How THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL Creates A Compelling Opening Oner
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a 50s / 60s period piece from Amy Sherman-Palladino, so naturally it’s going to involve a lot of intricate camera moves showing off quick quips and set design. A season premiere calls for upping the ante, and Season 2 “Simone” comes right out of the gate with this oner which sweeps us into Midge’s world before we get a chance to breathe.
It’s actually two oners carefully stitched together, with a break into group-versus-one shot-reverse-shots, then a short reversal of the second oner. All those choices are made to keep the scene’s momentum; take a look then we’ll break it down!
0:00-0:14 The first 15 seconds are about immersing us in the world; no characters we know, nobody with speaking lines, just a flurry of aesthetically pleasing activity with a jaunty tune underneath — the better for 1AD to be able to yell directions and keep all the actors moving properly to motivate the camera and/or provide colour and motion in the right places, then get the hell out of the way.
0:15-0:17 The ‘stitch’ comes as a piece of mail is dropped down a chute and the camera ‘follows’ it, using the blackness to cover for a cut and CGI-flipping the letter until it lands in a very real mail cart. The camera tilts up and follows the mail carrier to begin the scene’s second oner.
The real cleverness here is the information it delivers about Midge’s new position: we followed the letter down down down from the bright, gorgeous, fancy shop floor to the flouro-lit basement operating board. Since Season 1, Midge has been demoted to a literally and figuratively lower station.
0:17-1:29 If the first oner is exposition wrapped up in fancy camerawork, the second oner is about Midge as a person, her ability to talk fast, be funny, and relate to people.
The mail cart leads us into a room of phone operators, furiously talking and connecting and in one case having a minor panic attack.
0:25-0:37 The operators do their thing with cigarettes, telephone wires, and note they’re all wearing dainty wristwatches and have nails painted the same colour!
It’s a technical move requiring lots of coordination — just as characters ‘clear frame’ actors would push their chairs out of the way — but it crates a sense of momentum to the end of the row, where we get to our ‘hero shot’ of Midge.
0:38-0:50 By the time the camera moves around to show the room, everyone is back in place, then as the camera swings past Midge, we see — smack-dab in the gap framed by the doorway — her friend call for help. In response Midge pushes her chair across the room, followed closely by the camera.
Mad props to the casual no-look assist from this operator to swing her into place (as the music sings “just leave everything to me!”)
Note there’s someone carrying a package in the background, keeping things moving even as Midge comes to a (temporary) stop.
0:50-1:28 The rest of the oner is Midge scooting from station to station working her magic and quick quips.
1:29-1:50 The oner cuts, but not for technical inability to continue.
Midge is now ‘holding court’ with all the operators, and the most efficient, effective way to show this is a wide of the whole group, intercut with a medium of Midge.
Could you keep the camera moving in one continuous shot and still get a wide and medium? Well at the pace everyone is talking, it would require whippans to keep up, and whips would go against the vibe of the scene, which is that while the characters are frenetic, the camera is not.
1:50-2:02 To cap it all, there’s a ‘reverse’ of the entrance oner, the camera pulling backwards out of the room, then following a handyman (motivating the camera AND wearing a jumpsuit emblazoned with the department store’s name) down the hallway before smashing into a wall to take us to the title card.
Bonus! 2:06-2:09 After the title card, the music concludes as there’s a hard cut to Susie. Not only are her surroundings messy and low-rent, but Susie is asleep and the camera is still for the first time, everything completely in contrast to Midge’s world.
As the music ‘says’ right before Susie tells her phone to fuck off: tadaaaaaaaaaaa!