While not technically a piece of cinema, the TV show ‘Mr Robot'(Dir. Sam Esmail, 2015-Present) is known for its long takes. However Season 3 Episode 5 is shot to look entirely like one long take. The forty-two minutes of seemingly uninterrupted filming was shot by director of photography Tod Campbell. By using Clever camera and editing tricks, Campbell was able to cut without the audience realizing, achieving the illusion of one continuous take. Campbell and Esmail cut whenever there was a possibility to do so, but even then the whole episode is only made up of 31 completely hidden camera changes that were seamlessly stitched together to ensure that it looked like the camera was still moving. The seamless edits were done when the camera was panning quickly (e.g. past a wall to turn around) or when showing something still. Director Sam Esmail even went to the extent of destroying many parts of the office building set like walls and widows to make sure the camera would be able to move around.
Rami Malek Shooting Mr Robot
While many Directors will secretly cut when filming especially long panning camera shots, it is usually fairly obvious where the cuts would be, however, Esmail and Campbell would spend hours coming up with subtle cuts, with some even utilizing the visual effects team to make sure that each cut was essentially invisible. It was crafted so well that when the episode aired, many people genuinely thought the entire episode was shot in a single long take.
Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight (Dir. Christopher Nolan, 2008) was renowned for having fairly subtle but incredibly impactful hair and make-up, designed by John Caglione Jr. Christopher Nolan said that he wanted a realistic joker, not the very cartoon based joker seen in other adaptations. Caglione worked with Nolan to develop a run-down, broken and insane man playing the joker. Through the use of subtle lines, cracks and creases shown in the Joker’s make-up, Caglione creates a sense of unhinged insanity, which makes the character feel and act unpredictably.
Drive (Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011) was praised for its use of ‘the rule of thirds’. The cinematographer ( Newton Thomas Sigel) wanted to make sure that there was a lot of open space, so that the camera can be a lot tighter on the actor when there is action or a chase scene to increase the tension in the scene. The scene below is a good example of Sigel’s vision for the emphasis on the rule of thirds.
As you can see, there is a lot of empty space on the screen that Sigel is specifically leaving out of focus, with Ryan Gosling’s character being the only thing in focus. as you can seen in the shot below, the rule of thirds is still being utilized, but now the frame is a lot more full, with a lot more going on in the background.
The lighting used in The Revanant (Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2015), is incredibly impressive as there were no artificial lights used whatsoever, meaning that Iñárritu had a very specific window in which to get the shot he needed, as he could not control the light around him. However, this challenging task paid off in the long run as the movie was critically acclaimed for its use of natural light, and even won cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki an Oscar. It is clear to see how this film’s cinematography differs from that of an artificially lighted film. This creates the effect of realism and gives the film a very low key and dark palate full of blues and blacks.
I chose Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of hearts character. This is because she is supposed to represent Mary, Queen of Scots who had a rivalry with her sister, and the big head is a metaphor for Queen Mary’s selfishness. The hair, being red and heart shaped, was a clever play on the “Queen of Hearts” façade and the makeup represents how royalty used to wear their makeup in the 1500’s.
I chose Zendaya’s character in “The Greatest Showman” because her purple leotard and pink hair was her signature look when performing her trapeze art on stage, however in other scenes outside of performing, she had her natural dark hair. This shows that she portrays the skilful trapeze artist separately from the character “Anne” when she is herself and not a “freak” on stage. I like this portrayal because even though everyone considers the performers all freaks, it shows that they are still people with personal lives.
Spike Lee famously said that in order for a film to authentically reflect the experience of black culture, it should be directed by a black person. I do agree with this statement as you can only speak about an experience, if you have experienced it. Spike Lee claimed that movies such as Detroit (Bigelow, 2017) and Django Unchained (Tarrantino, 2012) were misinterpreting black narrative. This is because those films were directed by white people and therefore Lee concluded that because they did not have the experience they could not create the film. In my opinion anyone should be able to make any film however i do believe that It would be more accurate, more politically correct, or just a better film in general (perhaps) if it was directed by someone with the experience of the situation.
I have chosen this scene from The Shining (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1980) as it is an interesting example of a long take. Creating long take scenes are very difficult for directors, as everything must be filmed in one continuous shot, with no stopping or camera cutting. This means that the entire scene must be well rehearsed, especially when it contains lots of extras. If anything goes wrong in the scene, then the entire thing must be started again. Even though this scene doesn’t contain a lot of characters, it is still difficult to get something like this right. This scene adds to the suspense of the film, as the audience thinks there could be something around any corner.
