NAISSANCE STUDIO
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We opted to tell the story from one camera. It works for the story and the world we live in today. There’s this relentless onslaught of news for the CNN generation, and we wanted the film to look similar. The footage would have all the dirty, shake, and rumble that those revolutionary camera shots we see pouring in from camera phones and hand held camcorders around the world do. It would glitch and distort, and most importantly feel dangerous. It’s the gritty nature that makes the story that much more believable. It’s not James Bond, it’s something else. And it’s this grit that allows the main character of Jim Jones’ murderous plea to the camera before horror sets in, to feel heartfelt.
With that said, we also wanted it to look cool. I’ll admit that some of my favorite films, simply look cool and we wanted One Shot to feel the same. The feeling was that instead of trying to hide our limited resources, we would celebrate them. We would embrace the fact that we only had one camera. We would embrace the fact the movie was shot entirely in one take - admittedly we got it in the second take on behalf of the camera man falling over during the first one, and I’ll even admit that I was that camera man. What we would also celebrate was that we were working with some of the most talented actors I have ever seen. That’s why every time we release another piece of the film, they are at the forefront of what we show off. They are the center stage, or down in the trenches, in every poster, thumbnail, and glitch.
With the story and the art in place, it was the embracing of limited resources that pushed us even further. At the studio we create motion graphics on a regular basis and felt that we could do that with our film. It was the motion graphics that lent themselves to the oil spill documentary inside of our movie. The oil spill footage was all sourced by government recorded video of actual oil spills. This way, there was no need to fake it. When you see that sea turtle dying, it’s actually dying. There is no need to fake that with the subject matter. It’s heavy. It’s real. It’s not glossy.
Being that the internet is teaming with amazing resources like Andrew Kramer’s presentation of Video Co-Pilot, there are so many tools at your disposal for those of us with limited resources, or *cough, micro budgets. It was here we were able to find news templates and tweak them to our liking. It was also this fantastic resource that proved the building blocks for the music found in the documentary as well as the opening and closing titles. In a perfect world, John Williams or Danny Elfman, or some other amazing composer like Michael Giacchino will write something just for you. But for many of us, that’s simply not an option. Video Co-Pilot and resources like Smack My Glitch Up can provide you the do it yourself building blocks to get up and running.
That said, we wanted to set the tone for the film with the opening titles. The sequence would include the duality of what we meant by the film’s title “One Shot.” When we say duality we mean that the film was shot in just one shot, but we also reference the one shot it takes to murder someone - therefore making a statement, a warning to everyone else. We first allude to this by intercutting one shot of a gun in between the glitched footage of the oil spill news coverage. The glitches also make a special note of the timecode in the lower left hand corner, which is left in the film as a story-telling technique.
The timecode gives the user reference to the overall story arc, which is cross cutting from two different sections of the same shot. Each one counting backwards almost as if it’s the countdown on a time-bomb. It heightens the drama but also gives you a frame of reference as to where you are in the story and the shot.
Towards the end of the Opening Title Sequence we also give a disclaimer as the two main characters begin their dialogue. The disclaimer is a warning timed in to the discussion of the green movement for the environment, immediately laying the groundwork for the film’s plot.
Finally, the film ends with a closing title sequence. Here we could announce everyone else who really had a hand in the making of this film. We could put their name in lights so to speak as a thank you. However, we also took this opportunity to give clues, frame by frame, as where the story goes from here. We let you in on the fact that this is just the first of many recorded interviews about to happen. The list is an element used here along with blood, glitches, and devastation of the oil spill. As we crescendo to the end of this sequence we cut in one final scene. We referred to this as our PS I Love You scene, where we see that Jim and his band of extremists are continuing forward with their work. Also, just a small subliminal touch in the lower left hand corner is a new timecode. This time ticking forward.
We love films and we love title sequences. The art form as a whole is maybe my favorite thing about the human race. That we can tell stories to one another. That we can record our history - our culture. The stories can be about love, war, change, insignificance or planets in a galaxy far, far away. Together, the photography, the words, the music, all come together to give us an amazing picture of what we are capable of: imagination.
One Shot - Trailer
One Shot - Opening Titles
One Shot - End Titles Sequence
One Shot - Poster
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Article written by Nick Trivundza, writer and director of One Shot, a movie filmed entirely in one day, in one shot.
Propaganda
First and foremost I’m a designer. I always have been, or at least as far back as I can remember, and I always will be. Design keeps me up at night. I’ll lay there thinking about something striking that I saw that day. I think about the who’s, the what’s, and the why’s. Why did it leave me thinking about it at 3AM?
Secondly, and maybe more importantly I’m also a storyteller. It’s a family tradition that has always been a fundamental building block in the way that my family relates, from parents to my aunts and uncles, grandparents, my brother and sister, and cousins. We tell stories and talk. So when I design, I also think about the story it tells.
So when my studio Naissance embarked upon it’s first film, design was ingrained into the story that we would tell. With the narrative that our film is telling it implies everything. The story is set after a massive and destructive oil spill has just taken place in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, an extremist kidnaps the CEO responsible and forces him to give a news reporter an honest interview before otherwise he’ll assassinate him on camera. Heavy stuff I know, but there are reasons for this.
The story itself is doing something that many of us in our anger at seeing the devastated beaches, birds covered in oil, wiped out marine life and finding out that another species has gone extinct at the never-ending hand of human economy, wish we could do. We want to make a statement that says, “you cannot destroy our only world any longer in the name of money.” We have to set a standard and allow our world to survive, if not for ourselves, than for our children.
So what does a movie like that look like? What does the news coverage look like? How will the story be told?
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The Art of One Shot