How To... Shoot a Promo in One Take

I think every director at some point has admired a one shot. Goodfellas or Werckmiester Harmonies must have crept into their heads or hearts at some point.

Why wouldn't you want to do something like that?  It’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages because it’s elegant and mesmerizing.  Downside, getting it right is also arduous and terrifying.  

Which might be the reason it’s not an overly-used technique. Children of Men and Birdman are inspirational, the horrendous Snake Eyes less so… you can go back as far as Paths of Glory and Touch of Evil to find inspiration for a great one shot. It allows you to watch a piece of film without having to imagine or force the passing of time, to follow the story in an unbroken strain. When it’s shot in the right way and works well with the story and score, it can be remarkable.

I'd written a short film based on The Call of Cthulhu (written by HP Lovecraft, above) a little while ago and had wanted to find a reason to make it for years. It seemed like the idea could fit well with a promo so when the chance came, I rewrote it specifically for The Sherlocks.  I made it work around the lyrics and wove the band into the video, arranged as much as we could in terms of casting, rehearsals, wardrobe and the dreaded location, and at the same time was thinking about how to make everything more difficult by trying to shoot it in one long shot. 

On shoot day, half an awesome team turned up at Botany Bay to make shit happen. The other half got caught in a 5-hour traffic jam on the M-something-or-other and we cancelled... on day one.  How not to shoot a promo in one shot.  

Thankfully, we managed to get (almost) the same team together a week later, and had another go. 

At first it was going to be a shoot by scene affair - the one shot would only take us from the start of the film up to the band playing, then go a little crackers and we could start cutting it up a bit. But after a first (and utterly disastrous) day, I thought this would work better as a one shot. An utterly weird but seamless three minutes. I talked to the steady-cam op, who thought that walking through the sand, in questionable British weather, weaving in and out of five set-ups with no breaks might, just might, be a bad idea.  

Practice Makes Perfect

Cut to the second more successful shoot day – and a new steady-cam op due to availability in the form of the wonderful and very steady Tom English – and he asked me why we weren’t filming it in one shot. Why indeed. So we gave it a go and had a morning of rehearsals. Here’s the first bit of advice… if you are planning to shoot a short film, a promo, ad or whatever in one shot… rehearsals ideally need to be over a couple of days. Not hours. Sadly, we didn’t have the time or budget, to allow that luxury.  It might look dreamy and easy when you’re watching your favourite one shot clips… it only looks like that because those poor fuckers on screen have been rehearsing for about 5000 hours. If your budget only stretches to one day, and let’s be honest when does it ever stretch further, prepare yourselves for a tough day ahead.  

Regardless of how much time you have one thing is essential: the entire cast and crew must know their lines and their marks impeccably, and understand the overall flow of the story you’re trying to tell over the course of the shot. Just like a stage play once rolling, you can’t pipe up and start yelling reminders. There can be no mistakes, no fumbles, no hope of cutting a shoddy bit out later in the edit.  

For a promo especially, the timing has to be perfect, unless you want an awkward blank screen for the last 10 seconds of the song. The music is playing and everyone needs to stick to it second by second. Any mistake that happens, you need to reset and start from the beginning. This happened a couple of times in the last few seconds… and it was brutal.  Without Mr English and the focus puller staying on point every time we ran through, this wouldn’t have happened. Doing that while walking backwards in sand.. double brutal.  

Location, location, location...

Much more than your average shoot, it’s worth thinking pretty carefully about your locations. We had the weather to deal with which is no surprising thing in England, but also had to think about the creeping tide. With every hour passing we had the chance of being cut off from the mainland. Maybe not quite as dramatic as drowning but probably sacrificing a few thousand quid's worth of kit…. But it put us against the clock with how much time we had. If you’re resetting every time someone makes a tiny mistak, the pressure is on.  

One for the Team

Another thing to consider, particularly with promos, is the inevitable requests once its shot that you need more time ‘on the band’ or ‘the dance bit is a bit shit, how do we change that’.  You need to have a really fucking great post team on your side to help navigate those changes without having to cut anything into it and losing the one shot.  Luckily I had the kids at Coffee & TV to help with that, and help they did.  

So think about your team.  If the crew aren’t up for it, and as excited as you are, don’t waste your time.  The most important thing is to surround yourself with people who know how you work, get the idea, and are up for the challenge. While you can’t please every YouTuber, I’m really happy we made this little film and despite the shocking first shoot and pant-shittingly challenging second shoot, it was worth it.    

Without the right support, you’re nothing.