How Scorsese Moves the Camera With Purpose in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ | Anatomy of a Scene

To tell the sweeping story of the Osage murders of the 1920s in “Killers of the Flower Moon” (nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture), the director Martin Scorsese opted mostly not to sweep the camera along with the narrative.
“Dealing with the landscape and the period, I tended to have more stable images,” he said during a video interview, “images that were almost like old photographs in a way.”
But one key moment called for a change. As investigators go to Oklahoma to look into the Osage murders and disappearances, they drill down to a group of individuals they think are involved. And in this scene, the lawmen converge to arrest one person they believe they can get information from, Ernest Burkhart, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
As Ernest sits in a pool hall/barbershop, investigators descend on the space to surround him.
“Since the characters are all circling around each other in the movie, and since the circle gets tighter and tighter, my drawing for the shot was simply a circle with an arrow. That was it,” Scorsese said.
What follows is what the director called “a circular ballet,” with the camera continually moving around Ernest as he turns repeatedly, along with investigators moving in on him from different directions.
“That was one of the most enjoyable moments, laying out that shot,” he said.
The film then cuts to an interrogation room, with Ernest on one side of the frame, investigators on the other. This returns the movie back to more stable images, but with depth. The wide shot looks almost as if it’s playing out on a stage, the players shown full body and arranged in a kind of uneasy tableau.
“Once scenes and stories like this end up in police stations or interrogation rooms, I find the images become flat and uninteresting,” Scorsese said. “And so I said, let’s be dealing with angles that are boring into the characters. Not boring images, but boring, like really focused on them.”
Scorsese made the shots more head on, but also employs a passing-of-time technique that he said was inspired by the 1947 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger drama “Black Narcissus.” At one moment during the interrogation, the scene cuts to Ernest in a medium shot and fades to black. Then it fades right back in on him standing in the same place.
”We may have faded away for an hour to two hours,” Scorsese said. “You don’t expect to come fading back in on the same image,” he said.
In telling this story, the filmmaker concluded, “what I had to do was fight a tendency to over-design camera interpretation. In so doing, a tension is held in the frame.”
Read the New York Times review here: nyti.ms/3SYXPP1
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[@Keenonhang]

I could listen to Scorsese talk about every scene in every one of his movies and why he shot and edited it that way. He’s a fascinating filmmaker. A true master.

[@pbh9195]

This is why I miss DVDs director's commentaries are so fascinating

[@sij809]

Don't they still exist? DvDs and Commentary

[@AnandVenigalla]

@@sij809yes. Directors commentaries not as frequent these days though

[@sij809]

@@AnandVenigalla interesting. Never thought about that.

[@sailingsam3815]

Leo was excellent in this film. He acted his heart out.

[@AliAhmed-ki2uc]

Imagine he is not shortlisted in the Oscars 😂

[@justanotherblackwhitemicke7817]

Original comment

[@meowrbius]

Academy not even putting Leo in the nominees is an utter disrespect to his artistry.

[@sij809]

It's a sign of the times and yeah what you said. Really sucks. Also KOTFM is the years best movie. My opinion

[@yellowflash7696]

HAVE YOU SEEN OPPENHEIMER???? THAT’S THE BEST ACTING IN MOVIES SO FAR.

[@sij809]

@yellowflash7696 you mean this year or ever. Oppenheimer is good and so are the performances but there is way too much hype around it. I feel like there is a bit if herd mentality going on. Mass hysteria type of stuff

[@sneat2028]

​@@yellowflash7696 Oppenheimer was good it is not the best. There was way too much hype around it.

[@AUMOTmusic]

For what it's worth part of what gets people nominated is campaigning for it; Leo chose not to campaign hard for a nomination for himself, and focused on supporting Lily Gladstone's awards run. In fact Leo has been pretty happy to sit back and relax since he won his first for the Revenant.

[@danielbarrero2815]

fantastic filmmaking!

[@filmmaker610]

Beautiful steadicam shot

[@thiagosussekind214]

I love how simple yet so genial it sounds. Scorsese in many ways it’s a master of simplicity.

[@vittoriostoraro]

How a real filmmaker works.

[@SagnikBakshi0325]

Fascinating & masterful. Taking notes. Really helpful, Sir. 🙏🙏 Just 1 question, Sir: why Leonardo DiCaprio Sir is imitating Marlon Brando Sir's acting here? 😅😅

[@TheReelAnalyst]

Scorsese is a genius

[@jayme5617]

Scorsese is Cinema !

