Following the release of one of Netflix's best shows of all time Adolescence, the streamer has now shared exactly how they captured the filming of each hour long episode in one take.
The four-part series was released on March 13 and tells the harrowing and gripping story of a 13-year-old boy Jamie, played by Owen Cooper, who is accused of killing fellow teenager Katie. The ambitious project was headed up by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham (who also stars as dad Eddie in the series) and unlike many other Netflix projects, each episode was shot in one continuous take, as opposed to filming multiple scenes and cutting them together.
The filming technique amps up the drama as we watch each episode. The first centered on the police station and Jamie's processing, the second at Jamie's school with the detectives to determined to find a 'why' for his actions, the third a tense therapy session between Jamie and psychologist Briony Ariston, played by Erin Doherty, and the final episode following Jamie's family at home.
So how did they film in one take? Well Netflix has just shared a bunch of details. Posting on X (formerly known as Twitter) on 15 March, the streamer revealed they planned to film each episode at least 10 times, with one take being shot in the morning and the next in the afternoon. This process was to happen over five days, but inevitably not everything always goes to plan and there were some episodes where they ended up abandoning takes and doing more than the planned 10.
They then shared which take ended up as the final episode we saw on Netflix:
- Episode 1 - Take 2 - was shot on shoot day 1 of 5
- Episode 2 - Take 13 - was shot on shoot day 5 of 5
- Episode 3 - Take 11 - was shot on shoot day 5 of 5
- Episode 4 - Take 16 - was shot on shoot day 5 of 5
Netflix then went onto reveal how the cast prepared for each episode, explaining: "In preparation for the shoot, segments of the script were rehearsed and a little bit more added each day—starting with five minutes on the first day and then adding further material as they went through, so by the end of the week they would be doing full run-throughs."
If the cast forgot or messed up a line they would either carry on with the mistake or if it was too big to ignore they would then reset and abandon the take.
During their rehearsals the cast and crew would work out how to move around each other, with Netflix adding: "Sometimes it was necessary for some of the crew to remain in shot, in these instances they were dressed in costume so that they could blend into the show to serve as extras in the shot."
As for that drone shot at the end of episode two? Well turns out they attached the camera to a drone as they were following Jade, played by Fatima Bojang, out of the school and the camera flew 0.3 miles to where Eddie was placing the flowers and caught by a separate camera crew who "smoothly catch the camera and transition into a close shot of Stephen Graham."
Ok, we think we're going to need to watch this again, just to appreciate the artistry.
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