A film by Will Mosley, 2020. All the films

A wide view of the auditorium: red seats, gold ceiling, graduates in caps and gowns facing the stage

Film · Jacob Graduates · 2020

My brother graduates.

Will films his brother Jacob’s graduation day: the walk downtown, the ceremony in a red and gold hall, Jacob talking about what comes next, and a few words from his older brother. Shot and cut by Will into 9 minutes 42 seconds.

  • 9:42running time, published on YouTube January 28, 2020
  • 77shots, counted by scene detection on the film file
  • 2.1sthe median shot, quick downtown, patient in the hall
  • 49sthe longest take, at 1:30: the ceremony on stage, left to play

01 · The span

Downtown, the hall, the walk out.

The day in three parts: getting there, the ceremony, and the afternoon after. Nine frames in film order, with the film timecode under each.

Getting there

  1. A downtown corner under a bright sky, a street sign for College0:33
  2. Jacob in sunglasses, pink braids against the sky0:42
  3. A striped tie and headphones around his neck, close up0:46

The hall

  1. The balcony and red seats filling with families2:46
  2. Graduates in red caps facing the stage2:54
  3. A speaker at the podium, the faculty seated behind2:58

After

  1. Bracelets on his wrist against a white shirt5:25
  2. Jacob in a white shirt and tie in a parking garage6:42
  3. Will and Jacob outside, mountains behind them8:22

02 · The hall

Red seats, gold ceiling.

The ceremony is shot wide and from the seats: the hall glowing, the balcony full, the graduates small against the stage. It is about being there as much as what happens up front.

The gold coffered ceiling of the hall, lights glowingThe full hall from the seats, graduates in red and blue

The moving frame at the top of the page is the hall at 9:14. It plays without sound; the film itself is below.

03 · In his own words

Jacob talks about what comes next.

Jacob says he felt good about graduating, then a little stuck a few days later, and that the challenging stretch taught him a lot. Now, he says, it should be smoother sailing.

Jacob talking to the camera, sunglasses onJacob looking down on a downtown street

Frames at 2:22 and 6:35.

04 · From a brother

Someone there to see it.

Will closes the film talking straight to the camera. He remembers how much it meant to have someone witness his own graduation, and he says it plainly to Jacob: you did it.

Will talking to the camera at home, string lights behind himWill and Jacob outside under a cloudy sky

Frames at 8:00 and 8:19.

05 · The cut

77 shots, one milestone.

Every bar below is one shot, as wide as it runs on screen. The long bars are the hall and the talks; the short ones are the walk downtown and the crowd spilling out after.

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 2.1 seconds. Will’s own shot sheets for the film, which merge the shortest flashes, list 76.

06 · Watch

Jacob Graduates, in 9:42.

Jacob Graduates, the film: the balcony and red seats of the hallPlay the film 9:42
Watch the film on YouTube ↗

Meet Will

A milestone, filmed from the seats.

Every film here was shot and cut by Will.

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

CreditA film by Will Mosley, who shot and edited it. Jacob appears as himself; Will’s brothers gave their okay for this page. The film includes archival material, which stays in the film: no archival frame is used as a still or loop here. Published on Will’s channel in 2020. Stills are cropped to the picture; on screen text from the original upload is left out.