A film by Will Mosley, 2018. All the films

Will in a fur hat in the woods, sun breaking through autumn trees behind him

Film · 2018

Out in the woods, counting what is already here.

Thanksgiving week, 2018. Will skates to a trail, walks down to a creek and talks to the camera about gratitude, owning less, his kids and Laura. Then he skates back out and drives home.

  • 11:45running time, published on YouTube November 22, 2018
  • 59shots, counted by scene detection on the film file
  • 2.3sthe median shot, quick cuts around long talks
  • 81sthe longest single take, one thought held start to finish

01 · The walk

In, around and back out.

The film is one outing. Into the trees, a long talk by the water, then the road home. Nine frames in film order, with the timecode under each.

Into the woods

  1. Bare branches against a blue sky0:23
  2. Will in a fur hat beside a fast creek1:10
  3. Will talking in autumn light, gold leaves behind him2:40

The talk

  1. Will mid-thought, one hand raised, bare woods behind4:20
  2. Will reaching for a branch while he talks4:50
  3. Will beside a red footbridge9:00

Back out

  1. Will in black and white, sun flaring past a tree9:50
  2. A road at golden hour, a car passing11:18
  3. A green highway sign for Asheville against a blue sky11:22

02 · The talk

Just him, and the lens.

Will talking to the camera among green rhododendron

Most of the film is Will close to the camera, often in one unbroken take of a minute or more. He thinks out loud about what he already has, and about giving his attention to the people around him.

How can you take what you already have and just use it more?

Will, in the film

03 · The woods

Bark, moss and moving water.

Between the talking, the camera drops close to the ground: a mossy trunk over the creek, a fallen log, branches with the last leaves on them.

A mossy tree trunk leaning over a creek
Close on the bark of a fallen logDark branches with the last leaves, blue sky behind

04 · Black and white

When he moves, the color drops out.

The skate in, the walk through the trees and the sun through the trunks are cut in black and white and framed wide, so the talks in full color stand apart.

Will skating across a gravel lot in black and white, cars and tall trees behind
0:30
Tall trees in hard black and white
6:25
Will moving through undergrowth in black and white, sun behind the trees
8:29
Will beside a tree, the sun flaring into the lens
9:50

05 · The cut

59 shots, some a minute long.

Every bar below is one shot, as wide as it runs on screen. A burst of quick cuts opens the film, then the talks run long and the bars go wide.

Each bar is one shot, in film order

Counted with scene detection (ffmpeg, scene score over 0.35) on the film file: 59 shots, median 2.3 seconds. Will’s own shot sheets for the film, made the same way, list 57.

06 · Watch

The whole walk, in 11:45.

Enough, the film: Will in profile in a fur hat, autumn woods behindPlay the film 11:45
Watch the film on YouTube ↗

Meet Will

Every film here was shot and cut by Will.

The films on his channel, each one with its own page.

All the films →See the work →
Next film →No Plan

CreditA film by Will Mosley, who shot and edited it. Published on his YouTube channel November 22, 2018. Camera: Canon SL2, per the film’s YouTube tags.