The Film 'Birdman' Looks to be One Long Continuous Shot

*No Spoilers, I will just go over the way this film was shot

Birdman was shot in a way where the entire movie felt like it was one long shot as well as one take.  After seeing all the Nominations and Awards this film is getting I decided to watch it for the first time over the weekend.  I have never watched anything like this before! I am amazed by the amount of preparation and practice it must have taken to pull this off so well.

Here is a scene from the movie so you can get a feel of how this was shot in an unorthodox way.

After doing research about how this movie was filmed I was surprised to find out that they shot the film within thirty days. They shot in portions of seven to fifteen minutes. 

Here are quotes by Star Michael Keaton that shows how in sync the cast and crew had to be for this film to work: 

"Anything—a misremembered line, an extra step taken, a camera operator stumbling on a stair or veering off course or out of focus—could blow a take, rendering the first several minutes unusable even if they had been perfect.  You had to be word-perfect, you had to be off script, and you literally had to count your paces down to the number of steps you needed to take before turning a corner," "Everyone would apologize perfunctorily if they messed up ... mostly because we were aware of how hard it was on the camera operators, and the camera operators didn't want to screw up because of us."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/birdman-how-it-was-filmed-2014-10#ixzz3PVkiC100


Unfortunately the Director Alejandro González Iñárritu & DP Emmanuel Lubezki didn't give away too much about how they shot this movie so fluidly, but did mention they used quick "Pan" shots as their cuts.

The Grand Budapest Hotel: Set Design Done Right

Over spring break, I was lucky enough to visit the AMC movie theater in NYC. What’s special about this theater is that, unlike the normal, relatively comfortable seating that is generally in movie theaters, this place had beautiful, plush, reclining seats. I cannot begin to express to you how much more enjoyable my movie experience was, and I would go into further detail, but I don’t want to get sidetracked.

What I really wanted to talk about was the movie that I saw. I went to see the Grand Budapest Hotel, written and directed by Wes Anderson. If there were a way to describe this movie, I would say that it is very “Wes Anderson” (if that makes any sense). The entire movie was very fast paced both in dialogue and in action. The storyline was interesting and there were a ton of stars such as Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, and of course the short appearance of Bill Murray. But although the story and cast were captivating, the real star aspect of this movie was the set design and art direction. The entire film was flooded with bright colors and large, detailed spaces. Here are a few pictures to show what I am referring to:

If only for the set design and art direction, I would highly recommend you see this movie. The colors are beautiful and detailed. The cinematography is creative and the costumes are fitting. I would also highly recommend seeing this film in a movie theater because all of these things are much better seen on such a large screen (and of course if you can go somewhere with comfy reclining chairs, I would recommend that too).

Ed Norton

    Recently, I rented 25th Hour starring Edward Norton on Itunes. I saw parts of the movie in the past and my friend recommended it on Thursday. The movie follows a drug dealer, Montgomery Brogan (Edward Norton), that is caught by the DEA and the 24 hours before his seven year jail sentence are highlighted. The movie is directed by Spike Lee and the lighting and cuts are unlike many movies. The large streets shots in NYC are very dark and Lee plays with shadows by lighting entire streets and having wide shots. Also, there are many scenes where one action is followed by the same action but from a different angle. For example, in the beginning of the movie when Montgomery Brogan slams his trunk closed, the shot is from behind him and the trunk closes and then the next cut is to a side shot and the trunk is closed again. This style is disorienting to the audience and it made me realize that I was watching a movie instead of seducing me through the story.

Edward Norton has always been one of my favorite actors. Movies such as American History X, Fight Club, and Moonrise Kingdom could easily be in my top ten favorite movies list. I find it very strange that many people say that I look like certain celebrities. Over the years I've gotten Asher Roth, Ryan Gosling, Benjamin McKenzie, Kevin Cusack, and recently, Edward Norton. Some of my friends at school now call me Ed. I know this seems strange because 1.) I don't think I look much like Edward Norton, 2.) I've received so many comments on actors I look like but I often disagree and 3.) a "you look like John Cusack" comment insults me. My roommate Conor said, "You don't look exactly like Edward Norton but you look like him more so than others." This is a strange comment but I've recently begun to understand that I do look more like Edward Norton than others. I recommend that people begin to watch multiple Edward Norton films if they haven't seen them yet. The post below me is about Fight Club and Edward Norton is gaining more and more attention.

