Kate Raney Blog Site

I just received the production stills from the Cleo shoot from Kara Clarke, and thought it would be a good time for some behind the scenes information.  It was a pretty intense two day shooting schedule, but full of so many talented and charming people that it was also really fun.

Sophia prepares her wig (photo by Kara Clarke)

In the scene the ladies all had to wear a hair piece which they pull off part way through.  I was so busy sewing robes and buying props and generally trying to keep everything together, that I forgot about the wigs until the day before the shoot.  Late that day. Christy picked up the wigs the morning of the shoot from a limited selection, so they were a little ridiculous.  The one that Sophia and Mary had to use was particularly challenging.  It was huge, curly and much more red than either of their hair colors.  The color looks okay under the lights though and all the ladies figured out a way to style the wigs that worked for them.

Speaking of lights…

Changing of the bulbs (photo by Kara Clarke)

This was a pretty common moment between shots.  We went through 30 daylight balanced photo floods during the shoot.  HCL is a beautiful space with really great windows which is part of the reason I wanted to shoot there. We had to light quite a bit so that the windows weren’t completely overexposed and those lights only have a 4 hour life.  There was a lot of swapping out dead bulbs and turning lights on and off at the beginning or end of a shot.

The dolly shot (photo by Kara Clarke)

Again, check out how amazing this space is! They also have a beautiful piano.  This is during the dolly shot, which was the last scene we shot with each actress.  We were using a wheelchair as a dolly with the camera and tripod carefully balanced on it.  You can just see it on the far side of the piano.  It took three of us to the maneuver the dolly each time, two to actually pull it while holding the camera and one to guide them.  We wound up shooting this a lot because of various difficulties with the dolly (cables in the way, backing into poles, bad timing with the actresses walks…).

Kate and Christy discuss (photo by Kara Clarke)

I’m not actually sure what Christy and I are talking about here, but I am apparently thinking about what she is saying very seriously.  Christy had a sort of complicated role of directing the actors, but also playing the director.  There was a lot of back and forth between us about what we were each doing and what I still needed.

Christy runs lines with Mary (photo by Kara Clarke)

Scott followed Christy around with a camera almost non-stop the whole weekend.  He was supposed to document the process of Christy preparing and directing the actresses for their performance.  We dubbed this “the Christy cam.”  Because I didn’t know what would be important to me in editing and what wouldn’t, he just shot almost continuously. It makes up the bulk of the footage and has taken the longest to sort through.  Before I finished going through it all, there were many nights when I woke up in a panic about whether or not we got a shot of figuring out Chloe’s wig or if the audio turned out during a very quiet conversation.  Having now watched it all, I can safely say it’s pretty great.

I’m working on fundraising for this project till July 11th. Check out the kickstarter page to donate.

So maybe if you’ve been checking out this blog you’ve been wondering what I’m talking about with using Cleo From 5 to 7 as a prompt.  I thought since I’ve finished shooting I could offer a few more details on that.

First I picked a scene from the movie that interested me from a sense of performance, character and visuals.  Christy LeMaster and I discussed who to ask to be Cleo.  I was interested in finding women with different personalities and having some that weren’t actors and some that were.  Christy knows a lot of people and sent out inquiries to some. It was surprisingly easy to find women who wanted to participate.

I typed up the dialogue and sent it out to the women who were going to portray Cleo.  I asked them not to watch the movie beforehand (very few had seen it). Initially I gave them no information.  Later I gave them some very basic details like “she’s a pop star” so they had a little bit of context for the scene.  I didn’t really tell them anything about the story in a larger sense.

There are a few other characters in the scene who were consistently portrayed by the same people.  The people portraying them and all of the crew could watch the scene as much as they wanted.  I didn’t want the women playing Cleo to feel bound by the original performance of Cleo though.  I wanted to see how they would interpret it based on the script and little bit of information they had.

We went over blocking with each actress when they arrived for their shoot.  Christy revealed  details of the story as they seemed relevant.  She had them do the scene as they wanted to for the first round and then gave them some directions to change up their performance as they went.

Because we shot each scene multiple times for six different actresses and documented the process of directing them, I have about twenty hours of footage.  So now I’m going through it and figuring out what to use and how to put it together.

And don’t forget to check out my kickstarter page

I finally got around to launching my kickstarter page.  If you’re interested in this project, maybe you will consider donating.  I’m trying to cover the production and some post-production costs.  You can check it out here.  Jeremy put together a video for it and actually animated me talking about the project.  There’s also some video from the Cleo shoot included in it, so you get to see a snippet of what was going on.

Well it’s finished and just in time for my shoot.  I had to hand sew the feather trim.  

I’ve been combing thrift, vintage and various other stores for the past week looking for props for Cleo.  After looking for a robe/dressing gown all over the city that I like the look of and will fit multiple women I’ve decided just to sew it myself.  I’m no seamstress, but I can make something that will last long enough for the shoot.  The last time I sewed something this complicated was in 2005 when I made Jeremy a Wizard of Speed and Time costume. I got impatient adding the stars but otherwise it turned out okay. This time I don’t have to do that or make a hood thankfully.  I will be sewing on a feather trim though.

Most of my shopping was just frustrating and not helped by how hot Chicago’s been.  Yesterday though I went to the great antique shop on Western near my apartment and found a ton of great stuff in my price range.  I’ve mostly been looking for things for her vanity: perfume bottles, compact, cigarette case….  When deciding what to buy I ask myself “what would I have thought was pretty when I was six years old?”.  I also have some stuff from home that I’m using. We found a vanity on craigslist which we picked up last night and it looks pretty good.  It’s nice to have the props finally coming together.  Especially since the shoot is on Saturday….

Box of Cleo props

I’m excited to announce the actresses playing Cleo in my new production, The Cleo Project:
Katy Albert
Katy Collins
Chloe Connelly
Sophia Hamilton
Nicole Ripley
Mary Robnett

Christy LeMaster will play “The Director.”

My new video is a Sponsored Project at High Concept Laboratories.  I’ll be shooting at HCL Saturday, June 11 and 12th.

The project has a working title of The Cleo Project, (title subject to change.)  Here’s a brief pitch for the project.

The Cleo Project is an experimental short that uses Agnes Varda’s film Cleo From 5 to 7 as a prompt to explore performance and gender. Multiple women will enact the same scene from the film while being given direction and adjustments on set as cameras roll. One camera will shoot the scene as it plays out.  An additional camera will document the director working through the process of performance with the actresses.

Combining video, film and animation, The Cleo Project will capture the moments when the actresses deal with the complex negotiation between performing femininity and embodying the self.