Research Statement

Research Questions

The Staircase is a Middlesex University funded project that began with the following research questions:

• How is it possible to make a film with naturalistic performances that evoke a character's internal state of mind?

• Referencing both drama and documentary, how can this naturalistic approach be set up, supported, and then subverted by the cinematic form? 

The starting point in terms of performance was the use of the Stanislavski System and later works by Katie Mitchell and Judith Western. The investigation here was to learn about these texts in more detail and explore them in practice, collaborating with different performers in various ways to achieve a range of results.

The secondary starting point was the construction of film itself and how this form could be used to support the naturalistic content and approach, and then how this form could then subvert the content and play with it further.

To do this, I needed to consider certain storytelling conventions. In deciding to write a script, I considered the idea of the hero’s journey and its implications. The work is also very interested in taking a carefully considered cinematic approach in the lighting and coverage, and in the use of stillness, static camera and off-screen space.

The original idea came to me in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, perhaps as a response to the focus on our mental health (Government UK, 2022). The thought that I found most helpful was that it's not so much the situation that we find ourselves in but more about our response to it, with an emphasis on resilient, positive thinking. Hence the interest in truthfully evoking a character’s internal state of mind, with endlessly cycling feelings of hope and anxiety both positive and negative thoughts.

Context / Significance

My personal context is that I trained in Cinematography and worked freelance on a very wide range of productions for 23 years, with the last eight-plus years in academia. As a DP, I lit and shot many of Gillian Wearing’s films, and a key influence for me is many of these projects between 1997 and 2012. I am particularly taken by the idea of blurring drama and documentary and notions of truth.   

Some key references are 10 – 16 (1997), which combines the visuals of adult actors performing and lip-synching to documentary style interviews with children aged 10 to 16, which are intimate, confessional, and self-revelatory in nature and greatly juxtaposed with the actors ‘performing’ their voices. 2 into 1 (1997) uses a similar technique.

I also find Drunk (1999), Snapshot (2005), Confessions: Portraits, Videos (2009), and Shakespeare’s Confessions (2012) relevant in terms of blending aspects of documentary with a more performative, dramatic approach. This work often investigates masks and the split between our internal world of thoughts and what we present externally.

We shot these films, often on Super 16mm, with a static camera and often quite durationally long takes as the action is allowed to develop before us, as different elements of the films undercut one another, play with what is constructed and what is ‘real’, yet nevertheless have a sense of ‘truth’ to them.

I’m then reminded of Being John Malkovich (1999) and David Lynch’s Mullholland Drive (2001), where the same piece of script is firstly rehearsed by two characters, one practising for a casting, which is then performed in the casting. The first one sets it up, which is then undercut and reframed by the second, while they are both ‘true’ to the story.

In the references outlined above, I think that one of the keys to the films being successful is that the performances have to be completely naturalistic so that we ‘believe’ them. Once a film has set something up, it then has the power to subvert this and confound or surprise our expectations.

I’m also interested in alternative approaches with more stylised and symbolic performances, particularly through dance. A key reference here is The Statement (2016), by choreographer Crystal Pite, as the dancers more abstract performance is juxtaposed with the naturalism of the characters voices from Jonathan Harvey’s script.

The idea of symbolism in film, art and theatre is relevant here as is the desire to represent absolute human truths symbolically and metaphorically rather than in absolute realistic likeness, with the idea of wanting to ‘evoke’ rather than ‘describe’ emotions. Particular symbolic references include the German expressionistic film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920), Edvard Munch’s The Scream (1893) and much of Frieda Kahlo’s work is in the way that they so viscerally evoke emotion.

My practise-based research has always been interested in the construction of film, the representation of time and space, storytelling and the evoking of emotion. The Staircase is part of a progressing body of work, working with performers in naturalistic and more symbolic ways, which reflects my personal journey as a filmmaker becoming more interested in theatrical techniques and how they pertain to film. I hope to progress work in this area by exploring three different performance approaches to the same material; questioning how the cinematic form can both support and subvert this through considered cinematography, mise-en-scène and post-production.

Methods 

My methodology was to make a short drama, createdsteadily between 2020 to 2024. I used the convention of the hero’s journey and reframed this with a female protagonist. I was aware of Stanisvlaski’s ideas, particularly on emotional memory and the ‘magic if’, because as directors, we want the actor to put themselves in the character’s situation to achieve a naturalistic performance. Therefore, I wrote the script as an actor at a casting, as I calculated that they would be able to clearly relate to this.  

