You don't have a dolly, a steadicam stabilization system, or a gimbal, but maybe you have a tripod and a camera. It's more than enough, really, but you need a story. That's what this short film, "Incident by a Bank," is all about. The story has been carefully orchestrated and recorded as a single 12-minute long take from a camera on a tripod.
The film was shot back in 2009 and was written and directed by Ruben Östlund. The script is based on a real event that happened in 2006 witnessed and video recorded by himself. He utilized a 5K-capable camera and except for the in-camera panning he used digital zoom in the edit. Although the quality decreased, the story compensated for that.
All you see is a carefully blocked scene where about 90 people helped recreating the event. According to Östlund, there were "only 14 takes." His normal take count was about 40. Imagine what kind of choreography is involved in that sequence, and that 90 people did the same thing over and over again for more than a dozen of times until they got it right.
Once again this short proves that story is king, especially a good one. A great director also helps, and some gear too, but the latter is not that important.
[via DIY Photography]
Really great!
Very well told story!