Week 61: Elevator Roundup
Posts from 27 February to 04 March 2024
Week 61 was all up and down . . . on elevators (or lifts, as half of us here at Shot Zero call them). For reasons of fun we looked at a series of elevator shots from All of us Strangers (2023); Basic Instinct (1992); Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1968) Star Trek (2009) & Star Trek Into Darkness (2013); The Return of the Mandalorian episode of The Book of Boba Fett (2021-22); and Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005).
All Of Us Strangers
The hauntingly beautiful All Of Us Strangers combines naturalism and surrealism to create emotive and poetic imagery. Take this small moment in an elevator where Harry (Paul Mescal) apologises to Adam (Andrew Scott) —
It's softly from above, staged in simple shots, with underplayed, delicate performances. The infinity mirror adds depth and texture and an otherworldly quality — I mean, where is the camera? We should see it. But we don't. Which makes us feel like we are unseen, ghostly observers.
I (@stuwillis) am not sure how the shot was achieved. Its a VFX shot of some kind: painting out the camera or building up the reflections. Regardless, its a powerful and invisible use of VFX. Amazing stuff.
Basic Instinct
Speaking of elevators, this shot from Basic Instinct is a banger —
A steadicam follows from in front as John Correli (Wayne Night) dismisses the case to the DA office. They enter *from the right* into elevator, and now Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) comes into focus, turning this into a confrontational profile 2S.
Ping! They get off the elevator, suddenly there's a crowd of extras (conveniently hiding the repeated set dec opposite), and we follow behind as they take *a left* down a hallway we haven't yet seen.
Its a seamless effect making the physical world feel real and adding visual energy to talky, expositional scene.
Absolute mad props to the ADs for getting those extras in place in less than 15 secs from when the doors close to when they open!
And the egg crate top-lighting is noir-licious. AND unifies the whole architectural space.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Turbolifts are now an iconic part of Star Trek. In Star Trek's second pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” - the first with Captain Kirk - the turbolift is established right after the opening titles. And they use a few clever tricks to make it seem real.
We open on establisher of the corridor before cutting into an over-head as Mitchell rushes for the lift, and then we action-match to him just making it. As he does, we can see the wall of the corridor behind him. While Mitchell, Kirk, and Spock make small talk, the camera booms down — so when the doors open, the bridge is revealed in all its glory.
The corridor at the head of the shot? A false wall hiding the bridge set that was removed while the turbolifts doors were closed. Genius.
Simple and effective. Especially because its underplayed.
Fun Fact: This TOS episode was shot by legendary DoP, Ernest Haller who had earlier won an Oscar for Gone with the Wind!
Many thanks to M. David Mullen, ACS for bringing this shot to our attention in this interview: https://buff.ly/48xBfS0
Star Trek
In Star Trek (2009), turbolift trickery was brought into the modern era. Rather than hiding the bridge set with a floating wall (as with the TOS shot), they hid it with greenscreen.
The tail of the steadicam shot — where Spock walks through the bridge to his post — is the real hero here. The head of the shot (the greenscreen comp) is only 48 frames but it really sells the illusion.
Star Trek Into Darkness
The approach was repeated in StarTrek Into Darkness:—
An establisher as Spock and Kirk approach the turbolift, a cut to an angle where we see the "outgoing" set for a mere 3 seconds at the head of the shot, and then we follow them as they walk onto the incoming set.
Also, its a great use of a wide angle lens! Not only does it make us feel like we are squished inside the turbolift with the actors, we can really feel Spock breathing down Kirk's neck!
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Mr. and Mrs. Smith uses its elevator scene to comedic ends, forwarding character arcs through forced intimacy.
While the other scenes we've highlighted use extensive elbow grease, VFX, and elaborate choreography to integrate their elevators as smoothly as possible, here the elevator is used as a liminal space. The distinct lighting and framing make a mini-world, and simple camera rocking is the only special effect required.
The concept is just as simple: Jane and John retreat from a hail of assassin bullet into their worst nightmare - soothing elevator music and enforced interaction.
The soft yellow lighting, quiet music, and gently swaying single shot contrast with the dark blues, loud gunshots, and quick cuts of the fight scenes. Meanwhile the confined space heightens hilarity as Jane and John steadfastly refuse to address their marital and professional issues.
Only on the second elevator journey are they begrudgingly forced to acknowledge their problems, before emerging to the profound relief of darkness and dozens of people trying to kill them.
The Return of the Mandalorian
The Return of the Mandalorian episode of The Book Of Boba Fett gave us this mic drop steadicam shot in an elevator when #TheMandalorian gives the decapitated head of Kaba Baiz to his clients. The Volume allows them to have a glass elevator and all the depth that brings but the volume isn't infinite and so they need clever blocking to make the most of their physical space —
If you look carefully (or just look at the floor plan!), you'll see that the shot is a big loop: left to right (into the elevator), right to left (out of the elevator), a pivot around the table, and then left to right again (back into the elevator).
The real genius moment is the countermove when Mando disembarks the elevator. The camera moves in on Mando and pans with him - an angle we haven't seen before - and settles into an OTS of Mando looking at the crowd... which is likely the LED wall of the volume. This adds life and visual depth to the shot but doesn't require PHYSICAL depth in the space.
Clever, clever stuff.