The Russian Ark-One Unedited Shot

[Taylor Moore]

I watched a weird/amazing movie last night called the Russian Ark. It was shot as one take with no edits and one continuous steadicam shot...amazing camera operator. With a cast of 1000.

Didn't really like the movie but The Making Of...was really something.

[Elvis]

Taylor,
I've heard about that movie. Sounds like a steadicams worst nightmare. What did the operator look like? Huge thighs or what? How long is the movie again? 8)

[Taylor Moore]

The movie is 96 minutes, the operator was a young russian guy about 6 feet, strong like bull...and very talented.
What also made it easier was his backmounted steadicam rig...
$9000 for the vest and backmount alone.

[Elvis]

Ouch!!!! ;D

[Taylor Moore]

Here's the backmount link...kinda looks like a lazyboy...
http://www.danielsauvedesigns.com/


"In 1974 Stanley Kubrick receives a print of the 35mm demonstration film
shot with the original prototype of what would later be called the
"Steadicam." Kubrick's telexed response is reprinted below:"


DEAR ED,

DEMO REEL ON HAND HELD MYSTERY STABILIZER WAS SPECTACULAR AND YOU CAN
COUNT ON ME AS A CUSTOMER. IT SHOULD REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY FILMS ARE
SHOT. IF YOU ARE REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT PROTECTING ITS DESIGN BEFORE YOU
FULLY PATENT IT, I SUGGEST YOU DELETE THE TWO OCCASIONS ON THE REEL
WHERE THE SHADOW ON THE GROUND GIVES THE SKILLED COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE
PHOTO INTERPRETER A FAIRLY CLEAR REPRESENTATION OF A MAN HOLDING A POLE
WITH ONE HAND, WITH SOMETHING OR OTHER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POLE WHICH
APPEARS TO BE SLOWLY MOVING. BUT MY LIPS ARE SEALED. I HAVE A QUESTION:
IS THERE A MINIMUM HEIGHT AT WHICH IT CAN BE USED?

BEST REGARDS,
STANLEY KUBRICK

[Jive]

I remember seeing a trailer for this film some years ago and really wanted to see it, but never did. I guess I'll have to check out the DVD.

[justinsullivan]

It's definately worth checking out. The production value alone was amazing.

jsullie

[SoerenM]

A russian guy?!
Well sorry I have to correct you on this one Taylor! :-)
It was Tilman Büttner from germany - he also operated the Steadicam for "Lola rennt"/"Lola runs" and some other movies from germany.
I read several articles about the making of this movie and he was quoted that it was a very hard shot of course ;) and he had to practice quite a bit. It was shot on Highdef with a Sony HDW-F900 and they had to carry around a suitable harddisk recorder too! (and of course pull the focus etc.)

Cheers,
-Sören

[Johan_Lundberg]

They also used portable lighting rigs, because they couldn't light the whole building at the same time.

Besides that they only had access to the large building for one day, and since there are outside scenes and also some rooms where the daylight from the windows and/or glass roof was needed they only had one chance to make it really.
If i remember it correctly they aborted the first try after only a couple of minutes, then they restarted and did the whole thing in one long take. It's really amazing stuff. Well worth seeing just because of the way it was made. The story itself didn't really catch me though, but hey I was happy anyway. =)

[SoerenM]

Yes exactly.. I can only second that!
(was just too lazy to write more :-) )

[Taylor Moore]

Sorry guys I am geographically challenged on the Russian versus German Camera Operator. I wished on the DVD if they could of expanded on the compositing and tracking of the added efx...they were outstanding.

[Elvis]

O.K now I'm going to have to see another movie 8)

[Neil Rowe]

ive been looking at this film at the rental store for like half a year now, and had read about it , but every time i dont rent it.. i think its cause its r rated, and my wife wont watch r rated stuff for the most part, and i like watching stuff together. ..when shes out and about ill get the occasional "mr gun head gets revenge" film, for some masculine wishwash lol, but ill make a point to take this one off the shelf, and walk it to the checkout next time.

[jumar]

It's R rated? Weird... I don't remember any violence or nudity at all.

[Taylor Moore]

It's R rated? Weird... I don't remember any violence or nudity at all. There is some swearing but it is in Russian...

[SoerenM]

iamloser - your wife doesn't watch _any_ r rated stuff??! weird.. :-)
i only ask because in the mean time i'd think that nearly everything in the us has to be r rated or whatever... i mean.. the reactions by the normal john and jane doe in the us in regard to janet jacksons little boobie-flash (a mere 2 seconds footage right?! ;o) was hillarious! sorry ;)

[Neil Rowe]

..perhaps it was unrated.. which is usually even scarier, but i thought i remembered ti being "r" . if it is unrated its prob just cause its foriegn now that i think about it. oh well ... ok yeah.. I checked around..its unrated... sounds like its fine..

..yes my wife generally doesnt watch r rated films.. just because your swimming in a sea of filth dosent mean you have to intentionally drink it.. not that all r rated films are filth, but you get the point. i on the other hand dont mind most of them .

[SoerenM]

Ah ok ;)
Well it's just.. uhm dunno.. as you already said you don't mind it... and that how I thought of you when reading your posts (can't tell exactly why.. was just a feeling because of your somehow familiar humor ;o) ... but I never thought of you being married to someone who'd never watch a movie that's r rated...

