Summary

“Exteriors” is a single quotation, a two-and-a-half page monologue by a director who sets up and takes the shots for a film. The director sets the scene in a three-room walk-up apartment, infested with cockroaches and with only a “cubbyhole of a john” but spectacular light (1). However, the director chooses a nighttime scene, and indicates spot lighting for the rooms. The director commands a “nice soft gel” on the young male poet at the worktable and on the young woman killing cockroaches in the kitchen (1). From then on, the director specifies shots and their lighting: the couple backlit and asleep in their bed, then well-lit shots of happy photographs on the walls. Another backlit shot, this time of the couple undressing and kissing in the bathroom doorframe. In dim lighting, the young man teasing the young woman. The director begins...