Challengers: No One Else is Shooting Movies Like This

[@StuTalks]

Soooo I know I’m a little late to it, but I had to talk about Challengers - because I have been obsessed with the coverage Guadagnino & Mukdeeprom are getting here. Have you seen it? What was your favourite scene? 👇🏻👇🏻

[@Winners-Only]

No one is shooting movie video essays like this. Absolute banger man! Lean in and keep creating like this!

[@StuTalks]

Appreciate it my guy!

[@snappy8k]

wide font, exaggerated words, trying to look creative... *yawn*

[@zaimzlkn]

Blown away with how well put together this is, well done!! dying for more to come!

[@marco_rocco]

My favorite scene is when Patrick and Tashi are arguing in the car, she leaves the car and Patrick say something and she stops walking, the camera changes frame to face Tashi with Patrick in the background, her face is lit up in RED from the car's light, the sudden frame shift represents her changing her mind and at the same time these FAT SYNTHS kick into the song at that exact moment.... I've seen the movie three times, twice in cinema and that scene always gives me goosebumps and makes me sit up in my seat a bit. Incredible movie, I know recency bias is a thing but it's probably in my top 3 movies I've even seen and I'm not even a Guadagnino fan...

[@mikecole4489]

the amount of effort you put in this video.. my guy you're on a different level

[@AlexFrenette]

I rarely get captivated in youtube videos but you really nailed it with the camera angles, editing, sound design and clip selections of the film. Bravo.

[@thespenserdavis]

I appreciate that you highlight and underline Intention. Too many filmmakers (and not just the fresh out of a school stereotype) lean heavily on bizarre angles that are "cool shots" but communicate nothing emotionally. It stops being storytelling and becomes something for their reel. Definitely subscribed after this!

[@RydeEnt]

First video I've seen of yours and subscribing straight away! Brilliant work. Also had no desire to see this film until now.

[@brandonhamaguchi]

Really nice production on this video! Writing, camera, music, creativity. Congratulations 🎉

[@Thmoliv]

The chair pull 🤌

[@StuTalks]

The chair pull is an absolute A grade insert for sure, had a whole section written about that shot too here but cut for time 👀

[@ElliotCoen]

another banger of a video from Stu here!

[@StuTalks]

Muchos love dude 🙏🏻

[@muradbyunus]

This movie fell off my radar, I'm definitely going to check it out now thanks to your video. Great work with the essay-- talk about walking the walk and talking the talk. 👏

[@miguelrosado6348]

That's not exactly what coverage is. Coverage is filming your scene beyond what you envisioned for your editing. Filmmakers like Luca Guadagnino tend to hate that word, as "coverage" is what the producers want you to shoot to be on the safe side, in case your initial plan fails and they need to re-edit the scene. It's basically excess footage. The most used shot when you are doing coverage is the "mastershot" in which you shoot the entire scene wide, with all your characters, from beginning to end. The best word to define what's in this video is instead "mise-en-scene" which doesn't seem to have an equivalent in English.

[@StuTalks]

That’s true, but also i think there’s a difference between the literal definition of coverage and the subjective meaning of the word as it’s used in the process. I don’t think of coverage as a producers term as a failsafe, even though it absolutely DOES get used as that. And It’s true, filmmakers like Guadagnino are not thinking literally in terms of coverage when creating on set - part of his process is absolutely finding shots in a more free flowing way. There will always be ALOT of coverage left on the cutting floor too, but I wanted to use the term here as a clear way into understanding shots with the edit. You’re right Mise-en-scene is an accurate term when looking at it after the fact, but i think coverage, to me at least, speaks more to the process of building the scene from the setups. Appreciate the thoughtful discussion though!

[@lemonbeans]

Yeah, I don't wanna be harsh but I feel like homie could've spent more time on his script and less in the editing bay. Ironic when his video contains a critique of "unmotivated" shots.

