Meet the director of the recently released movie "The Novice" about an obsessive rower and her college team. Lauren rowed for 4 years while at university in Texas.

Stars Isabelle Fuhrman and Amy Forsyth with Kate Drummond as the head coach, Charlotte Ubben as the coxswain and Jonathan Cherry as the novice coach.

Timestamps

01:50 Lauren Hadaway is the writer and director of the full length feature film, The Novice. She was told to 'write about what you know and a story only you can tell'.

Taking the obsessed artist trope and translating it to rowing.

A sport characterised by internal drive, grit and ambition.

04:00 Why is the film so dark? Lauren is a sound specialist.

Whatever sound effect you choose, what does it add to the story?

07:00 In her first 2k test the scene has the lead character, Alex played by Isabelle Fuhrman, "make love" to her erg - she objectifies herself and the machine. It's a bit like being in love with the erg and the story arc of that initial interest building to obsession before descending into a toxic relationship.

09:00 Rowing is not naturally cinematic

11:40 What cinematic challenges are there to overcome when shooting rowers and rowing?

Isabelle and Amy both had to learn to row.

Lauren interviewed all the background cast of extras herself. She needed to ensure they were actually rowers.

18:30 Where the rowing isn't quite right.... there are a few places.

Shooting 500 frames a second allowed some of the marvellous slow motion shots.

21:00 The crab wrangler.. yes, honestly they had one.

23:00 Filming in a portaloo (porta-potty) And how to film a coxswain close up.

The Novice movie is on cinema release 17th December 2021 in USA and shortly afterwards on all streaming services (Prime, Netflix, Apple).

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11131464/