The film shoot logistics were very sustainable as I did a lot of the crewing myself with equipment and locations at Middlesex University, allowing me to budget for the cast and most necessary crew.

I used the script as a starting point and asked the prospective actors to do self-tapes improvising a minute or so, evoking the change in emotions through an ‘event’ in the script (Weston 2021, p.26). My original idea was that the character would look off-camera at the interviewing director, but as I received the actors’ self-tapes, it was obvious to me that their direct address to camera was much more powerful.

I created a graphic which showed a profile of ‘the hero’s journey,’ which I found very useful in being able to improvise the ideas. These shoots were very much informed by Judith Weston’s ideas of not being interested in quick results but in foregrounding the process with both depth and detail to the character. (Weston 2021)

I edited this, resulting in The Staircase 13 mins (later becoming Part One). The edit was very much informed by Walter Murch’s ideas in trying do ‘the most with the least’ (2001, p.15) and in prioritising emotion in the choice of cuts, jump-cutting across time as I foregrounded the flow of engaging emotion.

Further research led to a weekend course on directing actors in the context of Katie Mitchell’s The Director’s Craft. I was keen to explore this newfound knowledge particularly in terms of text analysis and notably ‘events’ (2009, p.55) and ‘intentions’ (2009, p.62) 

Using the transcript of Part One, I shot Part Two, this time as a rehearsal process with two different actors: one playing the positive thoughts and one the more negative thoughts. This was a very enlightening process, and I was impressed with the skills, talent, and speed of the actors to improvise and perform this script in only the five hours we had on set.

On further reflection, I shot a third example, this time working with a choreographer and dancers to reinterpret the voice through movement, often using more freeing, full-length shots. Here we used the naturalistic voice with the more stylised performance yet still using the principles of directing actors, which I found to be very successful even in this dance context.

The final post-production process was greatly informed by Murch’s ideas on the hierarchy of the edit, foregrounding emotion, and on John Yorke’s thoughts on the structure, midpoint and shaping the narrative (Yorke 2013).

The many rough-cuts went through multiple screenings and greatly benefitted from a wide range of feedback from friends, family, students, and colleagues.

Outcomes

The research project has resulted in two films:

The Staircase - 29 minutes 50 seconds, 4k Stereo and 4kDCP, 5.1 surround sound

The Casting - 7 minutes 45 seconds, 4k Stereo and 4kDCP, 5.1 surround sound

Where I hope that the work is original is in exploring three different performance approaches to the same material, presented filmically.

Perhaps Part One of The Staircase is the most successful in evoking the character’s internal state of mind as it achieves a naturalistic performance, which appears to be a type of documentary or documentation, with simple coverage and high production value lighting. This performance comes across as ‘real’ and ‘truthful’ as we empathise with the character’s situation. Only towards the end do we realise that it is not what we thought, as the naturalistic approach to performance has been used to set up and then subvert itself. 

As the construction has been made visible, Part Two continues in this vein, as one of the actors questions what the process actually is. At this point, I feel we are really capturing the actors state of mind as he grapples with the task ahead, and the behind-the-scenes feel of the footage lends authenticity to this moment. From then on, Part Two feels like a documentation of the rehearsal process, where we know that it is constructed as the actors develop their performance. By the end, they have a strong naturalistic performance, yet given what we have seen previously, we are primed to admire the performance rather than really feel for the characters evoking their internal state of mind.

Part Three does not attempt naturalistic performances but uses the naturalistic style of the voice to anchor more stylised and symbolic movement. By now, we are fully aware of the construction of the film we are watching, so we don’t ‘believe’ that the characters really have this state of mind but are instead performing or demonstrating these feelings. This puts the viewer in a different position, as it could be argued that the performance does not evoke a character’s internal state of mind, but simply demonstrates this, encouraging a more distanced and reflective engagement from the viewer, based more on admiring the interpretive performance rather than feeling for the character.

In terms of the construction of film itself, certain conventions have indeed been re-worked and re-used as these constructed conventions are not natural but can be reframed from differing perspectives. I have used the idea of the hero’s journey and followed its form, but instead of an individual male hero, the hero is a female and is played by five different performers of differing genders and heritage with a sense of differing perspectives, as five performers symbolise one character. This is successful as far as it goes but is limited by its still Anglo-Western storytelling and cultural approach. This is a limitation of the research and something that would be good to research further (Hambly 2021).

