Month: January 2020

Designing Impressive Long Takes and Oners

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The mark of a good director and cinematographer duo is telling a story clearly through the images that appear on a screen. The great ones find a way to go above and beyond.

One particular shot that separates the women from the girls is the “oner” or “one shot” take. The camera follows the action for a long period of time. Often this can be on a Steadicam, but you might find a fantastic oner accomplished handheld, on a dolly, or on a camera crane. Usually these are dynamic moving shots that change framing and action before your eyes, whereas a normal setup would be to edit a series of shots together.

It’s harder to do things this way, and so the oner must be deliberate and planned to perfection. It’s something you might want to try in your next film.

The best way to design something complicated is to study those that came before you. Here I’ve given four examples of incredible oners that I admire and I know you will too.

The Haunting of Hill House Season 1 Episode 6 “Two Storms

A large chunk of Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House Episode 6 is a 17 minute long oner that spans huge passes of time, flashbacks, special effects and more. It’s an incredibly complicated task that helped tell this unique story.

Part of what makes this scene so surreal is the fact that it doesn’t break away, doesn’t give a respite from following each character around during this pivotal storm. This genius choreography couldn’t have been pulled off without careful timing and a large well-rehearsed crew and cast.

You can watch the whole episode on Netflix, but you also can get the idea from this clip:

Also worthy of watching is this Making Of Featurette, which shows some of the ways this complicated long shot was choreographed:

Children of Men (2006)

The car scene. Not only is this a long take, it’s fraught with anxiety, showing different views out the windows of the car, placing the viewer in with the passengers of the vehicle. The drama unfolds in real-time, starting off with an innocuous car ride and conversation, escalating into a mad dash away from a hoard of crazy people attacking the car’s occupants.

The way they filmed this scene is actually pretty incredible and technical. At about 1 minute into this featurette, they discuss this particular scene. They used the Sparrowhead Doggie cam, a camera suspended inside the car on a track. The car was also specially designed for this scene. The driver is not actually driving it — there’s a man in front of the car low to the ground who is actually doing the driving. They don’t show it here, but they actually had seats that folded out of the way so the camera could get past the actors. 

Birdman

Now this one gets an honorable mention because the whole movie is structured like it takes place in one long take. There are a number of hidden cuts that make this possible, but there are certainly a number of true long takes. You experience in real time Riggan getting stuck outside the playhouse during the performance and having to navigate a busy Times Square in his tighty whities.

At about 45 seconds into this video, you see a grip positioning a silk in order to adjust the lighting on the actors faces on the fly. The whole movie had to be choreographed with the actors and crew in this way in order to avoid setting up classic lighting scenarios and keep things on the move.

Baby Driver (2017)

It’s Bank Robbery: The Musical but oh so much more. I recently re-watched this movie and I’m telling you — if you haven’t seen it yet, there’s no time like the present.

Baby Driver‘s premise is genius — Baby has tinnitus from a car accident, so he’s constantly playing music through his headphones to drown out the ringing in his ears. That sets the soundtrack to which all the action happens throughout the movie. The car chases, bank robbery, shootouts — everything has been meticulously choreographed and timed to fit the music of the scene.

Check out the “coffee run” scene from early in the movie to see the level of choreography that went into the scene. Not only do the Steadicam operator and Ansel Elgort walk perfectly timed, the action also lines up with key bits of set design — watch for the trumpet and certain bits of graffiti and poster designs that link up with lyrics in the music.

Look at the graffiti that says “Right” at 0:32 and 2:31 you’ll see they added in the lyrics “Shake, shake, shake” and several new lyrics on that wall during the shot. Excellent details.

Kidding Season 1 Episode 3 (2018)

Check out this incredible scene from the Showtime series Kidding.

This scene shows how the character Shaina is inspired by a show and how her life dramatically changes in a shifting scene that transcends time.

This is some incredible behind the scenes here because you can see just how the crew choreographed and shifted the scene from the drab, dreary beginning to a lavish apartment by the end of the scene. Watch and listen to the careful choreography dictated by either the 1st AD or coordinator.

6 Types of One-Take Shots

For some more examples, and descriptions of specific oners (the establishing long take, the exposition, the tracking long take, the fake long take) check out Aputure’s video with Ted Sim and cinematographer Emma Kragen.

 

The Artist’s Achilles Heel: Imposter Syndrome

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“I’m not good enough for this job. At some point, someone will find out that I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t deserve this.”

If you’ve found yourself saying something like the above to yourself, you may be suffering from Imposter Syndrome, a rather nasty form of self doubt that plagues anyone… including writers, actors and filmmakers.

