Adolescence hailed as ‘masterwork’ as camera trick explained by Netflix
The crime drama, written and created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, is about a teenager accused of murdering a classmate.
Adolescence has been hailed as an “emotional and technological masterwork” by Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, as Netflix revealed how the series was filmed.
Each of the four episodes of the crime drama about a boy accused of killing his classmate – written and created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne – was filmed in a single shot in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.
The show sees This Is England star Graham as Eddie Miller, the father of 13-year-old Jamie, played by newcomer Owen Cooper, who sees armed police burst into his home to arrest his son.
Eddie is then chosen as Jamie’s appropriate adult, accompanying him at the police interview, and learning the extent of what his son is accused of doing.
Adolescence has already earned critical praise and a number of celebrity fans. The drama took months of preparation and rehearsals so that all of the filming could be done in one continuous shot.
A Simple Favour and Ghostbusters director Feig wrote on X: “The first episode of the @netflix show Adolescence is one of the best hours of television I’ve ever seen.
“An emotional and technological masterwork, the show works on all levels. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the episodes. Huge congrats to all involved.”
Graham and director Philip Barantini, who previously collaborated on the Bafta and Bifa-nominated Boiling Point – which was also shot in one continuous take – reunite for the show.
The cast also features Top Boy star Ashley Walters as Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe, and Chloe actress Erin Doherty taking on the role of Briony Ariston, the clinical psychologist assigned to Jamie’s case.
TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson singled out the second episode, which follows DI Bascombe as he tries to find a possible motive at Jamie’s school, before the final shot pans out to travel to the place of the young girl’s death, and Eddie leaving flowers.
Clarkson, who is currently presenting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on ITV1, wrote on X: “Adolescence. The camera at the end of show two. How on earth did they do that? It’s impossible.”
The former Top Gear star, 64, added that carrying out the technical feat is complex, as there is “no stitching” together scenes, so a camera has to follow the cast through the school hallways, and up into the air for the final shot.
He wrote: “It was all one shot. The only clue is the lack of dialogue before and after the drone footage, which suggests the drone was making a racket. But it doesn’t explain how they did it.”
On the Netflix Tudum behind-the-scenes site, director of photography Matthew Lewis said that he found a “way to make the camera fly”, by attaching it to a drone.
The streaming site also said on X that the director of photography was carrying the camera, until the production team attached it to a drone.
They added that this “then flies a distance of 0.3 miles across the site to the murder scene, where it comes down to a camera operator and team of grips who smoothly catch the camera and transition into a close shot of Stephen Graham. Easy”.
Journalist Andrew Neil suggested that it would be winning all the award shows next year.
He wrote on X: “Just finished all four episodes of Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’. At times painfully difficult to watch. But one of the most powerful and relevant British TV dramas ever made.
“Acting, photography, scripting and production flawless. Deserves to scoop every TV award going.”
Adolescence, which also examines so-called incel culture and the use of social media in bullying, features Oscar winner Brad Pitt as one of the executive producers through his Plan B Entertainment company.
