Shit I dig.
Feel it.
To me this is a marriage of a few things I love and it would be really easy to do this wrong. Add VO and you kill it. Use the wrong music and we feel manipulated. Make this a two minute cut and it would feel cookie cutter. This is a celebration, not a documentary.
Wing it.
Diegetic sound, short depth of field on a mid-level camera, occasional high frame-rate slow-mo. Elaine takes care with her documentaries but does it on the cheap. So ok, we don’t have a million dollars to hire the best colorist, sound, fx, blah-blah-blah, this woman shows me how you can still care for your story and make something beautiful and deeply watchable. Lingering on the subject even when they aren’t talking, takes courage.
Enhance it.
I like the idea of treating something pedestrian as if it were epic. I like adding extra weight to a story that no one would have thought to add. I like the tricks in this one. It’s funny. It’s bold. It would have been difficult to sell this correctly. Great shit takes vision.
Truncate it.
Elaine’s style feels indulgent, but it still works with short edits. Check out the dolly transition. This looks easy. You tell me why I’m so impressed with this. Fabric making? Sewing? Boring. But I fucking love watching this.
Tease it.
I’m a slut for cinematography. Give me wide format and I’ll give you goosebumps. The trick here is mostly in the story and reveal. Tricks like that are impossible to duplicate, but I love the care that went into this. Does this work in a less cinematic location? Does it work if you phone in the color grading? Maybe, but the poem/music and VO delivery is vital and the camera moves are deceptively important. Yes, O’Henry endings are cheating, but if you are going to do it—this is how.
Play it.
The best commercials are trailers. People will go LOOKING for trailers. They will watch commercials on Youtube before watching a trailer. And a trailer is a commercial! I love Chef’s Table. The framing is graphic and symmetrical and the pacing and narrative arc is so fucking well thought out. This trailer does a thing I love. It starts with a fun emotional tone, and then it changes direction right in the middle, to show how weighty the show can get. This is mature and beautiful.