At the end of Antonioni's The Passenger there's an amazing 7 minute "impossible" shot. It's a feat of movie magic and a great example of crew coordination and teamwork.
Short 🧵 on how they did it...
They used a Wescam gyrostabilized camera that was developed for aerial photography. They then rigged track to the ceiling of the hotel room.
The track extended outside of the room into the street. As the camera approaches the metal grate there was a subtle zoom to hide the overhanging track.
The grate opened seamlessly and the grip on the platform attached the camera to a crane.
The crane was placed behind the building with the boom over the street. Once the camera was rigged to the crane they were free to move about the street.
It took 11 days to shoot the scene. Absolute heroic filmmaking...
Article from American Cinematographer:
theasc.com/articles/the-p…
Full movie in case you're interested. It's one of my favorite films.
BTW Antonioni was probably inspired by, and most likely trying to top, this shot from Soy Cuba...
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