Craig Frank wields the belt against Taryn O'Neill

Looking back at our series, one of my favorite stories was the rumor that Craig Frank is a method actor. This started last July, back in Pre-production, when Craig came up to the production team with a request. He asked that during the days that we’d be shooting in the interrogation room, that he get some space to prepare and be by himself to be away from the hustle and bustle of the set. This one request would begin the chain of events that became “Craig Frank is a method actor”.

Let me give you some back story, we shot our 8 episode season over five consecutive days. Day 1 were the office scenes, Day 2 were the IT Room/Garage scenes, Day 3 and 4 were the Interrogation Scenes, and Day 5 were the House/Cassandra’s room scenes.

During the first two days of shooting, Craig was his usual self on set. A couple wise cracks here, some playful fun there, but still the consummate professional and a great guy to have on set. He came, he did his scenes, and he even hung out for a while afterward. At the end of Day 2, as he did his goodbyes to the cast and crew he said to all of us, “see you all in 3 days,” for the Craig that we knew would not be with us, but rather someone else.

Day Three started with a different feel. We knew it was going to be a “different day.” We were shooting some very intense scenes, and we had a very different lead actor. When Craig pulled into the warehouse, he stayed in the car while the crew prepared. I remember watching him sitting in his beat up old Integra staying very still. An announcement went over our walkies from Producer Michael Tohl with explicit instructions that no one was to disturb Craig’s concentration. Eventually Michael came over and personally walked Craig over into a room designated to him, a room labeled “Do Not Disturb“.

The next two days were filled with different little tidbits. We had Craig shuttled between the set and his room, to ensure that he was never bothered. He never interacted with his scene partners Seth Caskey, or Taryn O’Neill, with the exception being in front of the camera. Actually no one interacted with Craig, save for a handful of the principal crew. Through the shooting days Craig remained intense, he brooded, he was stoic, and he was very quiet. Was it method acting? Was it Craig making demands? No… it was Craig committing to the character, and thus we committed to Craig.

Craig has stated to me that he never was lost in the character of Mark Sandler the Sadist, but I believe he convinced the rest of us that he was. There was a perception around the crew that no one was to look Craig in the eye (I don’t recall if this was a stated rule or not, but it pretty much became one). I also remember ‘shuushing’ someone for making too much noise outside of his room (yes I committed). And my favorite story was on set where our D.P. Jason Raswant was so intimated by Craig that when he needed him to move a simple step or two over he’d flag down Director Nathan Atkinson to relay the instructions.

The rumors began to spread, the crew, the actors, the guests on set,  ”Craig Frank is a Method Actor”, but it all just a rumor. The truth was that Craig did immense preparation for this role. He did his research, he prepared himself and had committed to the Mark character to put his all in this performance. We as the crew thus committed to Craig. He gave us everything he could, we gave him everything we could back, and the result is the performance you see today.

For Your Consideration: Cinematographer Jason Raswant

This Post is in a series of posts that is directed at the members of the IAWTV/Streamy Awards. The content will highlight different members of the Compulsions team. These are meant for both awareness and as a guide to showcase what each individual brought to the project.

From Producer Michael Tohl: Jason had limited equipment, limited crew, and tough conditions to work in.  We shot all eight episodes in July, and two of our days were particularly tough on him and his crew… when we shot our warehouse scenes.  Lighting an empty space the size of three football fields with a lighting package smaller than one  typical on a student film is hard enough.  They were using practically every single thing they hand to light each shot one at a time.  Having a “skeleton crew” means less hands on deck to move that heavy equipment around for each shot, and running it around such a large space is tiring.  That makes it hard to keep up with the shooting schedule.  We had a “diffuser” (similar to a fog machine) to create “depth” and “texture” in the background, and that created swamp like humidity.  And to push the crew to the edge, we had to keep the air conditioning off to keep the sound from getting ruined, and from blowing the diffusion around.  The crew was quickly fatigued, and it took all their heart to keep going.  So aside from his creative talents that can be seen on screen, what you didn’t see was how he remained strong (but not mean), calm (but not lazy) and constantly thought on his toes to keep his crew from losing heart.  It takes some serious leadership skills to keep a crew moving on schedule, and doing quality work under such harsh conditions!

Taryn O'Neill looks on to a bleeding Seth Caskey in Episode 6

From Director Nathan Atkinson: Here’s the thing about Jason, I think he was given a budget of something like $600… and then we cut it back. Because he has such a great eye, he was able to take his pocket change budget, call in dozens of one time favors, and make it look like a studio had picked us up and we shot it for seven figures. Simply amazing. The camera we used (Sony EX3) is a camera that many feature films use as “crash cameras” – cameras that are cheap enough to destroy… just as long as you get the shot from them first. But, with Jason, you’d never know it. Again, you can have the flashiest gun in the world – but if you don’t know how to shoot it, you’re just going to hurt yourself. Jason’s skill, his attitude, and his almost magical skill of taking next-to-nothing and making it look like a million bucks, not only makes him the best candidate for this award – it makes me want to work with him again, and often.

A silhouetted Craig Frank in Episode 6

From Creator Bernie Su: From day one Jason was the first pick of both Nathan and Michael for this project and I certainly feel fortunate to work with someone so driven and talented in his craft. I was always impressed from his use of shadows in a scene, below is the first scene from Episode 6, one of our most complex scenes as far as coverage. Take special note of Jason’s incredible use of shadows in contrast with the lighting in each shot. The depth and layers added so much to the “grittiness” that serves the sequence so well, and like Jason stands by, “serves the story.”

Please consider Jason Raswant from Compulsions for Best Cinematography in the 2010 Streamys.