This movie seems like it is filmed in one shot. One very long shot.
Sam Mendes’ upcoming feature film, “1917,” follows the journey of two British soldiers tasked with transporting news across devastated WWI landscapes and behind enemy lines to another British battalion of 1600 troops to warn them of their impending annihilation.
Mendes’ vision for the project was creating a movie experience that truly allows viewers to experience the war vicariously through the two main characters, young British soldiers. To do this, Mendes enlisted the help of Oscar winner Roger Deakins as a cinematographer to create this single-shot movie.
In a behind-the-scenes Youtube video, Mendes commented on why he felt the film is best taken in a single continuous shot. “I felt this movie should be told in real-time,” he said. “I want people to understand how difficult it was for these men.”
In achieving a seemingly seamless one-shot movie, the cast encountered many difficulties. Weather, for instance, proved to be a formidable challenge. To film, they needed cloudy skies to avoid any inconsistency that the sun would bring. In the behind the scenes video, cinematographer Roger Deakins remembers the mornings in which the sun would be out, forcing the cast and crew to rehearse until it was gone.
Additionally, the concept of a seemingly one-take movie is not a novelty to the big screen – feature films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope” and in recent memory Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Birdman” in 2014 wowed viewers with it’s protagonist centric imagery. However, what separates 1917, according to Mendes, is the sheer size of the production. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Mendes describes how his sets paralleled “the staggering destruction” caused by the war, as well as the action sequences requiring much coordination and timing.
This war thriller, set to be released in December of 2019, promises to be a true epic and a defining step into creating truly immersive viewing experiences. Whether it will continue to prove the viability of creating these one-shot movies is still undecided, but it is sure worth the watch