Show: Buffy The Vampire SlayerEpisode Number/Code: 5x16Episode Title: “The Body”Audio Commentary By: Joss WhedonTranscribed By: Stephen T (http://stormwreath.livejournal.com/)Annotations: Stephen T

The Body - Audio Commentary

Hi, I'm Joss Whedon, the writer and director of the episode; creator of the show; I guess people will know that by now.[Buffy arrives home to find flowers waiting for her mother]You probably also know that this entire scene, I shot - we used as the last scene in episode 15as a kind of cliffhanger after a very sweet and kind of silly episode. And also used it for theteaser of this episode. Never did that before, but we felt it was a scene that was worthrepeating twice.["Mom? Mommy?"]It's a little hard to talk during it. Especially seeing Kristine lying there for the first time. Andhearing Sarah saying "Mommy?" That line very clearly written 'Mom' to 'Mommy' as shedescends into, you know, small-girlhood at the thought of losing her mom.[Opening Credits]This episode was one that I did because I wanted to show – not the meaning, or catharsis, or the beauty of life, or any of the things that are often associated with loss, or even the extremegrief, some of which we do get in the episode. But what I really wanted to capture was theextreme physicality, the extreme – the almost boredom of the very first few hours. I wanted to be very specific about what it felt like the moment you discover something, ah, you've lostsomeone.And so what appears to many people as a formal exercise – no music, scenes that take upalmost the entire act if not the entire act without end – is all done for a very specific purpose.Which is to put you in the moment. That moment of dumbfounded shock. That airlessness of losing somebody.Act One[Flashback to Christmas dinner] Now this scene, I put in specifically – artistically, rather – because I wanted to see what theyhad in happier times, and to see Joyce. Now I made a mistake, I put Joyce in the kitchen atthe top of the scene. I should have had her coming back all during this and taking dishesaway, so she was a constant presence in all their lives. I didn't think of that until after theshow had aired. But it was an indication of how things were great, and some of the fun of what the show's like.Also, for a more practical reason, I knew I had to have these opening credits – executive producers and what-not – and I couldn't bear the thought of having them over the shot that's

about to come. The long take of Buffy first dealing with the body. So I added this scene to bethe exact length of those credits, so that I could get them out of the way. So it had a practicalapplication that led to an artistic decision that I think was really useful. It's lovely to seeKristine and Sarah together, having the fun.[Buffy warns Giles and Joyce to stay off the band candy]A little, even, flirt moment with Giles. Like it's 'life goes on'. It's very mundane but at thesame time it's very, very sweet. Well, without being overly sweet. And... it's this.[Sudden cut from Joyce and Buffy in the kitchen to Joyce dead] Now this shot… this is one long take, and it bears watching exactly how long it is. Especially because Allen Easton, the cameraman, had the camera on his shoulder the whole time, andwas running around with Paul Throw (??) pulling focus on a shot that just seemed never toend. And it wasn't a Steadicam, he had no harness, because I wanted the urgency of handheld.You know, that 'you're in the moment' of it. So he kept re-creating frames, re-creating frames.This is a very difficult thing to do – kneeling down, getting up; it was an extraordinary pieceof camerawork.[Buffy calls the emergency services]And of course an extraordinary piece of acting from Sarah, where I made her do this aboutseven times. To go from the extremity of first finding her, the helplessness of not knowingwhat to do. All of the things that Sarah had to go through in this, she had to go through many,many times. And every take was extraordinary.[Buffy attempts CPR]This coming up, the rib-cracking experience. Again, this is part of what you'll see a lot of inthis episode, which is almost obscene physicality. A little more physicality than wenecessarily want or are used to, that expresses itself periodically throughout. Because death isa physical thing. There is a body. And apart from the sense of loss that you inevitably feel,there is the fact of a body. And dealing with that is, is an experience that really does kind of stop time.[Buffy looks out of the window]We have several instances in this scene, in this act, where Sarah– or Buffy, looks out thewindow. She goes to the back door, she goes to the front door, she looks out the window. Shehears noises. But we never show a POV, we never shot the street outside or the back yard or anything. Because again it's almost unreal.[Extreme close-up of the telephone keypad]This is the shot for people who don’t know what a phone is, to explain it. No, again, it's– tome, that's the moment she realises her mother's dead. It's just fixating on something almostmeaningless, and I thought that the phone was the thing. And that is the first cut in the entirescene, was when we cut to the phone. We had to use a special lens, and it was very difficult toget the phone feeling that real.[Buffy walks to the front door]

Again, here she comes to look out. But all we hear is noise, because we're completely in her space.[Buffy walks back inside and sees Joyce lying there again]Rather arch camera-work there, as a way of saying, "Oh my God, I – for a moment I hadalmost forgotten she was there."[She smoothes down Joyce's skirt to hide her slip]And then again, unlovely physicality. The idea that her mother's underwear might be showingis gross and upsetting.[The paramedics arrive] Now these guys – good actors both – were there to be almost noise in the frame. Very seldomthat I actually feature their faces. A lot of quick cutting. Everything is about Buffy and her reaction to her mom. And she can't really relate to these people as people. Filmicly, the ideaobviously was that they are a blur to her.This was done in slow motion, by the way. Which you can't even tell. I just ramped thecamera up to 40 frames per second instead of 24, but it didn't really read like slow motion.That was kind of an attempt that just failed. Since then I've learned that if you want to goslow motion you have to go a little bit slower.[Buffy thinks she sees her mother come back to life]And, well, everybody loves a happy ending. And once again, because I don’t know anybodywho has suffered the panic of a great loss without having imagined it going a different way, athousand times or more. So what feels like kind of a cruel joke on the audience is in fact justa very real moment. Within the experience of losing somebody is the "No! They're fine! It'sgonna be fine! Look, it was fine!" And then you actually have to come out of the fantasy, andthe silence is ten times worse because of it.This is fun, isn't it? Aren't we having fun![The paramedic tells Buffy what's happened]Again coming out of focus, because she's not really – she can't really deal with him. We'reactually coming up on one of my favourite shots that I ever composed, and it's very simple.Which is this.[Looking at Buffy around the paramedic's back, then past her at him with the top half of hishead out of frame]Very simply, it's an over where I squeezed her in the frame as much as possible. It's just likeshe didn't have room to manoeuvre. And then the shot of him talking which is just his mouthagain. Just to say, not to call attention to itself so much, just to say this is her reality. She can'tget the big picture, she's not having a normal conversation. A normal over would have beenher with a tiny slice of his shoulder; instead, I let his shoulder own the frame. I took his eyesout of the frame. To show her experience of, literally, being trapped, being blocked off fromreality.