“The imposter syndrome is a psychological term referring to a pattern of behavior where people doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent, often internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud,” Megan Dalla-Camina writes in an article for Psychology Today.

This also presents itself as social anxiety, valuing your work less and frankly just believing you’ve only gotten where you are as an artist by luck.

Imposter Syndrome is present in people who consider themselves perfectionists, who strive to know every detail on a topic before they feel they can be an expert, or those who try above and beyond to make up for perceived shortcomings.

Famous people you would never expect have suffered from self doubt and full blown imposter syndrome. This massive list includes the likes of Serena Williams, David Bowie, Tina Fey, Lady Gaga and Tom freakin’ Hanks.

Maya Angelou said, “I have written 11 books, but each time I think, ‘uh oh, they’re going to find me out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.’ ”

Natalie Portman said in a 2015 Harvard commencement speech, “Today, I feel much like I did when I came to Harvard Yard as a freshman in 1999. I felt like there had been some mistake, that I wasn’t smart enough to be in this company, and that every time I opened my mouth I would have to prove that I wasn’t just a dumb actress.”

How to Deal with Imposter Syndrome

As an artist, you can start by more openly sharing your work, and keeping track of personal accomplishments. Did you win an award for a piece of writing, or learn a new technique during your last film production? Know that art is a continuing education. If you practice it, you get better. And so will your feelings of self doubt, as long as you don’t let those feelings control you. 

Acknowledge the existence of imposter syndrome when it rears its ugly head, then find a way to reframe it. Knowing that other people in your position are no more capable than you helps. It’s also important to value constructive criticism and not take it too personally. Someone who can learn and grow from constructive criticism becomes a better artist, especially when they know who is a good judge for that sort of thing.

If you feel lacking in some area then practice that skill, study that subject and get legitimately better at what you want to be good at. The point is not to overcompensate and obsess, but to level up your skills and eliminate doubt.

You can also talk over these feelings with a trusted friend. Friends are great at reminding you of your best traits when you can’t see them yourself. Just know that if you need to delve deeper, it’s time to explore that with a psychologist.

 

Sources:

The Reality of Imposter Syndrome – Psychology Today

Yes, Imposter Syndrome is Real. Here’s How to Deal with it – Time.com

8 Ways to Overcome Imposter Syndrome as an Artist – Artwork Archive

12 Leaders, Celebrities and Entrepreneurs Who Have Struggled with Imposter Syndrome

5 Reasons For and Against Volunteering on a Film

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On your usual search for gigs and opportunities in the film industry, you might come across more than a few posts like this:

“Looking for camera operator. No budget, sorry, but we’ve got a great project!”

“Student film in need of actors. Unpaid. Copy/meal/credit.”

Depending on what stage you are in your film career, you might consider working free gigs. The thing is, not all these opportunities are created equally. Here’s a quick guide on how to decide whether to volunteer on someone’s set.

Why you might want to volunteer:

experience

  1. Completely new to film industry.
  2. Trying to move up a position.
  3. Working for a friend.
  4. It’s a good project.
  5. You need it for your reel.

If you’ve never worked on a film set before, volunteering on a few productions might be a good idea. You’ll get the experience you need while having less pressure since you’re not technically any sort of employee. Plus it’s very difficult to get yourself noticed as a production assistant in a very competitive job market without prior experience and/or a contact on the production.

Or maybe you’re already working on films, but you’ve really like to level up your skills. Maybe you’re a well-practiced 2nd AC looking to move up to 1st. Volunteering as a 1st on a project is helpful. Again, less pressure, but gaining experience.

Most of us are pretty cool for working on a friend’s project. Plus it’s a small world and people tend to like to do each other favors like this.

#4 and 5 go hand in hand. If this project looks like a good quality project, plus you’d like to add it to your reel? You’re still benefitting.

Why you shouldn’t volunteer:

exposure meme

  1. You have plenty of experience.
  2. The project sounds like a hot mess.
  3. The project asks above and beyond what they should get for free.
  4. Particular skills required. (Examples: DP must have drone/Steadicam. An actor needs to do a nude scene or stunts).
  5. “It’s only going to take four hours!” Trust me — it won’t.

You need to value yourself enough to be paid for your skills. You don’t need to do someone’s project “for exposure” especially since exposure means hardly anything. Anyone asking you to do something for exposure should be treated with caution.

A feature shooting in 4 days? All overnights? The previous crew bailed? The job poster is nasty about the unpaid situation IN the job post? These are all red flags and indicate a project best worth avoiding.

