Wolf Children (2012) - The Lateral Tracking Shot

Hi my name is Tony and
this is Every Frame a Painting

So this video was supposed to be done
for Mother's Day but that didn't happen

Sorry ma. Anyways today's film is
Wolf Children directed by Mamoru Hosoda.

This is a really lovely little film and

it won the Japanese Academy Award for
Best Animated Film two years ago.

If you haven't seen it, please do
but my video will provide no spoilers

so you can enjoy this without having
seen Wolf Children.

My subject today is a single shot from
the film right here.

It's a lateral tracking shot
lasting 57 seconds

and it follows the two
children, Ame and Yuki

from first grade the fourth grade
without any cuts.

We see Ame as a loner in first grade
while his sister Yuki

adjusts to life in school. We see
him bullied, we see her reaction,

we see her find a place in the classroom
while he starts to ditch class.

That's really it. So why do I think this
shot is actually kinda amazing?

This might sound like a weird thing to
say but I've never really understood how

to use the lateral tracking shot.

I've seen other directors use it,
sometimes beautifully, but I've never

figured out how to pull it off myself.

Because when you break it down, the
lateral tracking shot is kinda weird.

It's one of the least
subjective shots in cinema

It's actually one of most objective.
It doesn't suggest any character's POV

It suggests you're an omniscient God
and you're watching. It's very literal.

What you see is what you get,
so what do you use it for?

Most filmmakers use it as a quick
establishing move.

When you wanna start a scene and end in
your master, it's a simple way to go.

--Hey man, if I were to

shave off a nipple, would it be
covered by workmen's comp?

Sadly in the last five years,
this type of shot has just been beaten

into the ground by DSLRs and sliders.
Even good movies shot on DSLR

have slider overkill. So yeah,
we can find a better way to use it.

Well, what else is there? Another place
you see the shot is in war movies.

When you wanna show the vastness
of an army, the lateral tracking shot
will do the trick

It's really the go-to shot
for establishing a camp.

--This whole goddamn war
--Like finding a needle
in a stack of needles

It's also great for running whether it's
people running towards destiny

or towards the woman they love,
even just running to run.

Hell, why not slow-motion?
Or Tom Cruise?

And I don't know why but it also

really popular for supermarkets, maybe
because they're soulless and terrible

like the Safeway near my house.

Godard seems to have done the definitive
"I hate supermarkets" shot in cinema.

And there's a bunch of other one-off
uses by certain filmmakers.

Peter Greenaway uses it to make the
frame feel like a moving painting.

I've seen Park Chan-wook use it for
an amazing fight scene.

I've seen Buster Keaton use it
for physical comedy.

I've seen Scorsese use it for a mass
execution and I also really like this

one-off gag from Toy Story.

Some filmmakers make it
a personal statement.
Stanley Kubrick loved it

because it showed things the way
they were and now how we imagine
them to be.

He used it brilliantly in Paths of Glory
to show the extent of the trenches.

And in The Shining, it's everywhere,
one of the ongoing ways
he builds a sense of dread.

The environment just feels oppressive
when you look at it like this.

Another person who uses it a lot
is Wes Anderson

because it conveys that kinda
dollhouse, flat storybook look he loves.

It's also kinda inherently funny
when you have

bright colors and people moving in
straight lines like this.

But the one thing I rarely see the
lateral tracking shot used for

is intimacy.
It's not really an intimate shot.

No matter what you always seem to end up
at a distance from the characters

and even the greatest filmmakers
know this. So how can you make this shot

which isn't really intimate... intimate.
--Did you get my flowers?

Here's one way by Martin Scorsese
--you didn't get them, I sent them

Track away from the character

--Can I call you again?
It's weird because it's unmotivated

and it's the opposite of what you're
taught to do

but it really works. It feels empty
and sad and lonely, and it makes you

feel bad for Travis Bickle by
removing him from your field of view.

--I tried several times to call her
but after the first call, she wouldn't

come to the phone any longer.

Or here's another.
This is widely considered

one of the greatest shots
in the history of cinema.

The fascinating thing about this shot is
sheer length. It's nine minutes long

of the main character trying to take
this candle from one end to the other.

But since the shot has only one visual
focus and one dramatic goal,

Tarkovsky can let the moment unfold.
We see every step

the character takes, every
failure, every retry.

The shot's length puts you
in a weird meditative trance.

Because it's so simple you can read it
as a symbol or metaphor for

any struggle you could possibly want.
It's a model of simplicity and purity

and then there's this:

I actually think this is the most
emotional use of this camera move

in the last five or ten years.

And to prove it, watch how the
moment plays if I take out the track

and just do a straight cut
or a dissolve

or a push in.
This is a perfect example
where the lateral move

is exactly right. Being further away
from the characters makes this moment

sadder because we can't help them.
Moving left to right implies that time

has passed and we can never go back.

So all that brings us back to
Wolf Children.

Like a few shots on this list,
it's actually a really intimate

little piece. It shows kids growing up
right before your eyes.

But unlike every other shot on this list
it's actually physically impossible.

This isn't a literal shot,
it's figurative

It's really only possible
through the magic of movies

and specifically animation.
It moves back and forth

through time and space
and all it does is

tell the story these kids growing up.
So even if you're like me and

you don't really understand how to use a
lateral tracking shot,

it's great to see that someone out there
clearly does get it

and is pushing forward the visual
grammar in some small concrete way.

By the way, the rest of this film
is really lovely and beautiful and will

probably make you cry at the end.
And call your mom right afterwards.

So go watch it. Happy Mother's Day.