Dunkirk Beach Scene from Atonement: WOW!

[DWB1960]

Amazing piece of film making. The scene and an explanation of how it was done can be found here.

http://www.steadishots.org/shots_detail.cfm?shotID=298

I use to think that the Copacabana scene from Goodfellas was as good as it gets in this regard. Not any more.

[Pfeister]

Have you seen Children of Men? There are some long shots in there that will keep your eyelids glues open. Absolutely incredible cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki! There's a war scene near the end that goes on forever (10-15 min if I'm not mistaken). Not having the camera cut away builds intensity like you wouldn't believe. It feels like you don't have time to breath.

(I majored in film when I went to art school. I actually kind of miss talking about this stuff)

[airwarrior]

When it comes to cool film sequences, I've always been fond of this scene from Waterloo:


The scene really starts at 1:48, but my favorite bit is from 3:24 to 4:08.

This scene's not too shabby when it comes to epicness either:

[DWB1960]

Originally Posted by airwarrior

When it comes to cool film sequences, I've always been fond of this scene from Waterloo:

I'm talking about how the entire 5 minute scene is uninterrupted. There are no cuts at all. It's one long continuous shot.

[Bluedawg]

Originally Posted by Donnie B.

I'm talking about how the entire 5 minute scene is uninterrupted. There are no cuts at all. It's one long continuous shot.

Cool work ...

Check out Hitchcock's Rope ... only one or two cuts in the whole movie .. amazing.

[soulohio]

the scenes from Children of Men are breathtaking. The car crash scene is incredible. I also am amazed at the Dunkirk Beach scene. The coordination and execution of a scene on that scale... amazing and beautiful. That soldier crying on the beach, although it is only a few seconds draws my attention to everything that is happening everywhere else for some reason...

[The Golden Boy]

Originally Posted by Donnie B.

I'm talking about how the entire 5 minute scene is uninterrupted. There are no cuts at all. It's one long continuous shot.

Sorta like the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" video.

[soulohio]

Originally Posted by The Golden Boy

Sorta like the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" video.

another spot of pure brilliance

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by Pfeister

Have you seen Children of Men? There are some long shots in there that will keep your eyelids glues open. Absolutely incredible cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki! There's a war scene near the end that goes on forever (10-15 min if I'm not mistaken). Not having the camera cut away builds intensity like you wouldn't believe. It feels like you don't have time to breath.

(I majored in film when I went to art school. I actually kind of miss talking about this stuff)

it's a truly breathtaking shot, but apparently it's not one continuous shot though it looks like it.

However, the commonly reported statement that the action scenes are continuous shots[63] is not entirely true. Visual effects supervisor Frazer Churchill explains that the effects team had to "combine several takes to create impossibly long shots", where their job was to "create the illusion of a continuous camera move." Once the team was able to create a "seamless blend", they would move on to the next shot. These techniques were important for three continuous shots: the coffee shop explosion in the opening shot, the car ambush, and the battlefield scene. The coffee shop scene was composed of "two different takes shot over two consecutive days"; the car ambush was shot in "six sections and at four different locations over one week and required five seamless digital transitions"; and the battlefield scene "was captured in five separate takes over two locations". Churchill and the Double Negative team created over 160 of these types of effects for the film.[64] In an interview with Variety, Cuarón acknowledged this nature of the "single-shot" action sequences: "Maybe I'm spilling a big secret, but sometimes it's more than what it looks like. The important thing is how you blend everything and how you keep the perception of a fluid choreography through all of these different pieces."[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childre...shot_sequences
Don't take away from the brilliance of it

[Mayo5]

I loved Atonement. Such an overall well done and powerful film.

[DWB1960]

Originally Posted by Mayo5

I loved Atonement. Such an overall well done and powerful film.

Agreed. I was in awe of it while watching it. And the chemistry between the 2 leads was amazing. They sizzled in some of those scenes.

[iamdavea]

I read that, for Atonement, they got 2 & 1/2 takes of the beach scene, after which the Steadicam operator was exhausted. But they apparently got what they were after. And a big +1 for Children of Men, which is film craft at its best. Though it is perhaps the most grim film I have ever seen. And I say that with admiration, because it takes a lot of commitment to the material--and the audience--to stick to such a desolate take on our condition.

[The Golden Boy]

Originally Posted by iamdavea

I read that, for Atonement, they got 2 & 1/2 takes of the beach scene, after which the Steadicam operator was exhausted. But they apparently got what they were after.

From the camera operator-

The final take used in the movie was Take 3. We attempted a fourth but my timing was off and I missed my footing on the steps leading up to the bandstand. In a shot such as this, once the camera stops dead the shot is pretty much unusable....
... Much has been publicised in print about how the Steadicam operator "collapsed" or even "fell over" which was claimed in some reports. All slightly melodramatic representations of what actually happened but I suppose that every movie needs its myth and legend

[iamdavea]

I hate it when the truth gets in the way of a good story!

[joolzriff]

my Grandad got caught at Dunkirk Beach by the Nazi's.....i'm glad i caught this clip,always tried to vision what that scene was like that day