Coverage is the correct term and has nothing to do with shooting "excess footage". As the video states, it includes master shots, close-ups, medium shots, etc. Mise-en-scene refers to the arrangement of everything that appears in the frame - including set design, lighting, composition, costumes, and actors' performances.

[@NiklasStrahammer]

@StuTalks nah bro

[@albertonunes3234]

Coverage is not excess shooting. Coverage is just how you’re going to “cover” the scene, what shots are going to show the scene you want to shoot. There’s “standard coverage” which is what you’re talking about, just doing your wide shot, over the shoulders and closeups. But you can “cover” a scene however you want

[@krasipaskalevv]

Your channel just got recommended to me and your video quality, camera angles, editing, sound, script, lighting, everything is really awesome. Subbed!

[@StuTalks]

Ah dude this means a lot thank you 🤙🏻

[@jacksonmokk]

Love the breakdown, you earned a sub!

[@StuTalks]

Ayy welcome! 👋🏻

[@jerry.cray_II]

Very interesting and insightful breakdown. You made some excellent points and supported them very well. You have just earned a new subscriber my friend.

[@NicholsBlauner]

this video took a lot of work to shoot and edit. great job

[@rue2838]

One of my favorite scenes in the film was when Art and Patrick were in the sauna. The tension was palpable, and was literally a dick measuring contest at first lol, or at least Patrick wanted it to be.

[@Shutterwiz205]

Great stuff man. Gonna keep this in mind about having a lot more coverage for a scene with intentions to create a feeling.

[@ezpezy8801]

Love your content, especially the editing style man! Just subscribed 😁

[@StuTalks]

Thanks for watching! Appreciate the love! 👋🏻

[@Dpoftheyear]

this was a dope and direct review of there art.. thank you for this.. opened a new door

[@aadstagram]

Haven't seen the film but I'm a bit obsessed with your video. Your editing is great and you present really well. Great to find awesome creators.

[@StuTalks]

Thank you dude! Appreciate it 🙏🏻

[@proxygon4292]

Damn the way it's cut and the rythm.. and the music wow I love this

[@RenardZen]

Amazing work on the editing and the content of your video! Well done, very interesting and instructive. I 100% agree with you and this give me the little kick to go watch Challengers

[@alex_montoya]

14 setups in almost 3 minutes isn't a strange ratio. Fincher does around the same.

[@StuTalks]

He does! Lots of directors/DPs have done more too - my point is not that the number of setups is unique to challengers, but more that the fact that there are more is an example of interesting coverage. It’s exactly why I love someone like Fincher, and probably applies to all of the directing greats: interesting and dynamic setups!

[@geeyouwhy72]

Thanks Stu, enjoyed your review and now looking forward to seeing something that hadn't crossed my mind! Subbed and interested in seeing more of your stuff.

[@POW.CREEPER]

04:56 Why does it feel like a Tarantino shot, and we are looking at mr.pink lol

[@thegoat4life]

Great video and top tier edit 🔥🔥!

[@DannyBatista]

Loved how put this together! Subscribed!

[@saysomestuff]

In before 100k subscribers - excellent video, well done.

[@StuTalks]

Long way to go there 😂 thank you!

[@roxyjuly]

This director/DOP duo has been my favorite ever since 'call me..', and your video really voiced so many impressions I had but couldn't quite articulate yet! I'm studying to work in cinematography, and this kind of video is so enjoyable to me! So, thank you for making a video that felt almost tailor-made for me! :))

[@mauriciotrujillo9016]

Awesome video and analysis!! 🔥🙌🏻

[@garfieldmtify]

Stu your video is OUTSTANDING for various very positive reasons. Sometimes I seriously do not like this platform wince I would love to engage with you in real time. I wrote a lot then just deleted. I the creative process is great thing. Thanks for you video!

[@barelyinfo]

how the hell do you only have 5k followers? this video is incredible!

[@AFHS123]

This video is incredible. You match what you talk about. So creative. So fun.

[@abstraktfilms]

That keyboard click transition was gold 👌🏾

[@rondelfilms]

Instant sub. This video was incredible!

[@hiimevanjohnson]

I like how around 8:30 you in away recreate your favorite cut of the film. With starting with you and the footage in the background and then you cut to the footage continuing as it gets more frantic. It’s not exact, but it gave me the same vibe

[@omenka]

The opening scene of inglourious basterds had a sick coverage. Slowly increasing the tension by revealing the situation more and more.

[@StuTalks]

An absolute all timer opening 100%

[@MePeterNicholls]

What is: effort. They don’t settle for that’ll do. They step up and make the effort to do what we all know makes things good, but often can’t be bothered or forget about.

[@sophiegao0771]

I just love the script structure of this film so much that I went on reading the script. The script had a lot of long dialogue scenes but Luca has shorten them or translated them into these incredible viusal language. He made the right directing choices. The tension between the three characters hook me on throughout the film. Love your video!!

[@StuTalks]

I really need to give the script a read, because so much of the film feels like a kinetic visual representation of what I imagine could have ended up as a very straight forward dialogue driven piece under other directors. Particularly love how sharply the visuals pull out the idea relationship of tennis AND sexual chemistry throughout. Thanks for watching!

[@sophiegao0771]

@@StuTalks I felt the same way!! I am gonna quote your comment whenever I recommend this film to my friends

[@marcus6918]

furiosa takes the cake for me this year so far for the best shot movie. while i understand the cgi issue, it uses everything the cinema language has to offer (in terms of compostion, blocking, staging and editing)

[@StuTalks]

Also a great great piece of cinema!

[@dxkaiyuan4177]

Stu talks about the importance of intentional cinematography, how every angle is considered and carries momentum. Stu's own cinematography of himself is haphazard, unhinged, and disorientating. I love it lol

[@jomosadler7206]

Is this video in 1.85?

[@sebastianFZE]

What SFX did you use specifically for 3:34 please? I've been looking for something like this for ages!

[@ericmichaelmckenzie]

Insightful video. Well done. You just got yourself a subscriber.

[@works7437]

Well as many film makers if not all do. so many compositions or shots were probably ripped off, bit, stolen? from Girlfight amazing film that clearly inspired challengers in the Camera work department

[@FilmStockNews]

Another great video

[@theartisanmedia]

Great video mate! Thanks! Whats the font name you use in minute 1:42? Thank you! Love it

[@laythguitarhero]

OK BRO WENT CRAZY ON THIS ONE!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@msd5808]

I guess I'd have to see it. I went to watch the trailer but don't see what is special about how it looks or moves.

[@lqpf]

underrated content bro keep it up

[@FilmStockNews]

forreal!

[@aidengrips]

His camera movements tell us more than the dialogues. Imagine this mixed with George Miller's Fury Road. I bet if they worked together they could make an insane blockbuster that would be thrilling without a single line from any of the characters throughout the whole movie

[@CreatingMoreno]

Cheekily implementing the concept of the video in your own video..... I like it.

[@jsebassssssssss]

Great video, great shirt.

[@nel-cam]

great video! instant sub

[@peterondesign]

really good video, learnt a lot - keep it up!

[@StuTalks]

Thanks dude!

[@juanfantasma8053]

dude, halfway trough your video and I cannot wait to finnish it to say splendid pace and use of camera angles to keep up my attention span lol.

[@Treety26]

loved the video!! dk how you don't have more subscribers but please keeep going i know it'll catch up to you. if id have to say something i think this thumbnail is way better than the rest of your vids so you're definitely heading the right direction. i think it'd do well to integrate the frame of the film you're talking about at least partially in every thumbnail. also personally im not sure i would click on a video with your face in fisheye lol. that being said the actual content is amazing i'll be rooting for you

[@StuTalks]

Thank you! Appreciate the constructive feedback too - definitely playing around with things at the moment so it’s good to hear what everyone’s digging or not! 🙏🏻

[@stu9000]

Good effort. Feel like the video would be even better if you showed more of the scene at a time, even slowed down, while you narrate what the effect of each shot is.

