The Last Leg; An Editing Analysis of 1917’s Famous Battlefield Scene
1917 is an iconic movie for both film lovers and editors alike. The editing of this film is unique and complex in a way that is almost invisible. The entire film has less than 40 hidden cuts, making it seem as though the entire feature is one continuous take.
Toward the end of the film, one particular scene utilizes this “single-take” method particularly well. The main character, Lance Corporal Schofield has finally reached his destination, and is trying to get his message to Colonel Mackenzie; the only person who can stop an attack before it leads to a massacre of British soldiers. Schofield cannot pass through the trenches, so he risks his life by running over the top of them, through an active battlefield.
The scene begins with Schofield shouting, demanding to know where Colonel Mackensie is. He is told that the Colonel is 300 yards down the trench from him. The shot leaves Schofield for a moment and dollies over his shoulder to reveal the trench from his point of view. This evokes an emotion of dread and tension as Schofield realizes he cannot get through. The first explosions are shaking the ground. The trench is packed with soldiers waiting to ascend the side and into battle. They are completely blocking Schofield’s path to Mackenzie. The character that Schofield is talking to tells him that he will have to wait until the first wave is out. Schofield cannot afford to wait. The shot then pulls back and around to face Schofield again in a medium closeup as he surveys the trench. In this shot we see the dread and conflict on his face. He then shifts his attention to the beginning of the battle over the side of the trench. As we are pulled closer to him, the shot reveals Schofield’s intentions to go around the soldiers blocking the trenches from above ground. Without looking back, Schofleild leaves the trench, and begins running along the now active battlefield, perpendicular to the other soldiers hurtling forward into the battle.
As Schofield runs. The shot pulls back from his face to reveal his whole body, and to show to the fullest effect of the amount of energy Schofield is putting into this final 300 yard sprint. The shot pulls out even farther to reveal the severity of the attack, and the mass amount of damage that will be done if it is not stopped. This extreme long shot also depicts just how small Schofield is in comparison to the size of the war, and how he is just one small person who so many people’s lives are hanging on even though they do not know it. This shot is so meaningful because it holds the whole meaning of the movie within it; One person can only do so much, but it can mean everything. After Schofield has sprinted for almost 30 seconds, he abruptly tumbles back into the trench and is followed from behind by us, as the viewers, in a medium shot. The adrenaline is still high, as the audience was afraid he wouldn’t make it this far. Before the audience has a chance to relax as Schofield approaches Mackenzie’s quarters, he is stopped by fellow soldiers. The pacing of this scene does not allow the audience to breathe any sighs of relief just yet, but gives them a small taste of it after Schofield survives. The rhythm keeps them on the edge of their seats right up until Schofield enters the Corporal’s hut, and finally gets to relay the message he has been fighting to pass on for so long.
The effects of this scene being portrayed as one continuous shot are incredibly impactful. Emotionally, this method gives the viewers a look into the agony of precious time passing while Schofield is trying to navigate his way through such a short stretch of trenches. The way the scene is shot and edited makes us feel as though we are standing in the trenches with Schofield, seeing what he is seeing and experiencing the war right along with him, but also shows us his face and by extension, his feelings. Though the scene is “one shot,” it incorporates many shot angles, types, and distances, which allows for meaningful “cuts” from one camera placement to the next, and makes a way for us to see everything from wide views of a whole battle, to the emotions on a single soldier’s face without using a true cut.
If Trenches Could Talk; A Sound Design Analysis of 1917
1917’s stunning sound was spearheaded by sound designer and supervising editor Oliver Tarney. This scene begins at 01:25:15:00. It evokes a very specific emotion through its sound design; one of absolute defeat and despair, edging gently back into a sense of quiet hope.
Lance Corporal Schofield has just plunged over a waterfall, and is semi-conscious, holding loosely onto a floating tree branch. The only sounds that are heard are the calm current of the river, Schofields labored breathing, and faint bird sounds in the surrounding woods. There is not yet any score in this scene. As Scofield falls further out of consciousness, his head slips quietly under the surface of the water. He stays submerged for an agonizing moment, before abruptly resurfacing and gasping for air. The lack of score in the beginning of this scene gives the audience a sense of suspense. We are used to hearing the score as context or a hint to what is about to happen. In the theater, there is no way of telling how much time is left in the movie, so the use of a somber score in the beginning of this scene would have led the audience to believe that Schofield gave up, and died peacefully in the river, before being shocked by the fact that he came back up for air. The sound designers instead chose not to add the score yet, which left the audience with no idea what was going to happen next.
