50 Days: Season 2 - Editing, Improvising and storytelling
by Nick Monfard
Peer’s Creative Associate, Nick Monfard, talks us through his process of filming and editing season two of Peer’s innovative web series, 50 Days: Alone Together. Season one of the 50 Days series documented the experiences of a group of young people during lockdown. The second season will build on this premise - using improvised scenes and performances by our cohort of young actors to explore a range of issues.
Read on for more, and watch this space for more info on the release of 50 Days Season Two.
50 Days: Alone Together is an innovative web series which amplifies the voices of young people who aren’t heard enough. As a Media Assistant, I was brought into the project in June 2021 to assist with the shoot and edit the series. Touching on complex topics such as anxiety, grief and abuse, amongst others, the series tackles some difficult subjects and I was immediately impressed with the instinctive and truthful performances of the actors as soon as I walked into rehearsals.
Working in the rehearsal room as the actors devised the scenes brought a sense of spontaneity as a camera operator. With characters improvising and bouncing off of one another - I had the space to practice working with different angles and ideas, and to move freely around the rehearsal space and the actors with a handheld camera.
During the second half of season two, Liz breaks up with her abusive boyfriend Elliott with the support of her university flatmates. The scene in which she leaves him brought out some fantastic performances from Peer actors Abby (Liz) and Sam (Elliott). Elliott’s stubbornness in this scene results in explosive frustration from Liz’s flatmates - creating a very clear ‘us versus them’ dynamic. I took full advantage of this in rehearsals, using different angles to capture and reflect each character’s perspective. I also chose to use this scene for a promotional clip, (included below) where I intercut between the rehearsal shots and the final footage.
The second promotional clip is from the ‘cookies’ scene, where Liz and her friend Serena are baking together. In this scene, Elliott joins them, and, after Liz leaves the room, he ends up threatening Serena for spending too much time with Liz. This was an improvised scene, and it was fascinating to see the dialogue adapt with the energy of the performers between rehearsals. Gradually, the scene became shorter, and Elliotts irrational behaviour became clearer too. Capturing the uncomfortable atmosphere of this scene was both a challenge and a privilege. Our multi-camera setup meant we were able to experiment with close-ups of hands as well as POV shots to capture its awkwardness - and I’m really pleased with the result.
From tension to laughter and everything in between, the spontaneity of our rehearsals is well-captured in each of the scenes that make up 50 Days season two. With almost every scene being improvised, editing 50 Days: Alone Together has been a totally new experience. Whilst, at points, it’s been difficult to translate the pace of the improvised scenes into the final edit, this process has also given me the opportunity to lean into the subtleties of each performance. This is so important when representing such complex and pressing issues - and our Peer actors hold the nuance of each issue incredibly well as the different stories develop throughout the season.
Being a creator of 50 Days: Alone Together has been a great experience. As I head into the final stages of editing, I sincerely hope that this series will connect with all of the young people who are able to watch it. From self-diagnosis to handling trauma, 50 Days: Season Two offers a hand in understanding the issues young people face in a creative, compassionate and engaging way. I can’t wait for people to see it!