entire cast.
07:29 But in terms of Micah, she lets up--
07:33 she's open.
07:36 She's wide open.
07:39 And there was so much she had to do in every moment that
07:43 wasn't existing.
07:44 So in the subway when the train's coming at them,
07:47 and the wolves are coming at them, and all of this shit
07:50 coming at them.
07:51 It's just her standing on some thing, you know?
07:53 And here comes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
07:56 And I'll never forget talking to her.
08:00 You know, I would talk to her and tell her what's happening.
08:05 And her response was immediate.
08:08 Like, she could listen, take it in,
08:10 and feel it within a microsecond.
08:14 Yeah, I mean, she's an extraordinary--
08:16 Not many actors can do that.
08:17 Not many actors, I know.
08:18 And she doesn't fall out, you know, which is amazing.
08:21 She stays, and stays, and stays.
08:23 And that's also how I like to shoot.
08:25 I like to stay as long as I possibly can,
08:27 because I feel like many actors, if not every actor,
08:31 you know, has so many gems to share in the moments
08:35 you're about to call cut, and something happens, you know?
08:40 The moments of action.
08:41 Those are sometimes the most interesting moments for me.
08:44 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:47 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:55 (whooshing)