The attention to detail in the cinematography, sound and post-production (Murch 2001, p.15), and the use of simple coverage, stillness, static camera and off-screen space is an attempt to encourage the viewer to be an active participant in the construction of meaning, as the work demonstrates how the play between form and content can effectively support one another to set something up, then subvert it, and undercut it, whilst at the same time, containing an essence of truth as it moves between our perception of documentary and drama, filmic construction, and notions of truth.

My intention is that an impact of the work is for us to perceive a film as having elements of truth to it, and this does not require it to have only one mode of telling, as there can successfully be multiple modes. 

Impact

My practice encourages further cross-collaboration between film, dance and performing arts both internal and external to Middlesex University. Additionally, the modest budget and use of MDX facilities demonstrates a sustainable model of filmmaking.

In 2023 and 2024, the work-in-progress The Staircase and The Casting were presented at the International Network of Experimental Fiction Film Festival and conference. As such, this has been a wonderful opportunity to share and disseminate the work. Both films received IMDB credits and Honourable Mentions from the Athens International Monthly Film Festival, and The Casting was also screened and presented at the Boreal Screendance Film Festival 2024. 

The work has been instrumental in my own continuing professional development, and the created materials, experience, and knowledge are continuing to inform my current and future teaching. This has benefits outside of academia, especially as I am both one of the mentors and jurors of the Earth Photo exhibition from the Royal Geographic Society with IBG. (Royal Geographic Society 2025).

The films are continuing their journey towards further academic conferences and festivals.

References

Benedetti, J. (2000) Stanislavski : an Introduction. Rev. and updated [ed.]. New York: Routledge.

Boreal Screendance Film Festival.  Available at: https://borealak.is/ (Accessed: 28 December 2024)

British Film Institute, 2020 BFI Diversity Standards initial findings: 2019. Available at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/industry-data-insights/reports/bfi-diversity-standards-initial-findings (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Campbell, J. (2008) The hero with a thousand faces. 3rd ed. Novato: New World Library. 

Government UK, (2022) Covid-19 mental health and wellbeing surveillance: report Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-surveillance-report/2-important-findings-so-far  (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Guerrilla Girls (American, established 1985). Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?, 1989. Lithograph, 11 x 28 in. (27.9 x 71.1 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Scott, Lauren, and Lily Nussbaum, 2021 (2021.70). © Guerrilla Girls, courtesy guerrillagirls.com

Hambly, G. (2021) The not so universal hero’s journey. Journal of Screenwriting, 12 (2), pp.135–150. Available at: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/josc/2021/00000012/00000002/art00002 (Accessed: 12 April 2025)

INEFF  (2024) International Network of Experimental Film Festival and Conference. Available at: https://www.ineff.org/ (Accessed: 15 August 2024).

Jooss, K. et al. (2003) The Green Table : a dance of death in eight scenes. New York: Routledge.

Meisner, S. and Longwell, D. (1987) Sanford Meisner on Acting. New York: Vintage Books.

Meisner Technique Studio (2024) The Technique. Available at: https://themeisnertechniquestudio.com/meisner-technique/ (Accessed: 15 August 2024).

The Met Museum, 2024  Museums Without Men:  Guerrilla Girls. Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2024/03/katy-hessel-audio-tour-guerrilla-girls-transcript (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Mitchell, K. (2009) The Director’s Craft : a handbook for the theatre. London: Routledge.

Mulvey, L. (1975)Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema 

Screen, Volume 16, Issue 3, Autumn 1975, Pages 6–18, https://doi-org.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/10.1093/screen/16.3.6 (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Mulvey, L. (2015) Death 24 x a Second: Stillness and the Moving Image. London: Reaktion Books Ltd 

Munch, E. (1817) The Scream [Painting]. National Museum in Oslo, Oslo. Available at: https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/stories/explore-the-collection/edvard-munch-and-the-scream-in-the-national-museum/ (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Murch, W. (2001) In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Silman-James

Office for National Statistics (2023) Gender pay gap in the UK: 2023. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2023  (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Office for National Statistics (2023) Ethnicity pay gaps: raw pay gaps: 2023. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/ethnicitypaygapsrawpaygaps  (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Royal Geographic Society (2024) Earth Photo 2024.  Available at: https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/earth-photo-2024 (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Stanislavsky, K. and Hapgood, E.R. (2013) An Actor Prepares. London: Bloomsbury.

Sliwka, J. (2022) Reframed: The Woman In The Window. London: Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Videotanz (2024) Available at: https://videotanz.ru/dance/the-statement/  (Accessed: 28 December 2024)

Weston, J. (2021) Directing Actors : creating memorable performances for film and television. 25th anniversary edition. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.