Moonrise Kingdom

In my small suburban town in New Jersey, there is a theatre that plays only low budget films; the movies that wouldn’t exactly be a blockbuster hit. This past summer I saw a lot of great independent films there: To Rome with Love, Friends with Kids, etc. But one movie I saw I am still thinking about today. And that movie is Moonrise Kingdom. I did go into this movie a little biased since I love Wes Anderson and the cast also drew me in; Bill Murray, Ed Norton, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand. The movie blew me away, it exceeded my expectations. It takes place in 1965 and stayed authentic to it’s time throughout the whole movie. The costuming was detailed, and the soundtrack was flawless. The island that the characters lived on was beautifully designed and it didn’t confuse me at all, and made sense location wise. 

Moonrise Kingdom is about two preteens who fall in love with each other via snail mail and attempt to runaway together. Their romance is only one aspect of this plot, with the chaos of the dysfunctional adults handling the situation making up much of the story. (Bill Murray of course played his usual depressing, alcoholic character who is the father of Suzy.)  Sam, the male protagonist is an orphaned boy scout living on an island with his troop for the summer. Although his romance with Suzy was adorable, I wasn’t too fond of Sam. It’s usually very hard for me to enjoy a movie when I can’t sympathize or relate to the main character however, the other characters made up for his lack of connection. 

Basically, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who hasn’t seen it. It’s not only aesthetically pleasing but the hilarious quirky characters make this movie very enjoyable. 

Movies and goals.

This summer I stayed at Ithaca working for campus center and event services.  I was very busy and worked over time for five weeks.  This left little time to watch movies and television.  This semester I want to start watching more television and movies again, but at the same time I want to broaden my horizon.  Looking at Mubi amazed me by the size of its collections with classics that I really need to see like Chinatown.  Also coming into the school year I bought American History X and The Boondock Saints 1 and 2.  I really love all three of the movies.  What I love about American History X is how it switches between using color and black and white.  I think it is a really brilliant way to tell the story.  My goals for the class are to create the best projects I can.  I am hoping to be able to write some scripts for some of the projects and see where they end up.  I am very excited for the class and I can't wait for the projects to get underway.

Watching More Movies

         I spent my entire summer working as a camp counselor and had no time to watch television or movies. When I had free time at camp, I would often sit with my friends and talk about movies. I soon found it hard to engage in conversation because I realized I hadn't seen many movies. For example, a thirty minute conversation about No Country For Old Men came about and I just sat there awkwardly because I was the only one that hadn't seen the movie. I compiled a list of movies I wanted to see which includes No Country for Old Men, but I never took the time to watch the movies. Some other movies on the list include True Grit, There Will Be Blood, Tree of Life, The Birds, Deer Hunter, Children of Men, Silence of the Lambs, and many others. Recently I watched The Big Lebowski for the first time and thought that everything about the movie was excellent. I'm a big fan of the Coen brothers and the cinematography and writing was excellent. The all star cast made the movie amazing and the absurd characters give you a view into the strange world of bowling. I also saw Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom last week in an indie movie theater near my house. The film was truly amazing in all aspects. Wes Anderson's unique cinematography was unlike any movie I've ever seen and it made me want to go out and film something in a way that has never been done before. Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, and Bill Murray put on a great performance as well. Like The Big Lebowski, the characters in Moonrise Kingdom were absurd and nontraditional by any means. The child actors in the film were amazing and when I searched for some of them on IMDB, I learned that many of the actors hadn't had much past acting experience in movies. Two more movies are off the list and I plan to watch a movie every day after I finish my school work. Over the years, I re-watch movies that I own on DVD but I need to expand my interests and make an effort to watch the classics and learn more about movies. I plan to create a never ending list of movies gradually watch as many movies as possible. In my film analysis class, we watch movies that break the norm and classic movies that every film student should watch. I'm exciting to see those movies and expand my knowledge in the world of cinema. I'm open to any suggestions as well.

-Matthew Clifford Hadley