All about Claitchen, behind the scenes Pass/Fail
I'm only going to post the Claire/Gretch stuff, cuz I need some Claitchen!squee time!!
Full article here: www.9thwonders.com/oliver_grigsby/2010/02/passfail---part-1-sylaire.shtml
Source: Oliver Grigsby Twitter
THE CAFETERIA
• Gretchen's bag. You can't really see it here, but on the side of Gretchen's bag is a white knot for marriage equality. Not only was it in keeping with Gretchen's character but it was also going to be a way to identify the bag as Gretchen's when Claire later saw that Sylar had it. The original plan in that later scene was that when Claire says "I wouldn't help you if my life depended on it" she would turn around to leave and Sylar would TK the bag across the room and it would fall open at Claire's feet. Claire would see the white knot amongst books etc. and know it belonged to Gretchen. Because the bag was going to fall open, the knot ended up on the side of her bag rather than featured on the front. When it came time to shoot the scene with the bag flying across the room, we simply didn't have time, and instead Sylar shoots a look to the bag and Claire follows his gaze and says "Gretchen..." (dun-dun-dunnnnn). In short, I wish we'd been able to see the white knot a little more clearly/feature it a little bit more. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way, but if you look you can still see it ever so briefly when Claire sees the bag.
IN THE CLOSET
• Madeline Zima (Gretchen) is great to watch in this scene on a second viewing for the ever-so-subtle Sylar-isms. Her reaction to Claire's line "No wonder Sylar's so messed up." And her line "Maybe that's his answer...
• Yes it's in a closet. Yes that matters.
CAFETERIA, TAKE TWO
• To kiss or hold hands? I went back and forth on this for a while. Initially I wanted Claire to be "impulsive" and kiss Gretchen here. I wanted to definitively say Claire was accepting this relationship. But some smarter, more experienced people than I suggested I consider them holding hands, and here are the two big reasons why I think it's the right choice: It completes Claire's arc for the episode and it's more intimate. Claire was unwilling to hold hands (accept Gretchen) at the start of the episode and by the end she's literally doing what she couldn't before. As for the "intimacy", having them kiss could have been seen as a "ratings ploy" and probably would have been promo'd etc. What I like about holding hands is that it more definitively says "relationship" and acceptance. With college-age people, I think that holding hands is a much more intimate and serious step in a relationship than kissing.
• Zach Quinto in five seconds of screen time and no dialog says so much here. Claire has found what he's incapable of having. And it's crushing him. I can't say enough good things about Zach's performance in this episode.
THE MONTAGE
• This was one of those "got lucky" moments for us in filming. Originally, this montage moment was scripted with Claire crying as she's talking to Gretchen -- presumably opening up about what it's like to have lost Nathan, the father she never really knew. I wrote something for Hayden along those line (even though we knew it would be MOS) and we filmed that version, Claire is crying and talking and Gretchen gives her a hug. Then the director, Michael Nankin did something simplistically brilliant. He let the camera keep rolling. Hayden and Madeline stayed in the moment for a while (no one had said "cut" yet) and then they began to be themselves, kept talking a bit and inevitably burst out laughing. It was sweet. Cut to a few weeks later and I'm watching an early cut of the episode. And, as scripted, Claire is crying and Gretchen is hugging her. But, it just didn't feel right. Having seen them holding hands in the cafeteria and walk off happily, we wanted to keep that energy going, and fortunately we had just the right piece of footage to use. It also created a nice juxtaposition between seeing the Samuel/Vanessa relationship fail and Claire/Gretchen succeed. That sort of serendipity happens during film making more often than you'd expect and it's one of my favorite things about the process.
Full article here: www.9thwonders.com/oliver_grigsby/2010/02/passfail---part-1-sylaire.shtml
Source: Oliver Grigsby Twitter
THE CAFETERIA
• Gretchen's bag. You can't really see it here, but on the side of Gretchen's bag is a white knot for marriage equality. Not only was it in keeping with Gretchen's character but it was also going to be a way to identify the bag as Gretchen's when Claire later saw that Sylar had it. The original plan in that later scene was that when Claire says "I wouldn't help you if my life depended on it" she would turn around to leave and Sylar would TK the bag across the room and it would fall open at Claire's feet. Claire would see the white knot amongst books etc. and know it belonged to Gretchen. Because the bag was going to fall open, the knot ended up on the side of her bag rather than featured on the front. When it came time to shoot the scene with the bag flying across the room, we simply didn't have time, and instead Sylar shoots a look to the bag and Claire follows his gaze and says "Gretchen..." (dun-dun-dunnnnn). In short, I wish we'd been able to see the white knot a little more clearly/feature it a little bit more. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way, but if you look you can still see it ever so briefly when Claire sees the bag.
IN THE CLOSET
• Madeline Zima (Gretchen) is great to watch in this scene on a second viewing for the ever-so-subtle Sylar-isms. Her reaction to Claire's line "No wonder Sylar's so messed up." And her line "Maybe that's his answer...
• Yes it's in a closet. Yes that matters.
CAFETERIA, TAKE TWO
• To kiss or hold hands? I went back and forth on this for a while. Initially I wanted Claire to be "impulsive" and kiss Gretchen here. I wanted to definitively say Claire was accepting this relationship. But some smarter, more experienced people than I suggested I consider them holding hands, and here are the two big reasons why I think it's the right choice: It completes Claire's arc for the episode and it's more intimate. Claire was unwilling to hold hands (accept Gretchen) at the start of the episode and by the end she's literally doing what she couldn't before. As for the "intimacy", having them kiss could have been seen as a "ratings ploy" and probably would have been promo'd etc. What I like about holding hands is that it more definitively says "relationship" and acceptance. With college-age people, I think that holding hands is a much more intimate and serious step in a relationship than kissing.
• Zach Quinto in five seconds of screen time and no dialog says so much here. Claire has found what he's incapable of having. And it's crushing him. I can't say enough good things about Zach's performance in this episode.
THE MONTAGE
• This was one of those "got lucky" moments for us in filming. Originally, this montage moment was scripted with Claire crying as she's talking to Gretchen -- presumably opening up about what it's like to have lost Nathan, the father she never really knew. I wrote something for Hayden along those line (even though we knew it would be MOS) and we filmed that version, Claire is crying and talking and Gretchen gives her a hug. Then the director, Michael Nankin did something simplistically brilliant. He let the camera keep rolling. Hayden and Madeline stayed in the moment for a while (no one had said "cut" yet) and then they began to be themselves, kept talking a bit and inevitably burst out laughing. It was sweet. Cut to a few weeks later and I'm watching an early cut of the episode. And, as scripted, Claire is crying and Gretchen is hugging her. But, it just didn't feel right. Having seen them holding hands in the cafeteria and walk off happily, we wanted to keep that energy going, and fortunately we had just the right piece of footage to use. It also created a nice juxtaposition between seeing the Samuel/Vanessa relationship fail and Claire/Gretchen succeed. That sort of serendipity happens during film making more often than you'd expect and it's one of my favorite things about the process.