Weston, J. (1996) Directing Actors : creating memorable performances for film and television. Studio City: M. Wiese Productions.

Weston, J. (2003) The Film Director’s Intuition: script analysis and rehearsal techniques. Studio City: Michael Wiese.

Yorke, J. (2013) Into the Woods : a five-act journey into story. London: Penguin Books.

Art / Dance / Filmography

2 into 1 (1997) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Art].

London, UK: BBC. Available at: https://archive.org/details/gillian-wearing-2-into-1-1997 (Accessed: 12 April 2025)

10 - 16 (1997) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Art].

London, UK: Royal Academy of Arts. Available at:

https://henryart.org/exhibitions/gillian-wearing-10-16

https://www.artnet.com/artists/gillian-wearing/10-16-GMWFxDJPbUNJeLW4H0jw0Q2 (Accessed: 12 April 2025)

Pite, C. (Director,Choreographer) Jonathan Young (Director, Writer) Assembly Hall. Sadlers Wells Theatre, London.

Kidd Pivot (2024) Assembly Hall. Available at: https://www.kiddpivot.org/ (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Being John Malkovich (1999) Directed by Spike Jonze. [Feature Film]. United States: USA Films, Universal Pictures International

Blow Job (1964) Directed by Andy Warhol.  [Film] USA Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/142425  (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) Directed by Robert Wiene. [Feature Film]. Berlin, Germany: Decla Film.

Confessions: Portraits, Videos (2009) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Art]. London, UK: Musée Rodin, Paris. 

Drunk (1999) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Art]. Available at:

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-trp-018&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-018&hspart=trp&p=drunk+gillian+wearing&type=Y143_F163_225899_091823#id=1&vid=02f7188f5ad81af140185c86b1c6d442&action=click

London, UK: Serpentine Gallery (Accessed: 12 April 2025)

 Empire (1964) Directed by Andy Warhol.  [Film] USA

Available at: https://www.moma.org/calendar/galleries/5260  (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Jeanne Dielman 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) Directed by Chantel Akerman. [Feature Film]. Belgium, France: Olympic Films 

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) Directed by Maya Deren Alexander Hackenschmied. [Film]. California, USA.

Mirror (1975) Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. [Feature Film]. Soviet Union: Mosfilm.

Nancy Gregory (2008) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Art].

London, UK: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. 

Self-Made (2010) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Feature Film]. London, UK: UK Film Council.

Shakespeare’s Confessions (2012) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Art]. London, UK: Royal Shakespeare Company.

Snapshot (2005) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Art].

London, UK: Bloomberg Space. Available at: https://www.tanyabonakdargallery.com/exhibitions/117-gillian-wearing-people-tanya-bonakdar-gallery-new-york/ (Accessed: 12 April 2025)

Movement Ballet, (2023) The Statement  Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVwRPmNiZmM (Accessed: 15 August 2024)

Tokyo Story (1953) Directed by Yasujirō Ozu. [Feature Film]. Japan: Shochiku.

Yello (2003) Directed by Gillian Wearing. [Art].

London, UK: Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

Peer Reviews

All reviews refer to the original research statement which has been edited in response to what follows

Review 1: Accept submission subject to minor revisions of written statement (these should be outlined in detail in the review).

Claims & Purposes

The aims and objectives of the research are clearly articulated. There is good evidence of detailed research with a focus on actor training. The author is able to contextualise the research within existing knowledge referencing the training methods and approaches of Stanislavski, Weston and Mitchell.

The author achieves what they have set out to do in producing a technically accomplished creative film work with attention to performance, choreography, camera and lighting, sound design and editing. The overall mise-en-scene is integrated and coherent and is well supported by the research statement.

The structuring of interruptions to temporality through montage editing and repetition techniques is successfully applied to achieve a cyclical narrative that explores the stated themes notably performing the split self, notions of truth, temporality, static camera and off-screen space.

The locked off shots position the viewer in the proscenium mirroring the stasis of the onscreen subject/s and theatre traditions being explored. The clever shifts of narrative voice, choral repetitions and juxtapositions from actors ‘rehearsing’ to dancers performing choregraphed sequences are affecting and contribute to sustaining viewer engagement.

The films’ overall tone of melancholia and interest in dissonance reflects the fragility and tensions between the performer/s and their shifting states as self and other (“my name is Bella and I’m playing Lisa”) and off-screen director/interviewer presence. The whole piece feels Chekhovian in mood, tone and pace. Moments of ‘truth’ offer the character/s relief (and us/audience) but then doubt returns.  There is no end to the journey only a return to the beginning. 

