Les Miserables shooting style

[jimhare]

Saw Les Miserables last night. Not interested in what camera shot it, but was very interested in the shooting style.

I thought it was fantastic and am not here to criticise any part of it, but did find some things interesting.

Since all the singing was recorded live on set it affected the shooting style. They clearly didn't want to cut between different takes too much as it would interrupt the free flow and individual characteristic in each.

There were lots of ECUs that held the shot sometimes for an entire song and often for 30+ seconds at a time. My guess is because they knew they wouldn't be cutting much and wanted to keep the intimacy as much as possible.

This was very interesting. Was somewhere between a movie and live coverage. You could see the focus searching in and out within single shots and the audience was sometimes begging for a cut to keep the momentum going. Sometimes there were slightly awkward transitions into camera moves that would usually be cut around. But the lack of cuts did give a fly-on-the-wall perspective much of the time.

From a musical point of view, recording vocals live was fantastic. There was a truth and fluidity to it I haven't seen before. Having said that, while on the emotional and subtlety side it was great, when they had to really belt it out it felt like they were holding back. There was almost no chest voice at all, it was almost all head voice.

I have a feeling this was because when you have a 50 piece orchestra backing you up you naturally rise above it, but in this case they had a soft piano in an earpiece in an otherwise silent room and I think this made them hold back a bit. There was a lack of passion in the strong moments where I would have preferred to be pushed back in my seat. The music never got strong and was mixed far back in the mix, my guess is so it wouldn't overwhelm the vocal performance.

Again, I'm not here to criticise, I thought it was executed beautifully and they made some brave choices. It's also a form of shooting in its infancy and I will be interested to see how it evolves.

Anyone else see it and feel anything about it?

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You see the strengths and weakness of such an approach -- on the plus side, the line separating the acting from the singing has been eliminated, making possible that extraordinary performance by Anne Hathaway of that one song. She may win an acting Oscar for what amounts to a single singing take in a movie, but what a great take!

The downside is that there aren't a lot of angles possible because you have to edit everything to match the single take you chose, more or less (I'm sure some blending of partial takes is possible but for the most part, you are seeing a circled take, usually of a close-up where the sync matters the most, and any other angle is either from a second camera or such a wide shot that you can take the sound from the close-up and apply it to the wide shot.)

So it works better in a ballad-type song where a close-up is expected rather than a dance number with singing, where camera choreography and dancing in wide shots become as important as the singing. But this isn't really a dance-type musical.

 

[jimhare]

Well said David. Your insights are always so valuable here!

I'm guessing the ensemble pieces were done to a fixed tempo, which would have made it much easier to cut. I felt the scene in the factory was a bit underwhelming as an ensemble piece, seems like they could have done some more intriguing setups even if it meant pre-recording the track.

I think I would have tried pre-recording the ensemble, blasting it on set and then drop out to capture solo lines live using the ear pieces. While we gain intimacy I do think we compromise energy with the approach they took.

Only problem is they would no longer be able to claim 100% live singing.

I did like what they were able to do at the barricade.

Would be interesting to study scene by scene. Would love it if there were commentaries on the Blu-Ray.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Everyone sang to a live piano accompaniment in an earpiece so that the tempo would stay correct. I'm curious about the three-way singing scenes whether everyone in the shot was recorded live and that was the sound used, or if the person in the background (even if recorded live) was synced in post to the song recorded in their close-ups (unless they managed to shoot their close-up while covering the other two people's close-ups at the same time.) I'm thinking of the scene where Cosette and Marius sing in the f.g. while Eponine sings in the background below them in the street.

 

[Elijah Kelley]

Saw Les Mis Thursday...I really enjoyed the movie. On the shooting style
the focus searching and lack of cuts was at times very distracting. It reminds me
of when I first saw extended hand held scenes in movies.

I suppose because of the initial (and sure to be continued) success of the
film there will be many who duplicate this style and if popularized then we
may get used to it?

 

[Elijah Kelley]

Everyone sang to a live piano accompaniment in an earpiece so that the tempo would stay correct. I'm curious about the three-way singing scenes whether everyone in the shot was recorded live and that was the sound used, or if the person in the background (even if recorded live) was synced in post to the song recorded in their close-ups (unless they managed to shoot their close-up while covering the other two people's close-ups at the same time.) I'm thinking of the scene where Cosette and Marius sing in the f.g. while Eponine sings in the background below them in the street.

