What can we learn by analysing how 'oners' are written on the page?

Chas, Stu and Mel reunite to talk about writing the *feel* of camerawork in screenplays. We use "oners" — a long-playing continuous take — as a lens to talk about how some writers have "directed" from the page. We talk immediacy, camera positions, handovers, and anchoring action and more.

We breakdown the famous Copacabana shot from GOODFELLAS, the awe-inspiring chase sequence from THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, and the heart pounding 'Zed attack' from CHILDREN OF MEN. We also briefly discuss THE BOURNE IDENTITY, HEREDITARY, THE BEAR, ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN and TOUCH OF EVIL.

And we do this breakdown by closely reading the actual words on the page. So thanks to Meegan May (of Starship Q Star) for performing the big print / action lines. Script Pages available on our Patreon.

Thanks to Chris Walker for editing this episode.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

CHAPTERS

00:00:13 - Cold Open
00:00:23 - ScriptUp Sponsorship
00:00:33 - New Chapter
00:01:58 - Intro: Camerwork on the page
00:09:50 - Contrary Examples: The Bourne Identity and Hereditary
00:13:15 - Narrative Purpose and Oners
00:16:30 - Goodfellas (intro)
00:16:57 - Goodfellas (excerpt)
00:18:22 - Goodfellas (discussion)
00:32:48 - The Adventures of Tintin (intro)
00:34:14 - The Adventures of Tintin (excerpt)
00:37:23 - The Adventures of Tintin (discussion)
00:49:34 - Children of Men (intro)
00:53:38 - Children of Men (excerpt)
01:00:32 - Children of Men (discussion)
01:12:24 - Key Learnings and Wrap Up

SCENE EXCERPTS via

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/dz-101-script-85503252
DZ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/draft_zero/
SZ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_shotzero/
DZ Twitter: https://twitter.com/draft_zero
SZ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_shotzero

LINKS

WATCH: Goodfellas, The "Copacabana" shot - https://youtube.com/watch?v=OJEEVtqXdK8
WATCH: The Adventures of TinTin, "Get that bird!" - https://youtube.com/watch?v=ryB-3BRdd64
WATCH: Children of Men, "Zed's attack" - https://youtube.com/watch?v=YMM8XrZe1R8
WATCH: The Bourne Identity, "Escaping The American Embassy" - https://youtube.com/watch?v=tqsUt9n13Gg
WATCH: All The President's Men, "The Dahlberg Scene" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeemjaosp-E
WATCH: Every Frame A Painting - The Spielberg Oner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q4X2vDRfR
LISTEN: Starship Q Star: https://starshipqstar.com

LINKS

WATCH: Goodfellas, The"Copacabana" shot - https://youtube.com/watch?v=OJEEVtqXdK8
WATCH: The Adventures of TinTin, "Get that bird!" - https://youtube.com/watch?v=ryB-3BRdd64
WATCH: Children of Men, "Zed's attack" - https://youtube.com/watch?v=YMM8XrZe1R8
WATCH: The Bourne Identity, "Escaping The American Embassy" - https://youtube.com/watch?v=tqsUt9n13Gg
WATCH: All The President's Men, "The Dahlberg Scene" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeemjaosp-E
WATCH: Every Frame A Painting - The Spielberg Oner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q4X2vDRfR
LISTEN: Starship Q Star: https://starshipqstar.com

RELATED EPISODES

DZ-60: Unfilmables and Unscriptables (Part 1) - Engaging imagination
DZ-61: Unfilmables and Unscriptables (Part 2) - Moments of Awe
DZ-62: Unfilmables 3 – As Ifs & Emotional context
DZ-16: Masters of Time and Whitespace

This episode brought to you by (drum roll):

ScriptUp: https://www.scriptupstudio.com – use promo code DZ10 to get 10% off

And how can we forget our awesome Patreons, especially Lily, Alexandre, Casimir, Eduardo, Jennifer, Thomas, Garrett, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis, Alex, and Khrob.

Please considering rating or subscribing to us on Apple Podcasts or sharing us on the Social Medias! We like finding new listeners. We are @stuwillis, and @chasffisher on twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.

BUY DRAFT ZERO MERCH via TeePublic

DZ-101: Oners - Creating Immediacy & Anchoring Action on the Page

Draft Zero: a screenwriting podcast