For our first screening of 2020 we treated members to a very special screening of 1917, followed by a Q&A with director Sam Mendes. And as if that wasn’t enough, we also brought Alfonso Cuarón in to moderate.
Sam and Alfonso discussed the amount of preparation that was required for such long takes, the continued relevance of the First World War, and why you shouldn’t be sat there wondering where the cuts are.
Relive the event by reading our live-tweets below.
That was the incredibly powerful @1917FilmUK! And now we’ll be hearing from the director Sam Mendes #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Sam is being questioned by fellow director Alfonso Cuarón #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Sam begins by telling that he’d originally never planned to write a script. But spending time in the writers room for his two Bond films inspired him #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
But in another sense this project has been gestating his whole life, because it’s informed by the stories of his grandfather, who fought in the war #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
His grandfather always told Sam that he’d wrote a novel by the time he was 18, but he never did. In a way this film is his late fulfilment of that prophecy #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Alfonso says that WW1 clearly has a relevancy today, 100 years on. Why is that? #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Sam says that WW1 is a huge part of the British psyche and you grow up aware of the tragedy of that lost generation - it’s in every village memorial, in the poetry and history you study at school #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
The time of WW1 was the end of one period in history, as several empires began to collapse. And that feels especially relevant today as well #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
It’s not why he made the film, but it does seem especially relevant today against a backdrop of the American and European empires seemingly on the verge of collapse #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Sam says that Kubrick appears in his mind whenever he’s making a film, like a dark elf saying ‘I’d do it better than that’. Perhaps all directors have that?! #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
First World War films are usually about the tragedy of sending these men over the top in the first place, and so it often focuses on the generals. He didn’t want to do that again #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
He was looking for a different way to tell the story of this conflict. His way in was finding this event where there were two very different possibilities of whether or not the enemy was still opposite, and neither the characters or the audience knows which one is true #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
The idea of filming it in one shot, or so it looking like it was one shot, came later, and was a way of creating immediacy #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
The idea is that you’re there with the characters, and you’re focusing on them and what they’re going through rather than wondering where the cuts are #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Casting also plays a part there. If it was Leonardo Di Caprio you’d be thinking, well he’s probably going to survive this. But by having such young actors you’re never quite sure #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Sam and Alfonso are discussing the work of DoP Roger Deakins. They made scale models of various scenes so they could experiment with lighting #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
The whole film was designed from the lighting outwards #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
There’s a tonal shift in the film from realism, or compressed realism, to something more mythic - and that shift is signalled by the change in lighting #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Roger is meticulous, and they spent days prepping each scene. That was on top of rehearsals and other forms of prep #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
They had 6 months of prep - it was a kind of utopia for a director! #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
It meant they could bring actors and other crew into production meetings as and when they were needed, in order to join everything together #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
And they were blessed with actors who were interested in that process. It meant that when it came to filming, everyone was so well prepared that it just came naturally #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
They started off with a blank field and then walked the journey with the actors, marking things like, ‘this is where he turns left’. The trenches were then dug and sets built based on those initial walks #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
That comes from his background in theatre #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
The hardest part was the first scene, where the main character reads a letter. It was hard to give the actor and himself permission to actually read it - not skim it to speed up the scene, but to actually take as much time as is necessary to read the letter #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Once they cracked that it was possible to extrapolate that out to the rest of the movie #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
It challenged him to be as economical as possible and made him realise how sloppy he’s been on other films #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
In many ways his early instincts as a director on American Beauty were correct but they’ve been watered down over the years as he’s added unnecessary cuts for what he thought were sound directorial reasons #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
With 1917, he decided that if it ever felt like a scene would be better with a cut, then the scene was wrong and it needed to be rethought, even to the extent of rewriting it #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
They had to wait for the correct light for various scenes, or else there wouldn’t be any continuity. But that meant they could rehearse #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
They had to wait for the correct light for various scenes, or else there wouldn’t be any continuity. But that meant they could rehearse #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
But there were some happy accidents at times, with light that they couldn’t have planned for that ended up elevating a scene #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Sam’s usual day on set begins with playing some music, and spending some time alone or with his producer in his tent. That wasn’t possible here. They had to get on with it #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
There was one thing after another to organise, and the extras were all there cheering the main actors on - it was gladiatorial in a way #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Things would go wrong. People would trip over or bump into things and the whole take would be ruined #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
But the main issue with that wasn’t a technical one, it was a performance one - you had to stop the actors from dwelling on what was lost in a unusable take, and just move on to trying again #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
You have to remember that some of these actors - some quite big ones- were doing scenes that mostly involved sitting there until the couple of seconds they were needed #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
They might not even see the camera because it’s behind them or focused somewhere else. It’s a very odd experience and unlike anything they’ve done before. One said it was like taking part in a historical reenactment #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
They had a normal script but then another one that consisted of maps explaining the physical geography of everything, including camera positions. This was given out to the cast as well #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Talking about guiding performances in long takes, Sam explains that daily communication is key #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
He’d often ask the cast to do a take for themselves. They thought he was rehearsing the camera but he was rehearsing them too and he’d be able to give them little bits of advice in a non-pressurised way #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Sam explains that the music helps establish tempo and momentum in the first half of the film, but it backs up the tonal change in the second half #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Directing the Bond films made him less afraid to use music in that way #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
That’s a wrap! A huge thank you to Sam Mendes and Alfonso Cuarón for that fascinating Q&A. @1917FilmUKis out in cinemas tomorrow #DUK1917
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) January 9, 2020
Our members certainly enjoyed such a fascinating discussion between two great filmmakers:
I've long thought that the @Directors_UK events team are amazing, but they've excelled themselves with tonight's Q&A screening of #1917film with Sam Mendes, hosted by *actual* Alfonso Cuarón. pic.twitter.com/y2W3hkPvxD
— Chris Presswell (@ChrisPresswell) January 9, 2020
Only 2 weeks in to 2020 and @Directors_UK have pulled this off. Feeling very lucky. pic.twitter.com/zS9Hp6sgIt
— Robert Hackett (@RobertHackett1) January 9, 2020
A rare privilege to spend this evening in the company of Sam Mendes and Alfonso Cuarón as they generously and gleefully discussed Sam's gripping and astounding new film @1917, on release from tomorrow.
— Mike Rymer (@Mike_Rymer) January 9, 2020
Thanks @directors_uk 🤗 #DUK1917 @1917FilmUK pic.twitter.com/nj6K1EKBR4
Wow. #1917Film was captivating, visceral, immersive. Great achievement from #SamMendes and his massive cast and crew. And one of the best Q&As I’ve ever seen hosted by @alfonsocuaron Big thanks to @Directors_UK and @entonegroup pic.twitter.com/S6zfcuhLft
— L_e_x_i_c_o_n (@Lexiconartist83) January 10, 2020
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