‘Adolescence’ Cinematographer Signals Plans for Another One-Take Series

The cinematographer and camera operator behind the hit Netflix drama Adolescence revealed their plans to film another one-take series.

According to a report by Variety, Adolescence’s Emmy-award winning cinematographer Matthew Lewis and camera operator Lee David Brown made the revelation during a panel at WAVES Film Bazaar, the market component of the International Film Festival of India, Goa.

Netflix’s Adolescence followed the story of Jamie, played by Owen Cooper, after he attacks and murders a girl from his school in the U.K.. The show was critically acclaimed through its hour-long episodes filmed as seamless single takes.

However, Lewis and the team say they plan to create another one-shot series in the style of Adolescence, while stressing that the new project will tell a different story.

“There won’t be something that is the same story, because that story is definitely finished,” Lewis explains during the session. “But we’ll probably be making another one of the same format down the line, but not just yet. We’re going to let it breathe… we don’t want to saturate the market with one-shot, because everyone’s going to get really bored of it eventually.”

The choice to adopt a one-shot format was influenced by Lewis’s previous collaboration with Adolescence director Philip Barantini on Boiling Point — which also stars Steven Graham. During the panel at WAVES Film Bazaar, Lewis discussed the camera options considered for the project and the practical requirements of filming for an hour at a time.

The production used a DJI Ronin 4D with Cooke SP3 lenses. Lewis initially explored Sony Venice and Arri Alexa Mini systems, but said those setups were either not capable of sustaining an hour-long take or were too heavy to move with ease.

“My grip actually suggested to use the 4D from DJI, and we had a test day with it, and we fell in love with it,” Lewis says, according to Variety. “It meant that we could hand the camera between people really easily. It didn’t have to be attached to us, because it’s so lightweight.”

To support the camera movement, the team programmed lighting into a desk system with cues matched to the camera’s position. The first episode of Adolescence alone required between 50 and 60 cues.

“We basically built in lighting connected to a lighting desk, and we had essentially every position that the camera went into was like a new cue for us,” Lewis explains.

However, the cinematographer admits that mishaps occurred during the extended takes. Lewis walked into a wall in episode one and backed into a fence in episode two. In episode four, a boom dipped across an actor’s face 45 minutes into a take.

Image credits: Header photo by Netflix.