David,
That is an interesting observation. I'm curious how many camerasv were used when ValJon was in the church after the father freed him.

 

[Nick Morrison]

Tom Hooper is well know for shooting with wide-angle lenses. Watch John Adams, and you'll see this style everywhere. He'll even rock some VERY WIDE primes, like a 10mm, for certain landscapes.

On Les Mis, which we saw two nights ago, I thought what was different is now he was shooting WIDE, and...SHALLOW. A very interesting and distinct look that he stuck to for much of the movie. My wife thinks this "claustrophobic" decision was deliberate, as all the "Miserables" are clearly trapped in their situation. He also frames many of his characters to one side, but staring into the short end of the frame, as opposed to the long, only adding to their discordant atmosphere.

At times, my hypercritical brain was over-reacting, judging these strong decisions. But in the end...I have to say...I was deeply moved, and I think Mr.Hooper and his team are bold stylists.

A very worthy trip to the cinema.

 

[jimhare]

I agree Nick, and I LOVED John Adams!

 

[jimhare]

Yes, but my guess is on the ensemble pieces they may have used a live click track to lock the tempo. If nothing else this would allow easier intercutting between takes as they could use any visual take with any audio take for the ensemble, and only need to use the same visual/sound takes for solos. Again, I relate this specifically to the factory scene, where this would have allowed the best of both worlds.

If this is the case I still think pre-recording the ensemble bits would have instilled more energy and more shooting opportunities throughout, without losing the intimacy of the live solos and freeform tempo where appropriate.

Everyone sang to a live piano accompaniment in an earpiece so that the tempo would stay correct. I'm curious about the three-way singing scenes whether everyone in the shot was recorded live and that was the sound used, or if the person in the background (even if recorded live) was synced in post to the song recorded in their close-ups (unless they managed to shoot their close-up while covering the other two people's close-ups at the same time.) I'm thinking of the scene where Cosette and Marius sing in the f.g. while Eponine sings in the background below them in the street.

 

[Brian Pascale]

I don't know if the theater I saw it in had the wrong lens on the projector, or if it was the way it was shoot, but many times the actor's face got distorted and looked terrible.

 

[Nick Morrison]

I don't know if the theater I saw it in had the wrong lens on the projector, or if it was the way it was shoot, but many times the actor's face got distorted and looked terrible.

Those are the wide-angle lenses your seeing. It's "a look".

 

[jimhare]

There were definitely a few moments where the wide lenses bowed during pans, and the focus was wandering a lot. Never noticed anyone transform into a gargoyle, :conehead:

how bad was it?

I don't know if the theater I saw it in had the wrong lens on the projector, or if it was the way it was shoot, but many times the actor's face got distorted and looked terrible.

 

[Jason L]

I would have to agree, I actually loved the style used. Plus I thought that all of the tracks were per-recorded which makes things even crazier. The things that I really liked about how it was shot, was how it was very different from the usual Hollywood film and broke the rules. It used a very shallow depth of field most of the time, very wide lenses were pretty common, it felt like they flew the camera or did handheld for about eight percent of the film, and as you guys mentioned the framing wasn't traditional, like putting people in the bottom right corner (not using the thirds rule) looking away from the open space. Was very interesting on how it was executed.

 

[jimhare]

Was definitely unique and certainly worked!

I would have to agree, I actually loved the style used. Plus I thought that all of the tracks were per-recorded which makes things even crazier. The things that I really liked about how it was shot, was how it was very different from the usual Hollywood film and broke the rules. It used a very shallow depth of field most of the time, very wide lenses were pretty common, it felt like they flew the camera or did handheld for about eight percent of the film, and as you guys mentioned the framing wasn't traditional, like putting people in the bottom right corner (not using the thirds rule) looking away from the open space. Was very interesting on how it was executed.

 

[Thomas Pierrepont]

Great posts. It's made me very excited now. Still waiting a few more days until I go.

 

[jimhare]

Great posts. It's made me very excited now. Still waiting a few more days until I go.

You won't be disappointed Thomas, whether you enjoy the music, acting, cinematography or technical aspects, there will always be something for you to focus on!

 

[Paul Gotham]

amazing movie. interesting points on the shooting styles, jimhare.