It was an early morning exactly one week before Christmas, our eyes were set on the most ambitious project we’d done to date and all the pieces were in place, the only thing left was to roll camera and have everyone hit their mark. This day was months in the making, and it started with a simple question:
What if we do it in one take?
A single continuous shot that follows the journey of a bunch of humble beets plucked from the Earth and transformed into a dish for waiting guests at a gala, and the camera travels along overhead catching the process in its entirety.
When we pitched this idea, we had chosen to present it first as, Concept One—accompanied by my crudely drawn sketch—but expected it to be passed on. We thought we might as well swing for the fences. Much to our surprise, it was accepted. Naturally, the next question that arose:
“Oh, shit. Now what?“
Now the timer counting down to our production day begins and the pieces of this massive puzzle—many of which we don’t yet know exist—need to align. Slowly and steadily we grew our roster: copywriter, cinematographer, production designer, wardrobe and stylists. Grips, gaffers, jib operators, sous chefs, plating specialists and assistants. Even two actual farmers (who lent us their truck & soil)!
When you’re doing a single take film, things get complicated, quickly. Here’s a comparison from the initial sketch I cooked up to the one from our illustrator:
Keep in mind, I’m comparing the overview of the whole set vs. just the kitchen portion, but the detailed specifics were so important that we decided to enlarge the kitchen portion to keep updated notes and make sure our talent and crew were all on the same page.
This project is a result of the contributions of more than fifty individuals. To see the vision come to life is exciting and especially when you get to create something with a solid team of cast and crew in all phases of production.
In the very early stages of production we were confident we wanted to work with David Baron as cinematographer and Allan Mott as copywriter for this project. And after we had our initial meeting, we came out of it realizing we needed another crucial creative partner who could help achieve this vision through and through, and that was our production designer, Malorie Shmyr.
Working with people who understand your vision is important, so important that if you don’t share the same vision, you’re not making the same thing. Throughout this campaign we have learnt some valuable lessons about working with a large team including: clear communication, organization, creative problem solving and confidence in your voice.
We were in production from December 16-18. Day 1: the crew spent all day moving in, bringing in the dirt and gravel and soil, setting up the farm tables, and the banquet area. Day 2: where we set up the tracks for the dolly to roll along, work with our talent from the kitchen and banquet scenes, assign wardrobe, create the lighting for the individual scenes, and choreograph everyone’s actions. During our pre-production meeting, we had come to the conclusion we would achieve our desired take by the 20th attempt. And as luck (or skill) would have it, we managed to get it with all cast and crew hitting their marks and giving the right performance on the seventh take. Though we still went overtime, it was an amazing feeling to wrap up this worldwind of a day on set. My producing partner and I shared a moment of pride that we had managed to pull off our first major show without it falling apart.
So to answer the question that started this blog post: You run with it!
I’d like to thank all the individuals who lent a hand, provided support, and offered their time to work with us on this project. And last but not least, a huge shout out to our clients, Mevisha Maistry, Lauren Andrews, Melissa Radu, Serge Belair, Francis Derick and all the staff from Edmonton Convention Centre who went above and beyond to support this endeavor. Thank you!