Lost Art of Filmmaking represents my attempt to highlight examples of film language that no longer seems to appear on the radar of a majority of working filmmakers.
Each column, I’ll choose a clip from a movie that demonstrates a ‘lost art’ of some sort, ask you to watch it, and then go into detail about why this particular slice of movie is worth bringing back into focus…
Orson Welles is a legendary Hollywood figure, and is most famous for his work as Unicron in TRANSFORMERS: THE ANIMATED MOVIE.
He also directed a few films. Might have heard of some of them. (”Citizen Kane! Citizen Kane!” — Kids in the Hall).
TOUCH OF EVIL
There are two stories to how Welles got involved:
A:) Charlton Heston learned that Welles was in the cast, he expressed greater interest in starring if Welles would also direct.
B.) Interested in working with Albert Zugsmith (aka “King of the B’s), Welles asked him for the worst script he had in order to prove that he could make gold even out of a bad script.
Here are some shots that prove that point:
First… the opening sequence to the movie. One that many critics believe to be the best of all time.
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To properly appreciate this shot… at the time, it was the longest opening shot in the history of film – a fact commented on (and later surpassed) in the movie THE PLAYER. It takes the Hitchcock notion of suspense (with the MacGuffin of the ticking bomb) and clothes it in an incredibly difficult shot for that (or any other) time.
Another way to look at it: take out your watch. Time yourself standing on one leg for three-and-a-half minutes. See how long of a time that feels to you.
Then once you digest that, digest all of these other moving parts that have to fall into play: All the extras. A moving car. Crane work. Dialogue. Performance. Lighting. Sound. Moving camera that constantly has to change focus. And then think of this: if you’re standing on one leg, and you lose your balance before the three-and-a-half minutes are up, you have to start all over.
Last thing… he opens up the film with an incredibly graceful long shot… then BOOM! Car explodes – and we cut to a jerky, handheld shot that goes on for about a minute with tons of cued extras running around. Graceful to jerky. Good visual storytelling.
The following two fluid masters are sort of bookends of a much larger sequence.
Here’s the first of those two (patience – might take a second or two to load up):
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When Heston leaves to go make his phone call to the lovely Janet Leigh, Welles’ character frames his suspect. When Heston returns…
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The blocking in those two sequences alone is amazing – watch how the compositions of each performer are perfectly framed and constantly rearranged. The set is claustrophobic enough, but throw in all those performers and a camera much larger than those used today… that they pull the scenes off as gracefully as they did is remarkable.
Janet Leigh had this to say about her experience with Welles:
“It started with rehearsals. We rehearsed two weeks prior to shooting, which was unusual. We rewrote most of the dialogue, all of us, which was also unusual, and Mr. Welles always wanted our input. It was a collective effort, and there was such a surge of participation, of creativity, of energy. You could feel the pulse growing as we rehearsed. You felt you were inventing something as you went along. Mr. Welles wanted to seize every moment. He didn’t want one bland moment. He made you feel you were involved in a wonderful event that was happening before your eyes.”
It’s that kind of care and approach to craft that exemplifes the idea of this column, and, unfortunately, more and more feels like it truly is a lost art.
LOST ART OF FILMMAKING: BASIC INSTINCT
LOST ART OF FILMMAKING: OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
LOST ART OF FILMMAKING: SNEAKERS
LOST ART OF FILMMAKING: THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS
LOST ART OF FILMMAKING: HARD BOILED
LOST ART OF FILMMAKING: 48 HRS
LOST ART OF FILMMAKING: JAWS
FILMMAKING IS FADING
Hitchcock’s ‘Rope’ is equally profound it his use of actor movement and framing in single shots.
ROPE’s a good one to be sure. Hitch did it as an exercise just to ’see if he could.’
Hitchcock’s ‘Rope’ is equally profound it his use of actor movement and framing in single shots.