Art of the Long Take: Episode 7, Joni Meets The Broker

Quarry — Episode 7, “Carnival of Souls”

Following each episode of Quarry director Greg Yaitanes breaks down elements of a key scene.

Directors love mirrors and I am no exception.

Joni meeting The Broker is not a flashy scene by any stretch. It’s another minimally covered scene. It’s just a couple shots when Joni approaches The Broker, which is the reason why we used the mirrors to tell both stories simultaneously.

As a piece of coverage, we can hold on Joni and see all the nuance of her lies and get a feeling of The Broker’s presence and threat, even though he’s not physically in the same frame. This scene is set in the battleground of Mac and Joni’s last sanctuary of human connection — their bedroom. Both Joni and The Broker are lying. The Broker is testing her — probing to figure out what she knows; Joni is desperate to hide the secrets she’s learned.

It is, I feel, one of the more artful pieces of coverage we’ve done. And I thought it worth sharing because of its simplicity — just letting the scene play out. The simplicity of the scene illustrates my trust in the performances and trust in the scripts that, as a director, I could surrender to.

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