When Robert Altman directed his Hollywood -Satire ”The player“In 1992, he opened the film with a elaborate choreographed shot that ran eight minutes and introduced the audience to several key people without an average. Altman’s long tag was immediately celebrated by critics and Cinephiles, and while” The Player “not necessarily a film as directors as directors as directors as directors Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen Growing up idolizing, it was definitely on their mind when it was time to make their own comedy that lace the Hollywood studio system.
“That opening really inspired us,” Goldberg told IndieWire about an upcoming episode of filmmaker Toolkit Podcast When you talk about ”The studio“His and Rogen’s apple TV+ Series about a Hollywood Executive (Rogen) trying – and mostly fails – not to destroy the art form he loves. After Altman’s example, Rogen and Goldberg not just decided to open their show with a demanding, intricate Oneer – they designed each scene throughout the show to play for an unbroken tag.
“If you do something about Hollywood, something technically difficult is claiming your position as someone who has someone right to talk about this,” Rogen said. “‘The player’ does. He does one of the most difficult things you can do, and now he will make fun of movies in the next two hours. But he makes it clear from the position for someone who understands every intricate and challenge to filmmaking.”
Goldberg and Rogen’s methodology also help to serve the story, as their camera’s frenetics – which constantly darts back and forth and moves in and out to follow the action without cutting – gives a sense of the emotional state of the hardened execs working in the studio. “We want you to feel the panic and stress,” Goldberg said. “There is no better way to plunk you right in it, and if you are in it you don’t cut to a wide shot.”
“Your head is on a swivel and you are trying to keep up with what is happening,” Rogen said. “It was a way to see Hollywood through our lens – literally, because we use only one lens all the time, a rather wide lens that replicates what you take in when you stand there looking at people talking.” The lens that Rogen and Goldberg shot the entire series on-with exceptions for just a few shot-was a 21 mm lens on which they landed with the cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra after testing several different focal lengths.
“We decided for 21mm because it is quite broad, but it does not distort too much,” Newport-Berra told IndieWire, leaving that he embraced the limitation of shooting with a lens. “It takes another element from the conversation so we can focus on the camera movement and block. We know what our field of vision is so that it is a close -up.
Newport-Berra experimented with different focal lenses in an attempt to vary the look, but “we realized very quickly that it was completely unnecessary, so we just dug it. I think there may be three pictures in the show that is another focal length, and I regret it.”
Rogen credits Newport-Berra by inspiring him and Goldberg to lean into the discipline in their shooting concept. “He really pushed us to engage us even harder,” Rogen said. “He was the one who was like,” a lens, a camera. We shouldn’t even have a second camera, because we will be tempted to use it if we have it. We should really paint ourselves into this corner. “
While the crew was limited to a camera and an objective most of the photography, there was an exception: today’s filmmaking legend Martin Scorsese showed up to film his Como as himself. “Seth was pretty nervous that Scorsese would show up and be insulted that we only had one camera for him,” Newport-Berra said. “It was once Seth was like,” we must have two cameras on set. We must have two operators. ”
When it was time to shoot the stage, however, there was no need to pull out the other camera. “Scorsese showed up in the morning and Seth said,” Ok, Marty, we will shoot this in a shot with a camera, “said Newport-Berra. “And Scorsese said:” Good, I love it, “and the other camera never saw the light of day. Marty loves Oneers and he loves strong approaches, so he was completely down for it.”
To imagine the entire show as a series of Oners was somewhat rogue and Goldberg incorporated into the writing process right from the start, much to Newport-Drera’s relief. “I have done big Oneers in movies and television programs, and I often think the idea comes after the script has been written,” Newport-Berra said. “So I picked up very quickly,” You have to write for a Oneer, you have to make sure the material is favorable for this. “And they were quick to say,” Oh, yes, we have already thought about it. “
According to Rogen, it helped to ensure that the scenes worked in a way stricter than the typical writing process. “It made us very difficult on the scenes,” Rogen said. “Is it good enough? Is it too long? It was instructive whether the scenes actually worked or not, because if it was too long you would really feel it.”
“Even more, we had to be like,” What is the shot that this scene ends up at? “, Goldberg added.
Goldberg and Rogen usually shot between 16 and 22 shoots of each stage and each stage developed on a set according to input from everyone involved, from the actors and Newport-Berra to the editor. “Eric Kissack was on set of live editing,” Rogen said. “He would be like,” I would trim some leave. And I would probably cut that line. “We would cut down the scene when we shot it, in principle.”
How planned the shots would be due to the requirements of each individual scene; Sometimes actors were given great freedom to move in any way, but on other occasions Rogen and Goldberg told them exactly where they would stand and when. “We would take hours to practice the stage, and sometimes we wouldn’t even shoot before lunch, which made people nervous,” Rogen said. “And then we would shoot 12 pages at once. When you started, you just couldn’t stop, and what’s good about it is that you have no broken speed.”
Obviously, the approach made extreme demands on not only the crew but the actors. “They realized that they had to show up completely outside the book,” Newport-Berra said. “They had to show up ready to rock, and they had to continue to do so for many times and have that endurance. It is the same way that marathon runs. Do not burn you in the first three or four take. We would have guest actors who would deceive when we started repeating, but when they came in the rhythm, they would not take a game until
The pressure to pull off oners had the extra advantage of combining the actor and the crew in a difficult common goal. “It was a real team effort, and everything could ruin,” Rogen said. “Each department had to work together in a really cool, cooperative way, because no one wanted to be the one who ruined this giant thing.” “It felt like a sport,” Goldberg added. “Like the end of a hockey game, everyone said in the dressing room:” We did it! ”
The team made the boundaries between role and crew more fluid than on a typical production, according to the filmmakers. “Often came the best idea from someone you wouldn’t expect,” Newport-Berra said. “Actors would have ideas for pictures or my key grip would have an idea to block that would completely solve the problem. Everyone saw what we did and everyone could see it on the monitor, so anyone who was attentive could have a good idea on the set. Which I think is really special.”
The “studio” flows on Apple TV+. To make sure you don’t miss Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s upcoming episode of Filmmaker Tolkkit, make sure you subscribe to the podcast of AppleThe SpotifyOr your favorite podcast platform.
