Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins commentaries on 1917 (2019)
It just gets better and better! As I watched Sam Mendes talking through the film, and explaining the rationale for various scenes, the incredible vision for this film became more and more apparent. They really had to think outside the box to make this work. A lot of people would have just said that it couldn’t be done. For example, the usual timeline of filming was rejigged to better suit the objective of this film. E.g. much of the film was filmed in the order of the story, whereas one of the first things that you learn when you get interested in making films is that frequently movies are shot in a different order to the story, partly due to location constraints and lighting etc. However, the lighting in this film is intended to look like the day is continuous, so you can’t just pretend that the light has suddenly changed, it really needs to flow gradually. Also, the trenches couldn’t be built until the scenes set in them were fully rehearsed and set down timewise since the length of the trenches had to match the time it took to say the dialogue. So, they marked it all out in the actual field with coloured tape and the actors rehearsed until they got the pace, delivery and beats just right, and THEN they dug the trenches.
When you watch behind the scenes, and hear the commentaries, the whole camera movement technical wizardry becomes apparent. ARRI even brought forward the development of 3 prototype cameras so that they could be used in this film. They were particularly light cameras, but still of high quality, because the constant movement meant that having cameras not weigh as much was a major consideration.
I'm very much enjoying Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins' commentaries, and am looking forward to watching the rest of them.
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