As for myself... well personally though I was disturbed by it to some degree I found the french 'scandal movie' "Irreversible" to be quite good. Of course it was well made but also hm very touching... although it's one of the hardest things that I saw/witnessed until now.
(however I didn't have the heart to watch it with my projector and only watched it on my quite small TV ;o)

[SC_Erwin]

Russian Ark is playing in HD this month on HDNet (via Directv with the HD package add on). I can't wait to see this on my 50" Samsung DLP set!

[Taylor Moore]

Russian Ark is playing in HD this month on HDNet (via Directv with the HD package add on). I can't wait to see this on my 50" Samsung DLP set!

For me though, what really made the film was the making of..maybe they will show that but I kind of doubt it...

[Zot]

Iamloser.

Russian Ark is not at all offensive, so the wife should have no problem with it. The problem most people will have is that it is a Russian Art film in the vein of Tartovsky. Meaning most people will find it dreadfully boring. Slow, dreamlike, and chock full of references to Russian history, which most Americans have very little knowledge of. however anyone with an interest in cinematography should check it out just for the insane setpieces. By the way Soeren, "Irreversable" was also quite accomplished, but I STRONGLY ADVISE loser's wife to give this movie wide berth. Very intense. Not sure if I got the point of this one really. But I guess I knew what to expect after "I Stand Alone".

[SoerenM]

Yes you're absolutely right about "Irreversible" :-) ... well besides it being very intense I found the cinematography very interesting too! There were some very insane camera movements at the beginning and end (the rotation whew ;o) of which I still don't know how they did them! :-(

[Zot]

Hey Soeren, just thought I would add that I learned that Irreversable was shot on 16mm and transferred to hi-def video for editing and lots of CG. It's strange to consider this movie having computer work done on it, because it seems so "realistic", but I guess they fixed a lot of mistakes that they had while shooting. Microphone booms were painted out and gruesome extra touches were added. Otherwise the movie was only 12 continuous shots with improvised dialogue. I don't know what they had the camera mounted on to get all that spinning and flipping, but I guess the director did all of the camera work himself. I'm glad I didn't see this in the theater, because it was rather dizzying even on my small TV.

[islander1]

The opening to Irreversible was shot with a technocrane. Then, much editing. IMO, the result was really great.

MD

[SoerenM]

Zot yes I read/heard this too... of course if you think of the now "legendary" beat-up scene in the club there isn't any other way this could have been done so realistic. I think these kind of CG "touch ups" or effects are the most dazzling (imho) ... when you really don't notice them.

@islander.. thanks.. just had a look at their website (http://www.supertechno.com/) looks really crazy :)
Perhaps they used it for the spinning end shot too?! The spinning camera was really weird but fascinating ;)

[Guest]

R-rated? This film qualifies as a G-rated film.

[Neil Rowe]

..thanks for kicking that horse... i thinks its pretty safe to say its dead now.

[Barry_Green]

Hey, horse-kicking! Lemme have some of that...

Looks like "Russian Ark" was never rated in the US by the MPAA. Other countries rated it "G" or "PG".

[Neil Rowe]

lol.:) poor little horsie.

[Guest]

We now have a ex-horse. What next? Hey, how 'bout those Oscars!

[DanielG]

I saw this movie in the theater and I was glad when it was over. In terms of a movie, it wasn't that good. I had read about the movie, knew about lighting it (sometimes down with lights suspended from balloons!) and wanted to see what it looked like. While it was an interesting technical exercise, I don't think it helped tell the story in any way. I thought it hindered the development of the story. As the movie ran on, my internal comment was "Gee! And it is all one take!"

I think this is one of those things that people have to do every once in a while just to remember that they don't work very well. Like extended POV shots, like "Lady in the Lake".

My two pfennigs.

Dan

[SoerenM]

Pfennigs????!

[Anartiste]

Moi, perso, je pense qu'Irréversible, c'est de la merde en bâton.

I won't translate not to offend you, honorable fellows, but I think this film is a lot of fussy movement to hide its emptiness.

Gaspar Noé, the director admitted he'd had the idea of the film when he saw Memento. So he copy-pasted the concept and made up a story around it. The problem is that this story doesn't justifyit : no thematic link, no suspense, just fascination for raw violence and a lot of dizzy moves just to tell the viewer : "Hey ! Look how I'm real. Look at the disgusting details I offer you. I'm so cooooool!" (he even added the raper's half hard cock when he draws back from dying Monica Bellucci's ass in post... Yuk !)

This isn't art ; this is medriocrity disguised in hype-arty-scandal-kinda-film.

Fortunately for him, he's got brilliant actors to save the ship : Vincent Cassel is a genious ; Albert Dupontel is a titan ; and Monica is... well she's Monica.

If you want to see a GREAT french movie, I recommend "Sur mes lèvres", directed by Jacques Audiard, with Vincent Cassel (again) and Emmanuelle Devos.

Of course, My telling all this crap is not the truth, just my vision of truth. One of my best friends would kill me she read me, but fortunately, friendship is stronger than tastes.

God bless Alfred...

[J.R. Hudson]

You really think it is ass on a stick? :D

[speedbump]

Back to Russian Ark-

I really liked this movie. Yes, it was a technical show-off kind-of thing, but here is a Russian writer commenting on how Russian culture is a pathetic copy of European trends... very touching for those us who has an interest in Russian culture.