The Official Companion1: commentary part IitasheeJune 13 2010, 16:11:55 UTC
*About the script:
“It was a great script, and we all knew that right away. It’s always good in television when you get a great script to direct. Sometimes you get an okay script, and you work hard to make it better. There’s a countdown on every show - you get the script and have six or seven days before you start shooting it. Not only do you have to figure out how you’re going to shoot it and organize it, but if it’s not so good, you have to make it better. ‘Tempest’ was good right away - Greg Beeman
Although writers Gough and Millar were very taken with Jeph Loeb’s graphic novel Superman For All Seasons, the tornadoes that hit Smallville in Loeb’s story weren’t the inspiration for the storms in ‘Tempest’ - Paul Simpson.
“We had always wanted to do the twisters, we always imagined that the end of the season would be the prom and the twisters. The idea came from a true story we heard on the radio about a high school that was hit by tornadoes on prom night” - Millar.
*About directing ‘Tempest’
“I immediately had the idea of using the rising storm thematically, so everything started calmly and started to build. I began with Lex being blasted by the wind from the helicopter landing as Lionel arrives to shut the plant down. I wanted to set the mood for the storm which was coming. Then everything settles down, and the show starts calmly, but then as it builds the camera starts to move more and circle more, until the storm arrives and it builds to this fever pitch. The whole episode had this steady, graceful arc to chaos, which I really tried to control” - Greg Beeman
“The whole episode really builds. Everything is being set up, and at the end you have the payoff with Lex and Lionel, and then the tornadoes coming in, which is just really cool. Greg did a fantastic job directing it, and made it a really good send-off” - Miles Millar.
“Controlling it was hard. I had to try to control the build so that as the drama built, the visual style built and the wind built. The wind gets introduced as a very gentle way when Chloe picks up Clark in front of his house, and from then on, in every single scene we took great care to add a little bit more and then a little bit more. When Lana drops Whitney off at the bus station there is a lot of wind, and then the episode builds to this huge action packed finale with Lex fighting his father and the spaceship coming to life with Roger Nixon” - Greg Beeman
Beeman thinks that ‘Tempest’ is a good example of his dictum that “Smallville is seen and experienced from the point of view of a teenager. That means that everything is strongly felt. If you’re in love, you’re head over heels in love. If you’re scared, you’re terrified. If you’re sad, you’re in grief. The emotions are strong, but it doesn’t mean that the performances are over-the-top. It means that whatever is happening matters - to the person and to the filmmaker. In ‘Tempest’, the emotions are very strong. Whitney is leaving; Lana is in distress and she’s weeping as she’s driving home; Clark and Chloe are nervously experimenting whether they’ll be in love; Roger Nixon is evil; Jonathan Kent is fighting to protect his family; and Lex and his father are battling. In some ways it’s operatic, but to direct operatic performances and not have it go over the top is tricky. It’s actually more subtle than it sounds. You have to feel it more than show it. Id the director is passionate and experiences his part of the process passionately, then it shows up on film. I think my main job is to make people believe in the material. However you experience and communicate your passion will transfer to other people.”
Re: The Official Companion1: commentary part ItheclexfactorJune 14 2010, 14:22:34 UTC
I'm picturing the way Beeman describes how the wind got progressively...windier, lol, and that kind of subtle direction is actually pretty brilliant to me.
“It was a great script, and we all knew that right away. It’s always good in television when you get a great script to direct. Sometimes you get an okay script, and you work hard to make it better. There’s a countdown on every show - you get the script and have six or seven days before you start shooting it. Not only do you have to figure out how you’re going to shoot it and organize it, but if it’s not so good, you have to make it better. ‘Tempest’ was good right away - Greg Beeman
Although writers Gough and Millar were very taken with Jeph Loeb’s graphic novel Superman For All Seasons, the tornadoes that hit Smallville in Loeb’s story weren’t the inspiration for the storms in ‘Tempest’ - Paul Simpson.
“We had always wanted to do the twisters, we always imagined that the end of the season would be the prom and the twisters. The idea came from a true story we heard on the radio about a high school that was hit by tornadoes on prom night” - Millar.
*About directing ‘Tempest’
“I immediately had the idea of using the rising storm thematically, so everything started calmly and started to build. I began with Lex being blasted by the wind from the helicopter landing as Lionel arrives to shut the plant down. I wanted to set the mood for the storm which was coming. Then everything settles down, and the show starts calmly, but then as it builds the camera starts to move more and circle more, until the storm arrives and it builds to this fever pitch. The whole episode had this steady, graceful arc to chaos, which I really tried to control” - Greg Beeman
“The whole episode really builds. Everything is being set up, and at the end you have the payoff with Lex and Lionel, and then the tornadoes coming in, which is just really cool. Greg did a fantastic job directing it, and made it a really good send-off” - Miles Millar.
“Controlling it was hard. I had to try to control the build so that as the drama built, the visual style built and the wind built. The wind gets introduced as a very gentle way when Chloe picks up Clark in front of his house, and from then on, in every single scene we took great care to add a little bit more and then a little bit more. When Lana drops Whitney off at the bus station there is a lot of wind, and then the episode builds to this huge action packed finale with Lex fighting his father and the spaceship coming to life with Roger Nixon” - Greg Beeman
Beeman thinks that ‘Tempest’ is a good example of his dictum that “Smallville is seen and experienced from the point of view of a teenager. That means that everything is strongly felt. If you’re in love, you’re head over heels in love. If you’re scared, you’re terrified. If you’re sad, you’re in grief. The emotions are strong, but it doesn’t mean that the performances are over-the-top. It means that whatever is happening matters - to the person and to the filmmaker. In ‘Tempest’, the emotions are very strong. Whitney is leaving; Lana is in distress and she’s weeping as she’s driving home; Clark and Chloe are nervously experimenting whether they’ll be in love; Roger Nixon is evil; Jonathan Kent is fighting to protect his family; and Lex and his father are battling. In some ways it’s operatic, but to direct operatic performances and not have it go over the top is tricky. It’s actually more subtle than it sounds. You have to feel it more than show it. Id the director is passionate and experiences his part of the process passionately, then it shows up on film. I think my main job is to make people believe in the material. However you experience and communicate your passion will transfer to other people.”
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