[@GROW_YOUTUBE_VIEWS_m109]

Goosebumps!

[@focuspulling]

Ballet, indeed. Cinema truly is the grand hybrid of art forms.

[@of1300]

DiCaprio is an acting genius.

[@of1300]

@@TechGuy-sv3pti was the first. that´s what counts. you are not as cool as me.

[@nathanmasi1931]

​@@TechGuy-sv3ptsaid me. Go watch what's eating Gilbert grape

[@itsaashish]

The Best Movie of Marty’s career. It should win Best Picture.

[@MamadNobari]

nice joke

[@troybracy2915]

This was the best movie of the year but thet might rob him of best picture

[@SuperWhofan1]

Sadly it won’t win

[@jasondo3001]

Raging Bull is actually Scorsese’s best.

[@troybracy2915]

@@jasondo3001 Raging Bull was his best movie until this movie came out now it’s his second best

[@troybracy2915]

Best movie of the year

[@nazaretsalinas9997]

In my opinion, best film I've ever watched so far this year. I think it was better than Oppenheimer, IN my opinion.

[@GiantsJets718]

My mom hasn’t seen this movie, but she has seen Oppenheimer she said it was good but can’t understand the hype especially for an academy award.

[@nathanmasi1931]

​@@GiantsJets718me and your mom seem to share the same opinion

[@sexyturopita]

Legend

[@danieltuang6579]

This movie seems boring, rather tedious at first. But I’ve got an experience of knowing about relations between oil and indigenous Osage individuals after watching this. I felt really sad for Osage members. Significantly, I was mad at Ernest for his committed crimes in terms of his greed.😢😢

[@far9685]

I found it enthralling personally, maintained tension very well throughout

[@bishoyromani4058]

Legendery filmmaking ❤

[@kjanisly4724]

this movie is brilliant

[@saintsalieri]

Completely normal, workmanlike scene.

[@bobbydennis8333]

A lot of people were thinking President Obama was focused on his legacy while he was in office. Seems only fair to let the world know the USA’s current legacy: “Been that way for 30 years.” - U.S. Justice Department on the lack of Human Rights in Oklahoma County Jail, 2020 “Makes me feel human again after this place.” - Oklahoma City Art Museum review after life in the local shelters (20+ years in the making), 2024 “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” - Nelson Mandela 🥂🥂

[@nachocook7880]

Loved this movie....Leo and Lily were awesome....made me laugh and made me cry. I cried a lot it was very sad.My husband is from Akwesasne rez. People that are in a town near the rez seem to be racist to me. Not all but majority of them are . All the Mohawks on the rez are so nice and so beautiful and handsome.

[@dawnofthedead1285]

God Father of filmmaking!

[@aknetworkedit]

Is it 'Score-Sez-Zee' or 'Score-Says-Zee'?

[@prvicentebatista]

Greetings friends, have a great weekend

[@gaurav007]

Global Awareness drive Peace campaign is on. Join our Peace and Climate Action Campaign.

[@coolbuddyshreyash]

god tier

[@dantevalerydelangelzavala8586]

Periodico basira viva AMLO

[@SleepySleepers-ib3hz]

#ArmUkraineASAP

[@user-nf1yq3en1w]

How exactly was dicaprio connected to epstein?

[@bernardomorenoestrada412]

NEW FAKE TIMES!!!

[@puravidafilmco]

If you didn’t READ the book, it’s boring and uninteresting and you miss the whole experience. If you watched it without reading it, well then you don’t know what it’s about so it doesn’t click 😂

[@norbitcleaverhook5040]

The movie was a meh for me. I usually like these kinds of films and was excited once i heard the storyline and saw the cast but it was a major meh for me... I think people just froth over it because Scorsese made it and they assume it was great because they arent quite sure what makes his films so great. For me, this was not what makes his films great. This was a meh. Watchable but equally forgettable.

[@NomeIndeciso]

Your own evaluation of the movie just comes down to repeating that it’s “meh” again and again, but it’s other people who like the film who you speculate can’t articulate their opinions.

[@SuperWhofan1]

Your opinion! I didn’t love it because Scorsese made it. I loved it because it’s fantastic.

[@DavidK-wg8wz]

like the guy above said, you can't even give an explanation as to why you thought the film was "meh" but assume other people's opinions and logic are as thoroughly banal as yours

[@hamzaouamrouche57]

Score.sese the mastermind with camera in killers of flower Moon