[REL] Adèle en août (2016) [France]

[Night457]

Please do not forget that actors are dressed for the demands of the scene and not for the actual weather. Movie production stories routinely involve actors dressed in heavy clothing in a heat wave for supposed winter scenes and trying not to shiver wearing almost nothing in the cold for theoretical summer scenes. Snow is created with machines or soap flakes. Obsessive directors will have production assistants tear leaves off of trees, or glue them on, or paint and distribute them in proper autumn colors. That is probably not the case here for the lower budget of a short film, but what is seen on film is not necessarily reality! Maybe now they AI the foliage...

[deadman]

Please do not forget that actors are dressed for the demands of the scene and not for the actual weather. Movie production stories routinely involve actors dressed in heavy clothing in a heat wave for supposed winter scenes and trying not to shiver wearing almost nothing in the cold for theoretical summer scenes. Snow is created with machines or soap flakes. Obsessive directors will have production assistants tear leaves off of trees, or glue them on, or paint and distribute them in proper autumn colors. That is probably not the case here for the lower budget of a short film, but what is seen on film is not necessarily reality! Maybe now they AI the foliage...

Digitally replacing the background (while not that difficult these days) still doesn't look quite as good as the natural background at a filming location. If you need to have your characters on another planet or someplace which is just too expensive to go on location that's one thing. But as an indie director your budget is generally limited. If you can just shoot locally and leave the background as-is, that's what you're going to do. Likewise if your characters are having a get together after dark, and there's no plot related reason not to dress for cooler nighttime temperatures, might as well let your actors do that. If you're filming in the middle of July people will be dressed in summer attire at all times of day and that's what your cast will be wearing during the scene. It was important for Lola to wear a short skirt to the dance for what would come later in the forest ... so she did.

You only shoot people in clothing that's wildly inappropriate for the conditions when there's no other choice. In an interview for the movie Corn Island 14-year-old novice actress Mariam Buturishvili talked about how she filmed the skinnydipping river scene in the freezing cold in November - because they couldn't afford to wait five or six months until it was warm.

With older movies of course, even big studio productions, you don't have to worry about deepfakes and AI generated content. Going forward we won't always know for sure what's real and the problem will only get worse with time.

[BugMeNot9999]

She was born in 2000, she was 16: https://france.filmmakers.eu/en/actors/ ... int-gilles

Thanks!

I suspected Lola was around the same age as her character but could never find anything to back that up.

The film was released in November of 2016. Based on the outdoor scenes - lush green foliage with no hint of changing colors, warm enough to dress for summer during the day but cool enough for long sleeve shirts and jeans at night - it was probably filmed in late spring of that year. Makes sense. It gave them four or five months for post-production before the early November premiere. So depending on when her birthday falls during the year she was either 15 or 16 at the time of filming.

With scenes like the one in the forest you can't help but wonder how far they actually went.

According to the link below, this short film was shot between August 19 and 29, 2015.

https://ciclic.fr/adele-en-aout-bat-0

[Night457]

Digitally replacing the background ... still doesn't look quite as good as the natural background at a filming location.

Heresy!

But as an indie director your budget is generally limited.

That is ultimately what I have to acknowledge here and for many FLM films.

when there's no other choice

That is precisely what I am very skeptical about for many of the things some directors and producers have been criticized for doing! I do not believe them and I trust them as far as I can throw them. They will ALWAYS claim they HAVE to do whatever-it-is to get their shot or make their story, and there will be actors and film critics willing to praise them for it because they like having jobs. Then 20 or 30 years later they can change their stories because there is nothing more to gain from what might be slightly undeserved praise.

filmed the skinnydipping river scene in the freezing cold in November - because they couldn't afford to wait five or six months until it was warm.

The scenes in the script really could not have determined the production schedule in the first place? Wikipedia says "The film was shot throughout 70 days in April–May 2013 and September–November 2013." You would think a slightly clever person would schedule the dip for September rather than November, especially if that scene took place at the end of summer when the last scenes between girl and old man take place in the movie. I suspect they decided that they would wait until the end of the shooting so that if either one drowned during filming the scene then it would not matter.

Going forward we won't always know for sure what's real and the problem will only get worse with time.

So very true!

[deadman]

According to the link below, this short film was shot between August 19 and 29, 2015.

https://ciclic.fr/adele-en-aout-bat-0

Cool. Thanks for the additional info!


[Image]


That puts Lola at 14-15. I found a post on her Instagram account dated February 13, 2016, where she jokingly wishes herself a happy birthday.

https://www.instagram.com/lola.saintgil ... uryPDFOl_/

Assuming this is when her actual birthday falls she was 15 in August when they filmed. Apparently they shot the dance and forest scenes on a cool summer night, not late spring which was my first guess.

filmed the skinnydipping river scene in the freezing cold in November - because they couldn't afford to wait five or six months until it was warm.

The scenes in the script really could not have determined the production schedule in the first place? Wikipedia says "The film was shot throughout 70 days in April–May 2013 and September–November 2013." You would think a slightly clever person would schedule the dip for September rather than November, especially if that scene took place at the end of summer when the last scenes between girl and old man take place in the movie. I suspect they decided that they would wait until the end of the shooting so that if either one drowned during filming the scene then it would not matter.