As Schofield regains his bearings and slowly opens his eyes, however, he notices flower petals falling from the trees, which is a reminder of his friend and the promises he made to him as he died. This is where the score starts. Gentle strings begin to accompany the three sounds from before, and as Schofield remembers the importance of his mission, and begins swimming to shore, the score becomes slightly quicker, more urgent, yet still gentle and hopeful. Minor key notes are added as Scofield approaches the shore, and must navigate through the bodies of fallen soldiers that have washed ashore, but Scofields does not slow down. As he finally frees himself from the gory scene, he braces himself against the muddy ground. His soaked clothes squelch on the riverbank as he pants and cries out in horror and disgust.
As Schofield begins to catch his breath and regain his bearings, a faint, distant sound is heard. It is hard to make out what it is exactly, but as the weary Schofield rises to his feet and ascends upward the sound becomes more clear. A single voice is singing, and the song carries through the trees, barely over the soft ambient sounds of the river and woods. Schofield’s footfalls are very audible. They are wet, tired, and deliberate, and they invite the viewer to feel every ounce of effort that each step is costing him.
The young man who is singing stays in the same place, and sings at the same volume throughout the scene, but as Schofield follows the sound, the song grows louder, clearer, and closer, until the troops that the man is singing for come into Schofield’s view. Schofield drops down at the back of the group to lean against a tree and listen. All other sound fades away; there is only ambient tone and the sharp vocals of the song. This is a beautiful way of portraying Schofield’s exhaustion, and his inability to listen to anything but this soldier’s singing. Schofield sits and rests until the song is over. When it ends, the soldiers all stand up at once, abruptly. The sudden rumble of men clamoring to their feet and weapons clanking together as they do so shakes Schofield out of his tired trance, and reminds him of his life-or-death mission.
The sound design of this scene may seem simple, but its apparent simplicity is what makes it effective. Each sound is given attention, and is not distracted from by loud, complex scores or overpowering sound effects. This choice is impactful because it mimics reality in a way that places the viewers in the scene with the main character. Everything, save for the soft score, is heard by the viewer almost exactly how Schofield himself would have heard it.
Placement and Payoff in Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Placement and Payoff in creative storytelling in a concept that places an idea in the viewer’s head and sticks it there until a notable point later in the plot where the idea is re-referenced in a new or more meaningful way. One of my favorite examples of this concept is in the French film Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2020)
{spoilers ahead}
There is a scene in Portrait of a Lady on Fire that alludes to the separation of the two main characters and love interests, Marianne and Heloise.
In the scene in question, Heloise is reading out loud to Marianne and their friend Sophie. The passage she is reading is the end of the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus is attempting to lead Eurydice’s soul back to the land of the living, on the one condition that he cannot turn to look at her until they reach the surface of the underworld. When almost there, Orpheus turns around, and Eurydice’s soul is whisked back to the underworld. Sophie hates this ending, and thinks that if Orpheus really cared about her, he would have been able to resist looking, Marianne reflects that maybe Orpheus chose to look back, thus choosing the memory of her instead of her life, but Heloise says that maybe it was Eurydice herself who called him to turn around.
Between this point and the end of the film, Marianne sees a “ghost” in the hallways of Heloise’s family house whenever she is walking alone. The apparition is assumed to be the ghost of Heloise’s recently deceased sister, who jumped from the cliffside to avoid marriage to the man that Heloise is now engaged to. Every time Marianne turns to look at this spirit, a woman in a white dress, she vanishes back into the darkness.
The day that Marianne is meant to leave Heloise’s family home, Heloise is taken aside by her mother before Marianne gets to say goodbye, by the time Marianne finally gets to see Heloise, Heloise is already in her wedding dress. Marianne freezes, hugs her briefly and runs down the back staircase with her belongings. Before she can get to the door, Heloise calls, “Turn around.”
The audience then realizes that the apparition in white from before was Heloise in her wedding dress the whole time, a representation of Marianne's conscience knowing that there would come a time that she would turn around to look at Heloise for the last time before having to give her up.