A project asking for an inordinate amount of equipment — a DP with a specific camera and lighting package, a specific drone – are also ones I say to avoid. I also keep seeing posts asking for makeup artists for free. Makeup artists are using up their materials to do your project. They at the very least need a kit fee to cover expendables.

Maybe it’s a gig that’s mashing too many jobs rolled into one (Camera PA/Media Manager). This happens on paid gigs too, which can still be a problem.

I’ve worked on enough films that I can tell you if a project says they only need you for a handful of hours…it’s likely not true, or they grossly underestimated how long it takes to put together a shoot. Always figure a 12 hour day in.

In Conclusion

Working for free is your decision. If you think it will benefit you in the long run with experience on a new skill or you want to help somebody out — that’s great. Not volunteering is also your decision. Weigh your pros and cons list on each unpaid gig you see and make the smartest decision for you.

The Dragon Prince: Beautiful story, Problematic Production

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I’m always late to get into the newest Netflix trends. My latest acquisition, The Dragon Prince, I binged all three seasons over New Years. I loved the series, and I had to talk about it.

Got halfway through Ep 1 of Wakfu. Not the same. Nice try, Netflix.

The Dragon Prince is a beautiful and dark fantasy epic. Two human princes and a Moonshadow elf must bring the young dragon princeling to his mother in the land of Xadia in order to end the war between their peoples. They face all sorts of death-defying odds and fun magic adventures with a healthy dose of humor.

What’s great is it’s incredibly diverse cast. Women are portrayed alongside men in combat. General Amaya is mute, and communicates only with sign language. There’s several LGBT characters and it’s not made a big deal of. There’s also wonderful themes of finding yourself and helping others at any cost.

TDP reminds me of one of the best animation series I’ve ever watched — Avatar: The Last Airbender. In fact they share some crew, including a voice actor and the head writer on ATLA Aaron Ehasz, who is showrunner for The Dragon Prince.

Unfortunately, after I tweeted my love to the two people on Twitter who see my posts, I uncovered the controversy associated with the showrunner, and why there likely won’t be a Season 4. Several women accused Aaron Ehasz of misogynistic behavior.

After the trailer for Season 3 dropped in November 2019, several women started talking about their problems with the company.

Lulu Younes said she needed to leave the company for her own mental and emotional health:

Danika Harrod, the former Head of Community Development at Wonderstorm (TDP production company), also said her experience was “painful” and what she witnessed drove her to leave the company. “It was just so much shutting women down, not taking women seriously, not listening to women, firing a woman and then shit talking her” Harrod stated on her Twitter account.

At least three women left the company. Soon to be followed by co-producer of TDP Giancarlo Volpe, though it isn’t clear if it’s in relation to the allegations. 

Then there’s this thread by Diandra @Work (@MesaanaSedai) who worked with Aaron — this time at Riot games. As an editor, she was in charge of making sure the narrative of what they were producing was consistent. Instead, according to her, Ehasz usurped her job and make it a team activity, all while treating her as a personal assistant.

Her experience is worth noting, as it corroborates the other women’s accounts.

ehasz response
The comments on Ehasz’s response were a mix split between indignation that he avoided the allegations to promote his own company, to people claiming they’d never believe the women. “If they have proof, awesome, but I’m not going to believe the rumor mill on social media,” one commenter stated. “Word of mouth is not proof, sorry. Camera footage from the offices is proof. Text messages or emails are proof.”

But that’s the thing about workplace sexism and gaslighting — it’s not something that’s often handily encapsulated in an email or text message. It’s an employer or employee acting in the way that these women described — not respecting them or their jobs and treating them a particular way because of their gender.

This inherent disbelief of women’s experiences is the very reason why they don’t come forward on these allegations in the first place. They’re afraid they won’t be able to work again. Television is a flighty career path — cross the wrong person and you find you never work again.

A company — and the product it creates whether it be a TV series or video game — benefits greatly when you bring a variety of voices to the table. That’s why seeing this kind of controversy associated with a piece of media I really enjoyed is so upsetting. It’s why seeing articles like this after the #MeToo movement is head-smacking-against-the-desk frustrating.

I may be slow on the uptake when it comes to watching the latest Netflix craze, but the powers that be are incredibly slow in treating their women employees as equals — and that needs to change.

The Dragon Prince is still a beautiful series, worthy of being made an example of for its incredible characters and deep world building, though the real stories behind the scene do negatively color my experience. Luckily the women who had to leave the company found good jobs, but the problem of gaslighting still persists. Let this be a two-fold lesson: How to write a good series …and how to treat your employees as people.

Sources: