DI RECTOR STORY | THE HAUNT I NG OF H I LL HOUSE
HAIR-RAISING HILL HOUSE The brilliant The Haunting of Hill House currently on Netflix had some scarily long takes in episode six. Writer and director Mike Flanagan reveals how they were achieved
WORDS M I KE FL ANAGAN / PICTURES NETFLIX
I received a lot of questions about episode six of The Haunting of Hill House . Netflix released a brilliant behind-the-scenes video (bit.ly/DefHillHouse), but for those that would like a little more information, here’s a snippet. Episode six was part of the very first pitch for the show, promising an episode that would look like one continuous shot. Most of the camera choreography was included in the script itself, which meant that the draft for the episode was a really tough read with notes, such as ‘Camera pivots left/tracks right down left aisle, keeping Steven in MS profile’ breaking up the dialogue.
SCHEDULE CHANGE We initially intended to shoot it last, to give us as much time as possible. Budget issues resulted in the studio moving the episode up to the beginning of our third production block – rapidly accelerating our prep time. Production was shut down and rehearsals for episode six began 6 March 2018. We rehearsed daily with our second team stand-ins who performed the entire episode as actors as we learned the camera, lighting and acting choreography. They were heroes and made the whole thing possible. The episode comprised of five long takes; three took place in the funeral home, two in Hill House. We would rehearse one segment, while another was prepped/programmed for lighting, and then switch. Sets were still being painted and constructed to accommodate the episode. Rain special effects were put in both stages and specialty lights were brought in to create the lightning. The water would sometimes flood the sets and the studio initially didn’t want to pay for the extra ‘lightning’ lights, proposing to cut the storms from the episode entirely. REHEARSALS The actors arrived on set on 26 March to begin rehearsals. On their first day, we sat
The sets for both Hill House and Shirley’s funeral home were designed with episode six in mind. They were built on adjacent stages and had to accommodate a hallway that would physically connect them so that Hugh Crain (actor Timothy Hutton) could walk directly from the funeral home to Hill House in shot one. The sets needed to include hiding places for crew and equipment, specific lighting rigs, and even a handmade elevator that would lower into place from the ceiling to bring a cameraman down to the first floor for shot four. Immediately, we began doing weekly walk-throughs of the episode in prep.
32 DEF I N I T ION | DECEMBER 20 1 8
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