In one continuous shot, a man has a public meltdown in the middle of a residential cul-de-sac. What unfolds is a constantly shifting scenario in which community’s cultish public shaming is taken to extreme heights.

From the conceptualized mind of Paul Trillo, we get a quasi-impossible – one continuous shot film shot entirely with a drone. As we sit here and think that it was just a matter of time before someone pulls off such a film, we couldn’t be happier that it came from a visionary director like Paul Trillo – watch his previous films and you’ll know what we mean. The film unfolds a constantly shifting scenario in which a community’s cultish public shaming is taken to extreme heights. The challenge was real.

This short began as a personal challenge, could I pull of a single take from a drone with dialogue? How can drones be used as a new storytelling device? It was something I was anxious to see and decide why not try and figure it out. Beyond working out the choreography, the main reason this was such a challenge is all the audio has to be replaced in post. At the same time, I had also wanted to do a short about a public meltdown and public shaming. As I moved forward, these two ideas fused together. The final result is something bizarre and unexpected.

Although it may seem like a fluid progressive story from afar, any filmmaker or enthusiast will quickly see the many challenges such a choreography can impose. The preparation must be detailed to the pin, but at the same time the biggest preparation may be improvisation. As in longer takes things don’t always go as planned, where the camera may drift a little more than expected, or the actors could skip a scripted line, the capability of reacting to the live situation naturally may give the film that extra dynamic edge. But such a big challenge will also come with it’s own unexpected result, just as Paul stated to us:

It also almost didn’t work, the take we are using is our first rehearsal take, we weren’t able to get any other usable takes.

Although the result is unexpected, it turned out to work as a rather bizarre, almost twilightish piece, which in turn becomes a stigmatic joy to watch. Here’s some great extra footage on how it was done.