A film by Will Mosley, 2018. All the films

The rainbow flag hung across the stage at Pack Square, the arches of the bandshell overhead

Film · Unexpected Pride · 2018

He went downtown. He found Pride.

Will set out on his board with no plan for the day and rolled into downtown Asheville in the middle of its Pride festival. So the film changed course: the stage, the crowd, the music, and a story he had been meaning to tell about his first roommate.

No planNothing about the day was scheduled. The film follows it in the order it happened, and lets the detour become the story.

  • 9:32running time, published on YouTube September 30, 2018
  • 167shots, counted by scene detection on the film file
  • 0.3sthe median shot; 62% of the shots last under a second
  • 74sthe longest take, starting at 8:17

The film, cut down

Pride downtown, in six, fifteen or thirty seconds.

The Pride stage under the bandshell, a guitarist and a harmonica player in front of the rainbow flag, a performer in blue hair and Will at the old bell

01 · The day

Out the door, into the square.

The film starts on an empty road and ends on a bench, telling a story. In between it rolls into the festival and stays a while. Six frames in film order.

Setting out

  1. Will crouched on an empty road under a big sky0:28
  2. Will grinning into the camera, the festival crowd behind him2:24

The square

  1. The rainbow flag across the stage3:36
  2. A performer crossing the square, a crowd seated on the bricks5:04

The story

  1. Will resting on his board in the shade6:32
  2. Will leaning in by an old bell, smiling7:40

02 · The ride

One board. Nowhere to be.

The day moves at board speed: low angles on the road, sidewalks rolling past, Will talking to the camera at arm’s length. The camera rides with him the whole way in.

Will crouched low on an empty road, trees and clouds behind
A mint green bike lying on the bricks downtown
A painted wall close up, red and blue on weathered concrete
Will sitting on his board in the shade, looking away

03 · The square

Then the flags were everywhere.

He did not know Pride was on until he was standing in it. The film takes in the bandshell, the music on stage and the crowd spread across the bricks, mostly in wide shots that let the whole square in.

The rainbow flag hung across the stage under the bandshell arches
A performer in pink crossing the square, a seated crowd beyond
The stage seen from the side, the flag and the trees behind it

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

04 · The story

Then he tells the one about Gary.

Away from the noise, Will sits down and talks to the camera about his first roommate, who was nervous to come out to him, and how little it changed between them. The film lets him tell it start to finish.

Will by an old bronze bell, leaning toward the camera
Will in close-up in the late light, a parked car behind him

05 · The cut

167 shots in nine and a half minutes.

Every bar below is one shot, as wide as it runs on screen. The ride in is a quick string of moments; the square and the story get the long bars.

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 0.3 seconds. Will’s own shot sheets for this film, made at the same threshold, list 124.

06 · Watch

Unexpected Pride, in 9:32.

Unexpected Pride, the film: a performer crossing the square, the crowd seated beyondPlay the film 9:32
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: Near Miss →

CreditA film by Will Mosley, who directed, shot and edited it on a Canon SL2. Filmed at a public festival in downtown Asheville. Published on Will’s channel in 2018.