A rider on the winter beach
Our shortest film: eight seconds, made by accident on the way to something else.
Eight seconds is the shortest film we have made. A rider and a horse walk along an empty beach in winter, the sea flat and grey beside them. We thought about making it longer and decided that would spoil it.
Chapters
- 0:00 The empty beach
- 0:04 The rider passes
A chance meeting
We were on the beach to film the tide, for a different project. The light was soft and the beach was empty. Then a rider appeared at the far end, walking slowly along the water's edge. Theo had about half a minute to choose a frame, check the focus and start recording.
We asked the rider afterwards whether we could use the film. She said yes, and asked for a copy for her daughter, who owns the horse.
Why so short
In the edit, we tried a longer version, with the rider approaching from far away. It was slower and less interesting. The film works because it starts in an empty frame and ends as soon as the rider has passed. There is nothing else to say.
Most films are too long by about the length of their beginning.
Theo Brandt
Framing
The horizon is low, in the bottom third of the frame, so most of the picture is grey sky and grey sea. The rider is small. That smallness is the point: one person and one animal on a very large, very quiet beach.
Colour
We did almost nothing to the colour. Winter light on the coast is already soft and cool. We lifted the shadows a little so the horse's coat kept its detail, and left the rest alone.
Keeping the camera ready
Since this film, we always carry one camera ready to record: a battery in, a memory card with space, a lens on and the settings close to right for the light. It sounds obvious. Before this morning, our cameras usually lived in the bag until we reached the place we planned to film. The rider passed in less than a minute. If the camera had been in the bag, there would be no film.
The tide project
The tide film we went to make, the one with the rising water and the rock pools, is still in the edit. This little film came first, by accident, and taught us to keep the camera ready even when we think we know what we came for.