The Look of "1917"

The Look of

Take a closer look at how the team behind 1917 crafted one of the most intense war movies ever made, while also making it look like a single take.

Writer/director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins has really outdone themselves while creating the new war thriller 1917. In the film, which takes place during World War I, a crew of two soldiers are set to cross vast English lands in order to deliver a message to the front line about an ambush.

Inspired by the tales of his grandfather, Sam Mendes decided early on that the only way to truly capture the intensity of war was to make the film in a single take.


Hurlbut Academy

The behind the scenes video this article is about comes from the Hurlbut Academy, which is a cinematography tutor website made by Shane Hurlbut, ASC — the cinematographer of Into the Badlands, Need for Speed and Terminator 4: Salvation.

The video shows great details about both the tools used but also how they lit certain scenes, along with the planning and pre-viz process using small-scale models.

The video is available below:

A special thanks to Hurlbut Academy for this excellent behind the scenes video.

In cinemas now

After a limited release in the beginning of january, 1917 has now got a wide release across both US, Canada, the UK and most of Europe.