A film by Will Mosley, 2020. All the films

Film · 2020

A day at the orchard, shot standing up.

Filmed in vertical, start to finish, and told almost without words.

Will pushing a stroller up a grass row between young apple trees, walking away from the camera

A family day at an apple orchard in the mountains. The drive up, the rows of young trees, flowers and a picnic table, the drive home. The whole film is vertical, 1080 by 1920, and music carries it from start to finish.

  • 9:58running time, published on YouTube September 28, 2020
  • 73shots, counted by scene detection on the film file
  • 7.0sthe median shot, the slowest of these five films
  • 9:16a vertical frame, 1080 by 1920, for the whole film

01 · The day

Up the mountain and back.

The film runs in the order of the day. Eight frames, each one full height, with the film timecode under it.

  1. The road ahead, mountains low on the horizon under a wide sky1:02
  2. A long view over wooded hills to blue mountains1:56
  3. A hand-lettered sign in the grass asking drivers to watch for pickers on foot3:32
  4. Will walking down a gravel path with a backpack5:33
  5. Will pushing a stroller into the orchard rows, seen from behind6:15
  6. A yellow sunflower against a grey sky7:50
  7. Laura in overalls walking a gravel lane between trees, seen from behind7:55
  8. A hand on the wheel on the drive home9:40

02 · Small things

Close on the little moments.

Much of the film is close detail: a flower bed, a donut in hand, the checked cloth on a picnic table, a branch of the young trees. The tall frame suits them.

Zinnias and marigolds in a planter
5:05
A hand holding a sugared donut
5:18
A red and white checked tablecloth
5:42
A young apple branch, leaves against the sky
6:40
A watch on a wrist, an arm resting at the car window
2:00

03 · The farm

Gravel lanes, rocking chairs, a tractor.

Between the rows, the camera takes in the farm itself: the country road in, the porch chairs, a tractor pulling a wagon down the lane.

A country road curving past green fields
Rocking chairs on a porch, one white
A tractor pulling a wagon down a gravel lane

04 · The sound

Music, almost no talk.

Read the film’s own caption file and nearly every line is music, cues and song lyrics. There is no narration. The songs set the pace, and the long shots let them play.

05 · The cut

73 shots, left to play.

Every bar below is one shot, as wide as it runs on screen. Fewer cuts than any of these five films, and longer ones: the median shot runs 7.0 seconds.

Each bar is one shot, in film order

Counted with scene detection (ffmpeg, scene score over 0.35) on the film file: 73 shots, median 7.0 seconds. Will’s own shot sheets for the film, made the same way, list 71.

06 · Watch

The whole day, in 9:58.

The Orchard, the film: a sunflower against a grey skyPlay the film 9:58
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 →Farming Hemp

CreditA film by Will Mosley, who shot and edited it. Published on his YouTube channel September 28, 2020. Camera: Canon SL3, per the film’s YouTube tags.