[@DamnFineCupOfCoffee]

What is the white font you use?

[@StuTalks]

Few different ones throughout, but the main one is Druk 🤙🏻

[@DamnFineCupOfCoffee]

@@StuTalks fantastic content btw!

[@brandonhamaguchi]

I loved the scene when the Zendaya character realized that his career was over below that tree. It was necessary and sad, and moved the plot forward ⏩

[@StuTalks]

Love that one!

[@BlaineWestropp1]

I love this movie

[@auf.5153]

i think von trier's depression trilogy was shot like this. only this isnt demotivating

[@cameroncarroll5703]

Great video

[@TurtleLord44]

waiting for a video essay about the coverage in this video (it's very cool)

[@StuTalks]

Who will step up to the plate? (Sayombhu Mukdeeprom if you ever read this I’m looking at you)

[@beatriceanobah6388]

bravo 👏🎬

[@retlwiz]

Brilliantly done, though I think the first thing to do is to have an interesting and original scene to begin with - something that justifies the unconventional coverage, otherwise it's the typical trying too hard to shoot sexy shots when they are not needed. A boring, conventional scene cries out for conventional coverage and the same goes for the other way round - it's the form meeting the content. You could also shoot a fantastic scene in a static wide shot and it still may be incredible - it's the scene that should decide the shot, not just the filmmakers trying to juice things up.

[@LaSedNoEsNada]

No One Else is Shooting Movies Like This ? ... The greatest clickbait haha... watch succession for a really great coverage, also you can watch DEVS EP 6 about at 16.40, and the list just goes and goes... in spite of that title I liked your video so you get my like 👍👍

[@StuTalks]

Haha yes i have to agree it was a little bit of a hookier title than I’d usually use - but i actually do stand by it! I hope through the actual video i explain as best I can what makes Guadagnino/Mukdeeprom such a unique collaboration! Wouldnt for a second want to suggest they are the only duo capable of great coverage, just that their own flavour is unique in and of itself - i adore succession and i have no doubt that the DPs on that would shoot these Challengers scenes in their own unique way too. Thank you for watching and liking! 🤙🏻

[@NDF1138]

Wow, that’s a lot of coverage, they’re lucky, they must have planned in advance extra shooting days. Most independent filmmakers can’t afford to shoot 9 different angles of only one scene. Also what are these angles trying to convey about the theme, the characters and the story? I guess tennis is a fast paced sport? Or these guys are on drugs? The low angle crotch shot in the tennis scene…how is that supposed to further the story, other than; “let’s get some sweet angles!” Every second counts and every second is money being spent. Again most filmmakers do not have it in their budget to get so many unnecessary random shots that feel like they don’t serve the story. Today it seems that attention spans are so short that filmmakers are going to bastardize the craft of storytelling. But every filmmaker is free to experiment in a way they want, try everything out, just plan ahead so you don’t spend a day getting nine different angles and then a week later your budget only permits you little to no coverage. For you filmmakers out there who most of you can’t afford nine takes of one scene, take a look at the brilliance of the filmmakers since the silent era, take a look at how you can achieve everything you want in one or two shots. The less you have the more creative you will be. Here’s a video for filmmakers with low budgets looking for ways to tell their stories with the use of rehearsal, blocking, staging, camera movement, etc: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJS6nGCdoMh0ja8si=8YZGo6MO5Z1qd-lQ

[@joaocorreiamedia]

I don't think y'all know what coverage is... and it shows.

[@AcidTest-im3jb]

Nice breakdown. I actually didn't care for the film much. I thought the ball-cam, racket-cam, under-court-cam stuff felt a bit over cooked and gimmicky. On the whole it felt like a bit of a stumble compared to Guadagnino's - Call me by Your Name

[@AbrahamVillanueva1]

🔥

[@RonaldReaganRocks1]

Everyone needs to see "The Assassination ofJesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," and "The Man who Killed Don Quixote."

