Directing El Abuelo : creating believable and memorable performances

Includes bibliographical references (pagesa 67-70)San Diego State University copy: the accompanying video is not available as of 1/3/2012, either as streaming video online, or on video disc (DVD) in Love Library.The narrative short film El Abuelo follows Nick, an autistic twelve-year old boy who seems to have lost the ability to speak. Nick becomes fascinated with an old Mexican man who sells flowers and oranges on the side of the road. Nick's fascination leads him on a journey to a remote canyon where he finds the old man in a makeshift migrant camp. Over the course of a day and night, a bond is formed between Nick and Abuelo, one that eventually gives Nick something to talk about. A DVD of the film is available for viewing at the Media Center of Love Library. My foremost goal was to create and capture believable and memorable performances. This paper explains how I set out to accomplish that goal. It presents research on childhood autism and north San Diego County immigrant life. It explains how I drew from neorealist filmmaking practices -- a style of filmmaking that is generally used to depict the marginalized of society, and to capture seemingly insignificant moments of a character's life. In addition, this paper reviews how I shot my film to accommodate the "voyeur's eye," and how I created a specific mise-en-sc??ne to support the realism of the story. Building on my research, I attempted to bring the characters of El Abuelo to life, and fortify the overall verisimilitude of the stor