Contribution to knowledge 

The Staircase offers a model for interdisciplinary work combining film, dance and theatre practices. I believe this would an excellent teaching and learning resource for undergraduate film and performing students in understanding the challenges of a professional acting career and the pervasiveness of self-doubt in an unpredictable and fickle working environment.

I think there is more to explore here in the research’s representation of the existential crisis in what it is to be human, to be happy, an artist, self-accepting. There is potential for revisiting the ongoing legacy of Stanislavski’s methods in the institutional training of actors and perceived divisions between theatre and film acting in our increasingly digital and social media dominant society where boundaries between the social and private, human and non-human are contested spaces. 

Research and theoretical context

The Staircase as creative led research embraces the subject of doubt within the context of the working actor (as self-perceived ‘artist’). Self-doubt is a well-known phenomenon for actors, especially emerging actors making their way into the profession. Even the most successful actors experience self-doubt as a constant presence in their careers. Aiden Brody’s recent 2025 Oscar acceptance speech “acting is a very fragile profession it looks very glamourous and certain moments it is … no matter where you are in your career no matter what you have accomplished it can all go away” is a current reminder of the tenuousness of the acting profession.

There is potential for further research particularly in the investigation of the hero’s journey and gender representations. I recommend the author ( if they haven’t already) look at Glenda Hambly’s insightful argument for the failures of the hero’s journey, ‘The Not So Universal Hero’s Journey’ (2021). This could be a useful comparative text to both strengthen and problematise the application of the hero’s journey and Mulvey’s gaze to binary notions of gender presented in the work. 

Changes to the work

No. 

How well is the statement organised

The statement speaks clearly to the artwork and both documents address the research questions providing insights on both texts. 

Changes to the presentation

No. 

Review 2: Invite resubmission with major revisions of practical work and/or written statement.

This research explores a compelling intersection of film and performance. Your full-length artefact presents a series of performances that relate to each other in intriguing ways. However, as an audience member, it is challenging to discern the connections between the sections. While the performances themselves are engaging, their sequencing and relationship to the research remain somewhat unclear. In terms of the film itself ideally, clarifying these links would strengthen the film’s impact as a research output.

What are the main claims and purposes of the work?

The statement raises numerous questions but does not fully address them, leaving the central purpose unclear. A clearer articulation of research aims with conclusion would strengthen your contribution. The project seems to explore how actors convey internal contradictions between emotions and how film form can reflect this division. However, the connection between performance and cinematic construction needs further analysis. To enhance the research output, it would help to define a single overarching question, clarify aims and objectives, and detail the methodological approach more—particularly how performance techniques and filmic choices are analysed. 

Does it seem to make a genuine new contribution to knowledge or understanding of practice-research? 

The film and research statement do not fully articulate the research outcomes as they stand. While there are reflections on what the project has done for you, there is less emphasis on its contributions to knowledge or practice-research. To strengthen this, you could clearly outline how this film project has generated new insights and articulate these in a way that allows others to gain knowledge from your research.

Is there any important relevant work that the submission does not acknowledge?

A key issue is defining the specific focus of the research. Is it primarily concerned with performance—direct address to the camera, the representation of inner emotional turmoil, or exploring whether dance conveys something beyond traditional acting on film? If Stanislavski’s work is central, a deeper analysis would strengthen the argument. Alternatively, if the research is more focused on filmic style and form, further discussion is needed on how performance is shaped through the filmic frame and how dance film diverges from conventional cinematic storytelling. 

How strong is the research and theoretical context of the accompanying written statement? 

It could be made stronger in its articulation as there needs to be more critical analysis in terms of how the theoretical supports your argument (or answers the questions set). 

Are there particular changes that you would deem either necessary or helpful for the work to be published?

Ideally, for the full-length film to be understood within the context of research, the connections between the three sections need more articulation.  However, this maybe tricky. Clear articulation whether this project is about filmmaking or about performance –if it is both, then expanding on how they both operate to produce knowledge within this context would be helpful. In terms of the statement. There are several iterations of the research questions at the start, and one wonders if these questions can be streamlined. 

How well organised and written is the accompanying statement?

The accompanying statement needs more focus and to perhaps follow a question/answer format to help guide the reader through your thinking. 

Are there particular changes that you would recommend to its presentation?

Try and find a way to articulate your research as an answer to a research problem so that the reader can follow it to a logical conclusion, which might just set up more research for further investigation.

All reviews refer to the original research statement which has been edited in response