Damn, that's cold blooded! Remind me never to work on one of your films.

Maybe the director added the more revealing scenes during the filming hiatus. Either because he decided (after working with her) young Miriam would be okay with it, or if you distrust his motives, because springing it on her near the end of production would put more pressure on her not to complain. We're almost done. Are you really going to mess it up now?

[Night457]

Adele in August was actually shot in August! Now THAT I respect!

...my suspicions about the Corn Island shooting schedule were not about how *I* would do it but totally about my distrust of THEM. From what you added I know you can clearly understand that. Directors have pulled the "I have a great idea for another scene" stunt time and again. Experienced professional actors have learned to put everything in their contracts beforehand, including right to refusal of any scenes not in the script. First-time actors can easily get exploited and are entirely dependent on the whims and human decency of those in charge. So no wonder they get screwed over... only some of the time... on rare occasions... because the human race is just fundamentally decent.

I do like how you analyze scene content (clothes, trees, apparent weather) for reasonable clues about the shooting schedule. It makes for fascinating reading and can give me more insight into a scene when I have consciously focused mostly on the dialog or action. I guess I have never been either a fashion maven nor a nature lover. I am just a "tell me a story" kinda guy about who said what to whom and what they did.

[deadman]

I do like how you analyze scene content (clothes, trees, apparent weather) for reasonable clues about the shooting schedule. It makes for fascinating reading and can give me more insight into a scene when I have consciously focused mostly on the dialog or action. I guess I have never been either a fashion maven nor a nature lover. I am just a "tell me a story" kinda guy about who said what to whom and what they did.

Sometimes (especially if you know the location) outdoor scenes will allow you to narrow down the time of year a movie was filmed. If the movie in question was shot in Brazil, the Middle East, or sub-Saharan Africa, places where the weather varies from hot to slightly less hot, you're shit out of luck. But in temperate climates you have useful clues. Late spring through early fall there's nice lush green foliage on the trees. Early spring it's sparse but green. Later in the fall there are at least some signs of turning colors. If you have a lot of outdoor shots with snow on the ground and bare trees you know filming was in winter. Whether people are dressed in shorts and T-shirts or long pants and sweatshirts tells you a little about the temperature.

None of this gives you exact dates, of course. Just a rough range. If you're looking to figure out how old a cast member was at the time though, together with other information you may be able to do that.

[David32441]

Please do not forget that actors are dressed for the demands of the scene and not for the actual weather. Movie production stories routinely involve actors dressed in heavy clothing in a heat wave for supposed winter scenes and trying not to shiver wearing almost nothing in the cold for theoretical summer scenes. Snow is created with machines or soap flakes. Obsessive directors will have production assistants tear leaves off of trees, or glue them on, or paint and distribute them in proper autumn colors. That is probably not the case here for the lower budget of a short film, but what is seen on film is not necessarily reality! Maybe now they AI the foliage...

Digitally replacing the background (while not that difficult these days) still doesn't look quite as good as the natural background at a filming location. If you need to have your characters on another planet or someplace which is just too expensive to go on location that's one thing. But as an indie director your budget is generally limited. If you can just shoot locally and leave the background as-is, that's what you're going to do. Likewise if your characters are having a get together after dark, and there's no plot related reason not to dress for cooler nighttime temperatures, might as well let your actors do that. If you're filming in the middle of July people will be dressed in summer attire at all times of day and that's what your cast will be wearing during the scene. It was important for Lola to wear a short skirt to the dance for what would come later in the forest ... so she did.

You only shoot people in clothing that's wildly inappropriate for the conditions when there's no other choice. In an interview for the movie Corn Island 14-year-old novice actress Mariam Buturishvili talked about how she filmed the skinnydipping river scene in the freezing cold in November - because they couldn't afford to wait five or six months until it was warm.

With older movies of course, even big studio productions, you don't have to worry about deepfakes and AI generated content. Going forward we won't always know for sure what's real and the problem will only get worse with time.

Recall watching the commentary track for the film Contact (a near 30 year old film!), where the producers were saying we repalced the sky in this scene, and that scene, etc. Think this was one of the first films to do this on. Other films where they say this was shot day-for-night even! Or look at the fantastic film Hero (watch it in HD!) - sometimes they do time everything to shoot during a few days of the year when the fallen leaves are the right colour!

[Night457]

I believe Hero was a film where there were not enough leaves the right color and director Zhang Yimou insisted that many had to be painted just right. Color was very important in that film!

[goku33]

Adele in August was actually shot in August! Now THAT I respect!

..

I do like how you analyze scene content (clothes, trees, apparent weather) for reasonable clues about the shooting schedule. It makes for fascinating reading and can give me more insight into a scene when I have consciously focused mostly on the dialog or action. I guess I have never been either a fashion maven nor a nature lover. I am just a "tell me a story" kinda guy about who said what to whom and what they did.

Same here. Always been impressed & pleased by reading deadman’s time/date environment analysis regarding tracking the age of actors