As a director Clare-Louise English, who was born hearing but lost her hearing as a teenager, explores new and creative approaches to filmmaking that open up how audiences can engage with her films.
This Deaf Awareness Week, we caught up with Clare-Louise on her approach to bilingual filmmaking, and how she makes sure both D/deaf and hearing audiences can enjoy her films in a shared experience.
Read our conversation below.
Tell us about your approach to directing and working with actors and crew.
I’m an actor as well as a director, so even when I’m directing, I approach the film like an actor would. I always try to lead with the characters and the stories. My recent film, Where The Light Gets In, was written by Rebecca A. Withey who is deaf and also bilingual. Katie Erich was our lead and I’ve actually acted alongside her. I often have a really clear idea of what I think the character is doing, but you always have to leave some space for what the actor brings. I think when you cast actors that you really trust, you need to allow them space to bring themselves to the character.
I co-founded Hot Coals Productions with my business partner, producer and writer, Jo Sargeant. All of our films have had a mixed DDN (deaf, disabled, neurodiverse) cast and crew – which basically means having an army of interpreters on set with you. That’s something we’re doing as a standard and it’s all about planning ahead and making sure you are leaning into your Access Coordinator and bringing them on as soon as possible.
Using both BSL and English is an additional layer of the process. For instance, in the casting for this, it’s really important to make sure the actors have the same level of BSL to the characters in the film. No one wants to be in a position where someone who isn’t really fluent in sign is trying to play someone who is, because it will stand out to those who understand.
The script for this film was written in English and the first thing I did was have a meeting with writer Rebecca and our BSL consultant Stephen Collins to sort of dig into the script and look at how language is used, because it was quite fluid and there is movement between English, BSL and SSE (Signed Supported English). I had meetings with the actors and Stephen and then we basically went through the scenes and translated them into BSL. I think it’s really crucial to have the BSL consultant because though actors will have their own translation, I don’t think it should all be put on them. It’s also an important part of the process for the director to be involved in. BSL is very context driven as a language so you’re going to have conversations about the subtext of the scene. I guess I’m in a fortunate position that I have enough sign language to really go “Oh, is that the sign we want to use? Or is there a slightly different nuance?“
Where The Light Gets In explores universal feelings as parent, caregiver, a woman. Additionally the main character, who is Deaf, has more acute feelings about these experiences.
I think the film raises some important issues that many women can relate to around the pull between working life and home responsibilities and the juggling of both. But specifically, it tackles mental health within the D/deaf community and the difficulty in gaining access to support. With lack of information or interpreters, D/deaf people can often fall through the cracks and this film confronts that, manifesting in the lead character’s panic attacks.
I remember years ago a deaf friend of mine just had a baby and she said to me that she was sleeping with one eye open. She was just so terrified of the baby crying and she wouldn’t wake up. I think this it is quite a specific worry for the D/deaf community. The film then kind of takes that to the extreme — that the child would actually get out of the house.
How do you set out to create a film that is accessible and engages with a wide audience?
I always want to try and make work accessible. D/deaf people want entertainment that they can enjoy with their families in a shared experience. Within the D/deaf community, not everyone is profoundly Deaf — there is a vast spectrum of Deafness and D/deaf people can have hearing families. Myself and composer, Matt Loveridge, had a lot of conversations about this. We wanted to make sure there were some powerful, low bass notes that Deaf people would feel and some would be able to access, and equally some really high notes that others, myself included, are more able to access. There’ll be different moments where some people are accessing and some people aren’t, and that might shift through the course of the film. The more that we’re seeing D/deaf stories, the more exciting it is that we can make work that is for everyone.
In a previous film, we used burned-in captions (open captions or subtitles that are permanently embedded into the video). It was really important to us to make access part of the aesthetic of the film. With burned-in captions, you have more control and creativity to frame, adjust the colour, or have them appear in different fonts, animation, and placement. Our argument was always: if the captions are designed to be there, then they won’t be distracting.
As the director and with your DoP, do you need to take into consideration the shots you set up how you frame to capture the actor’s signing?
Yes and no. There’s been a long history of really framing that sort of mid-frame shot to get all the sign language and I think that can feel quite stagnant and repetitive. I really wanted to get up in Katie’s face, particularly for the scenes where she experiences a panic attack. As more BSL-lead films and TV come into the mainstream, which is a really exciting, I think there is a bit more flexibility and I think the D/deaf community is more open to sometimes losing a bit of sign out of the frame — you just have to make sure it’s picked up with subtitles.
What projects do you have coming up?
Our production company Hot Coals Productions has a few things on the slate. There’s a comedy series we’re writing that’s in paid development, which is super exciting. I will obviously be trying to angle to direct at least one or two episodes as well! We also just pitched a project we’re developing with a BSL writer which I would direct, and then there’s a feature film that we’re writing, so there’s various bits and pieces that I’m mostly either co-writing or directing.
Watch Where The Light Gets In on LumoTV
Resources: Triple DANC list, Lumo TV talent manager and training, Deaf & Disabled People in TV Facebook group
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