1:03
1:52
2:35
2:42
3:28
5:20
6:24
6:34
7:46“You really know how to make a grown women cry. The site looks just beautiful. Something I have wanted to tackle for a long time. Your skill level and professionalism is something to marvel at.”Anne Willis, de la terre Skincare
A film by Will Mosley, 2019. All the films
Film · Downtown · 2019
A rainy day. No plan.
Will and Stoven roll through downtown Asheville on a grey, wet afternoon. The idea was a short lesson on filming openings and endings. The day had other plans and walked them into an arcade. Shot and cut by Will into 8 minutes 17 seconds.
- 8:17running time, published on YouTube November 26, 2019
- 79shots, counted by scene detection on the film file
- 2.3sthe median shot, quick on the street and in the arcade
- 94sthe longest take, at 6:02: Will explaining the street shot trick in one go
01 · The span
Rain, neon, then night.
The film walks out of the rain and into the glow. Grey streets, a ride across town, the arcade, and the lights coming on outside. Nine frames in film order, with the film timecode under each.
The rain
1:03
1:52
2:35
The arcade
2:42
3:28
5:20
Night
6:24
6:34
7:46
02 · The rain
Most people stay in. They went out.
The rain sets the look: wet streets, low grey sky, warm light inside the windows. The camera ducks in and out of it with them.
Frames at 1:01 and 0:56.
03 · The arcade
Nobody planned the arcade.
Will says it in the film: there was no way to know an arcade was coming, and it made the film better. Inside, the color takes over, and the cut speeds up with it.
The moving frame at the top of the page is the umbrella, at 0:18. It plays without sound; the film itself is below.
04 · The lesson
Ten seconds. Walk a block.
In between the fun, the lesson survives. Set a tripod at a corner, angle it a little for drama, record ten seconds, walk to the next block, do it again. Save one for the opening and one for the ending.
05 · The cut
79 shots, one detour.
Every bar below is one shot, as wide as it runs on screen. Watch the middle tighten as they walk into the arcade, and the long bar near the end where Will stops to explain.
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: 79 shots, median 2.3 seconds. Will’s own shot sheets for the film, which merge the shortest flashes, list 75.
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.