Nora Fiffer’s
Director Preparation

To help actors dig into the world of the film and their role, I craft Actor Care Packages. I search for images, poems, art, and music that will help inspire and root them as their character. I give the actors their care package before shooting so that we have shared language, references, and vision to build upon during production.

In preparation for shooting Another Happy Day, I dug deeply into each scene of the film. I wanted to figure out what each moment was about in order to figure out how best to shoot the film. I broke the scene down into beats, subtext, and shot. Below is a sample, and here is my complete [epic] pre-visualization material. I would love for you to see it.

Nora Fiffer, director

Nora Fiffer is a writer, director, and actor based in Chicago and New Hampshire. A graduate of NYU Tisch and The School at Steppenwolf, Nora has performed with Steppenwolf, Goodman, Lookingglass, Court, Northlight, Chicago Shakespeare, Steep, receiving two Jeff Nominations for Best Supporting Actress. She has co-written/directed/produced four short films, eight plays, and the critically-acclaimed webseries, Matching Pursuit. In 2017, Nora co-founded Firelight Theatre Workshop and has produced 15 site-specific, immersive projects. In 2020 the New Hampshire Theatre Alliance awarded Nora Best Director and Best Production, and NH Magazine named Firelight Best Experimental Theatre.

If people are icebergs, Nora is interested in the 90% that’s underwater. These days she wonders: how do we get our audiences to lean forward instead of back?

Nora’s debut feature, Another Happy Day, was selected for NYWIFT’s FS2P Lab, Stowe Story Labs, and Sundance Co//ab. AEA/SAG-AFTRA.