THIS IS ALL ONE SHOT!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS ALL. ONE SHOT.
A nearly two-minute walk and talk in the precinct set with NO CUTS. For TWO MINUTES.
This is TWO FULL YEARS before The West Wing, which popularized the long hallway single shot walk and talk.
Genuinely hard to convey how difficult a shot like this is to choreograph with so many different moving pieces. As one continuous take this shot is WILD. It means everything—including the push in to Ray and Elaine, the pull back out to include Fraser stepping precisely back into frame, the ACTUAL LIVE DOG, the walk into the bullpen with all the extras cutting in front of camera, the gag with the ink—all of that is in ONE GO, NO FUCK UPS.
INCLUDING!! One of the best pieces of acting in the ENTIRE SERIES right here:
THE love at first sight moment. In the MIDDLE of all this.
My favourite thing about this is imagining Gordon Pinsent standing patiently in the bullpen waiting for his moment for the 45 times it took to get the first ninety seconds of this shot clean.
Oh I will never be done being obsessed with this show. The level of stagecraft involved here alone is insane. Paul Gross the man you are,
Happy 27th birthday today, Burning Down the House (Sept. 14, 1997)!! You are still iconic🇨🇦🍁