Faces

In 1965, Faces existed only as an idea in the mind of a director. In the years that followed, it evolved into a stage play, then a monumental film treatment 215 pages long, and finally, into a breakthrough American film. From inception to completion, the making of Faces is described in detail by writer-director John Cassavetes and his director of photography Al Ruban: how locations were selected, the type of film and lighting used in each sequence, the money problems, the sound problems, and the grueling months of editing and re-editing that took place behind the closed doors of the cutting room. Especially illuminating to every student of film is the parallel-page comparison of the original treatment which details every shot, camera angle, zoom and pan, and the final script as taken directly from the soundtrack. What occurred between idea and execution represents nothing short of the creative process itself-- the molding of a sprawling idea into a tight-knit work of art.