Big Dummy – think about this – you can hide so much with editing, it’s a films’ get out clause. A scene of someone shooting an arrow is one shot then reset and for a follow up shot of someone taking the arrow. Two individual shots then timed up and CUT to make a sequence.
Where the Revenant scores is the amount of action it puts into one ‘take’ or scene whilst the camera is rolling. So co-oridinating all the movements of the cast and camera become theatrical and precise. People falling out of trees in the same take as horses trotting past – all whilst the camera is moving and being focussed – in the muddy snow hell!
I run a production company, and know how tricky it is sometimes to shoot one interview in one warm room… What they’ve done here is off the scale. I guess it’s why the budget doubled.
Of course it makes for a more believable and gripping film. That’s not to say it means the film will be good that’s down to the individual but it’s part of the conviction of the material – do you believe Dicaprio went through this ? The artistry in this for me was so convincing as to draw me in more so than a regular film experience.
