Production
This episode was directed by actor David Boreanaz, who plays Angel. Adam Ward, the first assistant/focus puller, says although Boreanaz "didn't have the cinematographer's vernacular", he was able to accurately describe how he wanted the scenes to look to director of photography Ross Berryman, doing a "phenomenal job" for his directorial debut. In an interview with Sci Fi Weekly, Boreanaz says some of his original ideas for this episode needed to be "toned down" by executive producer Jeffrey Bell: "I had to remind myself that I am shooting an Angel show and not this crazy, cinematic, swooping thing" although producer Kelly Manners "really allowed me the opportunity to do some things a first time director wouldn't normally be allowed to do." Of the experience, Boreanaz says, "I've always been fascinated with the camera and the movement and communicating with other actors. Directing is really about telling someone to put applesauce on the table...And some people know how to do it, and some people don't."
The dream scenes in this episode were filmed at high speed and then slowed down in post-production. Boreanaz says, "It's pretty introspective of what's going on in Angel's mind...It's more of his perspective of what's going on, we don't know what's real and what's not real." The scene in which Fred performs surgery on Angel is done with a prosthetic torso; Amy Acker says that scene was her personal "highlight of the season."
Boreanaz had just had reconstructive surgery on the ACL of his left knee, which is why he spends most of this episode immobilized in bed.
According to the DVD commentary, the production of the "big parasite" cost $80,000.
Read more about this topic: Soul Purpose (Angel)
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
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—George Bluestone, U.S. educator, critic. “The Limits of the Novel and the Limits of the Film,” Novels Into Film, Johns Hopkins Press (1957)
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