1917 (2019) — continuous-shot illusion
See our character’s iconic-scene parody →Two soldiers carry an order through trenches and no man's land, and the whole film is joined to look like two long takes, so it feels as if the audience is walking beside the hero in real time. Borrow it when you want to show an urgent journey that has to reach its destination in time with full immersion.
In an American Cinematographer interview, cinematographer Roger Deakins said that when he saw "conceived as one shot" written at the top of the script, he was skeptical at first, but it was exactly the right approach for this film.
To recreate it: AI clips are stable at around 5 seconds, so split them into "one action per clip" and use the last frame of the previous clip as the start frame of the next.
According to Wikipedia, Deakins and editor Lee Smith joined long takes and meticulously planned moving shots so that the whole film looks like two continuous shots.
To recreate it: Put a person passing in front of the lens, or a dark doorway, in the last 0.5 seconds of a clip, and cut on the frame that is most covered.
In the American Cinematographer interview, Deakins said that a Dragonfly rig, built by Steadicam operator Peter Cavaciuti, let them run down the trench with the camera facing backward.
To recreate it: If you write that the camera retreats in front of the characters, as in 'stabilized camera moving backward in front of two soldiers', it can keep the characters' faces in frame even in a narrow passage.
Deakins also described a shot in which two grips unhooked the camera from a Technocrane of about 15m, carried it on foot, and rehung it on another crane on a vehicle on the other side, so the shot ran on for over 400m.
To recreate it: Don't put a big move with changing height into one clip; split it into a "coming down clip" and a "following on foot clip" and join them with a hidden cut.
Because many scenes are in daytime, Deakins judged that every scene had to be shot under a cloudy sky to be joined together, and said that when the sun came out they only rehearsed, and when clouds came in they shot right away.
To recreate it: Lock 'overcast flat daylight, soft shadows' in every clip so the shadow direction doesn't jump from cut to cut.
According to Wikipedia, about 1 hour 6 minutes into the film, when the hero loses consciousness the picture cuts to black, and it brightens again as he comes to after night has fallen.
To recreate it: If you break to black only at the one place where the time of day changes greatly, it won't feel awkward even if the light differs before and after.
In the same interview, Deakins said he hardly changes the LUT he made long ago for the Alexa camera from project to project, and used the same LUT for 1917.
To recreate it: If you apply one LUT identically to all generated clips, the color the model gave each cut differently gets tied together like one film.
Cinematic multi-shot sequence, 15 seconds total, one continuous take hiding its cuts. Shot 1 (4s): gimbal shot gliding backward ahead of a young soldier in a muddy early-20th-century uniform running down a crowded trench, ending as another soldier crosses the lens; Shot 2 (4s): starting blocked by a soldier's back, the camera follows the runner up a wooden ladder onto a cratered field; Shot 3 (4s): wide tracking shot sideways alongside him sprinting across an open muddy field; Shot 4 (3s): the camera follows close as he ducks into a pitch-dark dugout, the frame going almost black before an oil lamp reveals the bunker. Consistent soldier, overcast flat light, desaturated earthy color matched between shots, urgent mood.
Because no cuts show, the audience cannot skip time and has to endure the soldiers' time as it is. The director chose this approach so the audience would feel the urgency of the journey. He joined several long takes with blends, matching actor positions and camera speed, and shot only on overcast days to keep the light continuous.
A young soldier in a muddy early-20th-century uniform runs toward camera down a narrow, crowded trench, squeezing past other soldiers; the camera glides backward ahead of him at his pace, and at the end another soldier crosses directly in front of the lens; overcast flat daylight, desaturated earthy color.
Starting fully blocked by a soldier's back crossing the lens, then revealing the young runner in a muddy uniform climbing a wooden ladder out of the trench onto a cratered field; the camera follows behind him at the same pace, 40mm lens, overcast grey sky, desaturated earthy color.
Wide shot of the young soldier sprinting across an open muddy field toward a distant treeline as smoke shells burst far behind him; the camera moves sideways alongside him at his speed, flat overcast light, desaturated earthy color, large-format cinematic look, fine detail.
The young soldier ducks into a pitch-dark dugout entrance and the frame goes almost black for a moment, then a flickering oil lamp reveals a cramped underground bunker; the camera follows close behind him, 35mm lens, warm practical lamp light, desaturated earthy color.
Put "a person passing in front of the lens" or "a dark doorway" in the last 0.5 seconds of a cut, start the next cut from the same occlusion, and join them as an invisible cut on the most covered frame (cover with a 3–6 frame dissolve if needed). Write the same camera speed and direction in the prompt of every cut to keep match on action, and keep one ambient track of footsteps and distant artillery running to hide the cut points for the ear too. As in the original, handle the one big time jump with a single fade out and in through black.
AI clips are stable at around 5 seconds, so split the action into "one cut, one action", and use the last frame of the previous cut as the start frame of the next to carry over the characters, clothes, and mud. As the original waited for overcast days to match the light, lock 'overcast flat daylight' in every cut, and match the leftover color differences by shot-to-shot color matching in editing. Join the 480p drafts first to see that the occlusion positions and speed match, then commit.
Wikipedia — 1917 (2019 film) · American Cinematographer — Lives Under Siege: The Goldfinch and 1917