A film by Will Mosley, 2018. All the films

A long freight train rolling past a crossing, Will skating alongside it on the road

Film · Near Miss · 2018

This close. Then the rest of the day.

The film opens on a car Will never saw coming, caught on his own camera as he ran across the road. Then it keeps going: a stop at the hotel where he used to work, a freight train, a lesson on light and grain, and a lake at the end of the day.

Then shoot anywayThe middle of the film is about the moment after an idea, when the doubt sets in, and deciding to shoot anyway.

  • 8:29running time, published on YouTube October 16, 2018
  • 156shots, counted by scene detection on the film file
  • 0.4sthe median shot; 57% of the shots last under a second
  • 62sthe longest take, starting at 1:44

The film, cut down

The ride, in six, fifteen or thirty seconds.

A board rolling up to a hotel entrance, berries and flowers up close, a freight train crossing the road and a skater riding beside it, then the lake and the dock

01 · The day

A crossing, a train, a lake.

One day, from the close call in the crosswalk to the dock at the end. Six frames in film order, timecode under each.

The close call

  1. Will in his galaxy hoodie, a hotel driveway behind0:20
  2. A black car swinging through the crosswalk3:32

The middle

  1. A freight car tagged with graffiti rolling past4:12
  2. Will talking to the camera under the trees3:00

The end

  1. A grey dock reaching into a lake under green hills7:20
  2. Will close up by the water8:04

02 · The near miss

He never saw the car.

The film starts with the moment itself, played back from his own footage: the run across the road, the car already moving. He says it plainly: his own fault, and closer than he knew.

A black car swinging through the white lines of a crosswalk
A street corner, parked cars and a brick buildingA freight car’s wheels crossing the road

Frames at 3:32, 3:28 and 3:56.

03 · The train

Then the long wait at the crossing.

A freight train holds up the road, and the film turns it into a set piece: graffiti cars sliding through the frame, and Will on his board riding alongside it.

A white freight car covered in graffiti, rolling past a signal gantry
Will looking back over his shoulder, the train beyond him
A hopper car crossing the road, seen from the asphalt

The loop at the top of the page plays without sound. The film itself is below.

04 · The lesson

Light, grain, and doubt.

Between stops he teaches. ISO is digital light, he says, and pushing it too far fills the picture with grain; later he shoots a dark scene on purpose to show it. Then he talks about the harder part: the doubt that sets in right after an idea, and pushing through it.

Orange berries on a green bush, shot close
A red fire hydrant cap in close-up

05 · The lake

And the day ends by the water.

The last stretch slows right down: a lake under green hills, a dock, the wind on the water, and Will talking quietly at the edge of the frame.

A grey dock reaching into a still lake, two chairs at its end, green hills behind
The lakeside path and lawn under a big sky
Will’s galaxy hoodie against the trees and a blue sky

06 · The cut

156 shots in eight and a half minutes.

Every bar below is one shot, as wide as it runs on screen. The near miss and the train are quick and stacked; the talks and the lake run long.

Each bar is one shot, as wide as it runs, in film order

Counted with scene detection (ffmpeg, scene score over 0.35, frames scaled to 480 wide) on the film file. The median shot is 0.4 seconds. Will’s own shot sheets for this film, made at the same threshold, list 119.

07 · Watch

Near Miss, in 8:29.

Near Miss, the film: the lakeside path under a big skyPlay the film 8:29
Watch the film on YouTube ↗

Meet Will

Every film here was shot and cut by Will.

This one is part of the films he makes about his own life: friends, family, and the days that go somewhere he did not plan.

All the films →See the work →

Next film: Enough →

CreditA film by Will Mosley, who directed, shot and edited it on a Canon SL2. Published on Will’s channel in 2018.