A film by Will Mosley, 2019. All the films

The pond at dusk, the dark outline of the Biltmore House against an orange sky

Film · Biltmore · 2019

Two friends. One estate at sundown.

Will and his friend Stoven spend an afternoon at the Biltmore. They skate the paths, lose an hour on the grounds before they ever reach the house, and stay until the sky goes orange and the moon comes up. Shot and cut by Will into 10 minutes 57 seconds, framed wide like a feature.

  • 10:57running time, published on YouTube November 14, 2019
  • 77shots, counted by scene detection on the film file
  • 3.2sthe median shot, long enough for the place to breathe
  • 63sthe longest take, at 4:24: down the brick ramp in one unbroken run

01 · The span

Golden hour to moonrise.

The film is built on the light. It arrives in late gold, wanders the grounds as the sun drops, and ends in the blue after dusk. Nine frames in film order, grouped by the light, with the film timecode under each.

Arrival

  1. A skateboard rolling along a gravel path3:06
  2. The long lawn leading up to the Biltmore House3:33
  3. Stoven grinning with the house behind him3:42

The grounds

  1. Stoven skating down a long brick ramp beside a stone wall4:26
  2. Stoven leaning over a balustrade, the lawn behind him6:04
  3. Will on the lawn at dusk, the moon small in the sky6:40

Sundown

  1. Will spinning with the camera on the forecourt at dusk6:52
  2. Will and Stoven laughing, the house facade behind them7:50
  3. An orange and pink sky over the mountains10:40

02 · The grounds

An hour on the lawn before the house.

They meant to tour the house. The grounds kept them: the brick ramps, the balustrades, the long lawn. The camera rolls along with the boards and lets the wandering be the story.

Stoven skating down the brick ramp, other visitors far off
Stoven smiling with the house and the autumn trees behindWill turning with the camera on the forecourt

The moving frame at the top of the page is the pond at sundown, at 6:34. It plays without sound; the film itself is below.

03 · Two friends

Close enough to share the frame.

As the light fades the camera turns around. Will and Stoven crowd into one wide frame with the house over their shoulders, and the talk does the rest.

Will and Stoven close to the camera, the house facade behind them in blue light
Will and Stoven at 7:32.

04 · Inside

Then the doors open on the decorations.

Inside, the film slows down for the house dressed for the season: garland, lanterns and a tall decorated tree.

A tall decorated tree beside carved stone and mounted antlersLanterns and green garland under a carved arch

Frames at 8:52 and 8:56.

05 · The cut

77 shots. Held long.

Every bar below is one shot, as wide as it runs on screen. The wide bars are the long takes: the ramp, the pond, the selfie at dusk. Short bursts sit between them like breaths.

Each bar is one shot, in film order

Counted with scene detection (ffmpeg, a cut wherever the scene score is over 0.35) on the film file: 77 shots, median 3.2 seconds. Will’s own shot sheets for the film, which merge the shortest flashes, list 73.

06 · Watch

The estate, in 10:57.

Biltmore, the film: the long lawn leading up to the Biltmore HousePlay the film 10:57
Watch the film on YouTube ↗

Meet Will

A place, filmed by its light.

Every film here was shot and cut by Will.

All the films →See the work →
Next film: Downtown →

CreditA film by Will Mosley, who shot and edited it. Stoven appears as himself; his own film is here. Published on Will’s channel in 2019. Stills are cropped to the picture; on screen text from the original upload is left out.