Credits
Director: Jason Reitman
Writers: Walter Kirn (novel), Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (screenplay)
Cinematographer: Eric Steelberg
Editor: Dana E. Glauberman
Music: Rolfe Kent
Notes
Firing Scenes: got people who were really just fired so it was as realistic as possible. kept cameras out of the room for natural chemistry. asked people to react how they did, or wish they had when they were fired. minimal lighting, unsophisticated camera angles, wanted a documentary look.
Introducing Fight: shot in a real airport TSA and airplane. used yellow and high lighting to show flight and travel as easy, and having a home feel.
Backpack Speech: many things from writer’s and cinematographer’s personal life to create something more compelling and believable by using their own experience on the story.
At the Office: Jason Beitman given a different look to differentiate him from other roles by having him grow a beard
Aerial Footage: cameras mounted to shoot looking where the planes did, to 75 degrees down. to get all the way down they had to tip the plane
Ryan and Alex Meeting:
- when the scene isn’t right, do it again, change things about it like the locations, dialogue, blocking, anything to make it work
- meant to echo romance movies of the 40s. flirt over mileage cards, not meant to mock the cards a flight, but to show how important it is to them. Had to get to the bedroom with a natural flow.
- used improv to get the mile-high section to get that natural flow.
- used a curved hallway to show that the air travel life never quite had an end.
Bedroom Scene: lighting with the computers was tricky because the screen light was too harsh, used post-pro to fix that
Phone Call with Sister: sows their separation by putting him in an airport store, while his sister is at home. blue vs yellow lighting to show tone between the two
Comes to House: shooting on location with a worn-down old apartment, accordion door, huge ac vent showed how he didn’t care about his actual house to further distance him from where his house is
Greg’s Office:
- used store-bought sports merch to show how artificial he is. nothing in his office has a home or worn feel or look.
- all sit down one by one, the camera has to follow and find a new eye-line. camera has to have an action for every action the camera has. both characters stand up at the same time so nobody loses power. camera moves a lot to show chaos in the scene.
Ryan and Natalie go on a Flight: music emphasizes the comedy and annoyance of the scene. used music to bring out whatever emotion is already being felt and highlight it.
Ryan and Alex in Kansas: can reuse footage by mirroring it to make the location unrecognizable.