[@davidb9531]

This is not what coverage is at all bro, coverage is extra footage which is used to splice in incase of issues, be they continutity, audio, there are loads of interviews from directors explaining why they don’t shoot coverage to understand why and what it actually is.

[@donniemp3]

coverage is all footage shot for a scene. I double checked by googling and every single website confirms this. why do you say otherwise?

[@davidb9531]

@@donniemp3 well done Google always knows best 😂😂😂, better than every director working in the field

[@donniemp3]

@@davidb9531 where do you think google results come from? So far the only person saying otherwise is you, so I’m asking where you got that from. Otherwise, im gonna believe the entirety of the internet over you lol

[@davidb9531]

@@donniemp3 bro read the comments there’s a comment from a family member saying this is not what coverage is - there’s a video on KZbin with Werner Herzog saying he doesn’t shoot coverage, so if coverage is what you say it is the he clearly shoots movies that just use sound, listen to directors commentaries educate yourself past Google and what modern filmmakers use the term “coverage” to mean.

[@donniemp3]

@@davidb9531 bro I don’t know what your vendetta against google is. There are hundreds of articles on this topic, in addition to videos, explaining this topic. You’re telling me they’re all wrong, and some family member and one video is the determining factor. Believe what you want, but I’m gonna believe a word means what everyone else says it means. Have a nice day lol

[@acapedit]

Great video essay but look at movies from the 80’s and 90’s and you’ll see this language commonplace. It’s just now, with the advent of streaming that you see basic “coverage” dominate the blocking and staging language. There’s nothing that special about this.

[@MePeterNicholls]

That cut is pulse raising. It’s verging on an eroticism.

[@rameshdevasi6720]

terry gilliam is underrated

[@TeamRedProductions]

“Good” coverage should be called… Shot design?

[@shaun_seneviratne]

And bad coverage = dump truck directing (we see this in TV all the time)

[@FOUADMKHAN]

your coverage is a little too dramatic for just a simple rant

[@CipriAvila]

I really love how you breakdown the scene coverage but I feel like this is his weakest and theoretically most inconsistent movie. I really love Luca as a director, a bigger splash is incredible but challengers is lacking in depth in comparison to everything else he’s done. I’m going to watch it again because I almost hated the movie because it was mostly style over substance. Woody Allen’s Match point is a very similar world to Challengers and Match Point is far superior although a different kind of story.

[@cambodianz]

Good on you for sitting through this movie. I had to cut bait after 30 minutes. I found its characters unbearable and writing even worse.

I don't think saying a film is like a perfume commercial can be twisted to be a good thing... it basically means that it is all style and no substance. Your point about "if it hadn't looked like this it might have just been another tennis film" is exactly the point. People want good story telling and interesting plots over endless hyper-stylized shots.

[@StuTalks]

My point is that sometimes style IS the substance. All depends on what you’re looking for in filmmaking, for example, i find the storytelling and character work in Challengers to be fantastic BECAUSE the stylised shots are sucking me into the world of the characters. Each to their own though!

@@StuTalks The film might be amazing... I haven't seen it. My point is that if a film is referred to as a perfume commercial it is suggesting that it's over-stylized and has no substance. You wouldn't want to watch a 2 hour perfume commercial... if Challengers has a great plot, great acting, great script and as a bonus is also shot beautifully, then it would be unfair to call it a perfume ad. It seemed like you were suggesting that perhaps the biggest thing going for the film was the "coverage"...

[@jackbarron8880]

Luca Guadagnino is the most overrated filmmaker working today. Seriously. Please, watch a good film by a good filmmaker. No real filmmaker shoots 'coverage'....sheesh.

[@v-22]

They suck and all of their movies suck.

[@_FrontFootFilms_]

The "coverage" he got completely takes you out of the film. It's style for styles sake. It doesn't serve the story at all.

[@AnthonyHadleyJr]

Sheesh. With videos like these, its only a matter of time before the World finds you 🤌🏾

[@StuTalks]

Way too kind! Thanks for watching dude 🤙🏻