Movies are the ultimate storytelling experience. Unlike a book there are visual and sonic aspects that can be crafted by a director into the perfect experience. The experience of watching a movie shares many similarities with playing a video game, although without the active participation. Movies may be adaptations of a book, an original creation, or even a part of a greater saga of films like Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
My original plan for this blog was to go and see a new movie to write about, but since I have been staying at home I plan on talking about a unique film that came out last year, the one shot war film 1917. But first I want to discuss the storytelling craft of movies as a whole.
It Starts with a Script
Movies have all of the elements previously discussed in books, games and video games. A movie usually starts with a script, which is similar to the dialogue written for a play. Unlike a book, however, there are no descriptions of the locations or what the characters look like. These aspects will be taken care of by the visuals on screen and are not included in the script. A great example of this can be seen in Star Wars A New Hope. After the storm troopers clear the boarded ship in the beginning of the film Vader walks on screen to a fanfare of music. His walk through the ship and the moment where he chokes the rebel officer looks like this in the script:
The evil Darth Vader stands amid the broken and twisted bodies of his foes. He grabs a wounded Rebel Officer by the neck as an Imperial Officer rushes up to the Dark Lord.
Darth Vader, arguably one of the most famous villains ever created, had that sparese of a description for his reveal. Realizing that moment on screen is not part of the script, that is on the Director once the film starts production.
Making the Movie
Making a movie is an astoundingly complicated process that is not easily summarized. For the sake of simplicity I am going to split the process into 3 major steps:
Pre-Production
Filming
Post Production
Pre production happens in the months leading up to the shoot. Here is where the script is given to the director and the work is done with the core filmmaking team to plan out making the movie. The blog Studio Binder has a great list of the steps usually involved in Pre-Production
Lock the shooting script
Finalize the budget
Form a new company (not always applicable)
Hire key department heads
Break down the script
Storyboard and shot list the scenes
Scout and secure locations
Cast actors and hire crew
Get permits and insurance
Schedule shoot days
Perform a tech scout
Arrange for equipment rentals
A lot of the steps in pre production, like hiring a crew, aren’t that glorious but are essential steps in the process. The key step here is 5 and 6: Breaking down the script and Storyboarding and shot listing the scenes. This is where the script is moulded into the framework that will be shot during filming. Storyboarding is the process of sketching out what each scene might look like. Famously, Mad Max Fury Road didn’t even have a script and only made storyboard shots for each scene. Some examples from Mad Max are below.
Those of you who have seen the movie might even recognize these scenes from the movie. Each of these images represents a shot in the film, which are then “cut” together from the footage gotten during filming. These steps in Pre-Production are all in preparation for the actual filming.
Filming is what everyone thinks of when talking about making movies. This is the part where the scenes are shot with the actors on set. Most films are not shot in the order the scenes take place, and all of the raw footage here will be turned into a movie in post production. Filming a shot from the storyboard is not an easy process, and lots of work goes into shots sometimes even seconds long. Every shot is designed to tell a story, and most of the aspects are authored by the filmmakers. The image below is from a scene in fight club, and it is crazy how complicated the setup to film is.
In post production the film is turned into a final product. The list of tasks during post production is long, ranging from making the music to adding computer graphics to color correcting the footage from the shoot. Here time is spent doing the labor needed to follow the creative vision of the director and craft the story they want to tell. Each of these steps here involve hundreds of people working in unison to follow a creative vision. It is quite impressive and one of the reasons why movies are such a great storytelling format.
Storytelling in a One Shot Film
I talked about shots before in the storyboard. Each of those storyboard shots are connected through what are called “cuts” between each “shot”. A cut just means an instant jump to a different recording, whether it is a different camera angle or a scene change. 1917 does something unique when compared to normal movies in that it has no cuts. The camera follows the two characters of the film in real time in a striking similarity to video games. They don’t actually film the whole thing in one shot and use some editing tricks to hide the cuts to give the illusion of a one shot recording. For example, if the camera passes across the side of a building enough that none of the characters can be seen, chances are they hid a cut there.
For a war film like 1917 I think the one shot film added so much to the storytelling. We don’t often realize the horrors that happened during the first World War and the lack of cuts kept you on the edge of your seat while watching. Not only that, but 1917 focuses on the journey of the main characters, and the lack of cuts means the audience is along for the whole ride. It was truly an amazing storytelling experience done mostly through visuals and sound and a great example of the magical storytelling of movies.
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