It almost goes without saying at this point, but Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) has a lot of things going for it. From its stellar performances and interestng themes right on down to its jazzy, drum-heavy score, it’s one of the best films to come out this year, but perhaps the most talked about aspect of the film for some time has been the way it was shot, or the way it appears to have been shot: as one continuous take with seemingly no cuts for the majority of its runtime.
Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and the rest of the Birdman team worked hard to achieve the effect, using a combination of long takes, camera movements, and editing tricks to make it happen. The final product is technically marvelous, leaving the audience in awe of this latest piece of movie magic.
In the video below from Variety, Steve Scott, the film’s digital colorist, discusses his role in creating a digital intermediate (DI), including isolating certain areas of a scene, playing with saturation, contrast, and brightness, and turning certain objects into the focal point of the frame, among other things. Then he transitions into talking about how all that plays into the film’s seamless look, including how he worked with the editing staff and Lubezki to create a film that unspools as though it is largely one single take.
“I talked to our editor and I said, ‘Okay, where are those moments where you would never notice a cut?'” Scott recalls to Variety‘s Tim Gray. As he tells it, that place is in the pan. “So, let’s go into the middle of the pan and cut there, so by the time we get settled, we’re in the midst of the shot.” And there you have it.
Check out the full video below to learn more about the process, including a discussion about one scene in particular that appears simple, but was actually one of the more difficult ones to finalize in post-production.
