Filmmaking / Directing : Adolescence and that Final Scene by Geoff Hall

Hi, Geoff Hall. I still have to see Adolescence, but I saved this post so I can come back and jump into the discussion after I watch it.

Maurice Vaughan cool, Maurice. It will be great to have a conversation with you about it.

I wish there were more episodes. I learned a lot about possibilities in my own writing from it.

So good. 4th episode, the dad is amazing. All the cast was. Love that they made it 4 episodes.

It’s overwhelming in all senses and my favorite 2025 TV series until now. Not only for the theme itself, or the one take-shot, but for the real impact in society. And everything was organic. Zero Marketing. Its a masterclass in all senses. I am happy you saw it Geoff Hall and inspired your vision as a director. For me, four episodes are perfect!

It’s a remarkable work of art.

The final song didn’t affect me, however. It’s a nice touch that the singer was the victim, but that’s extra-textual. There’s nothing in the show that would clue you in to that, right? I only knew because I watched some behind-the-scenes.

It’s interesting that we don’t get anything from the victims’ pov, and that was on purpose. They describe the show not as a whodunnit, but a whydunnit, but I didn’t know that going in. I kept trying to figure out the mystery, as that’s what other crime shows have conditioned me to do. Instead it’s about Jamie and the people around him.

The one-take gimmick is a little distracting. I’m used to getting a charge out of show-offy oners in action movies. Here it’s used not for style, but to get a sense of reality… still if I thought about it too much it would take me out of the story. I’d look at the camera moves, the proficiency of the actors and crew, and say “this is impossible.” And yet it continued.

Xochi Blymyer yeah, Xochi. That was the perfect form for this story. They showed four different perspectives; the police, the school, the psychologist and then the family. Stephen Graham was wonderful as Eddie. Such a powerhouse!

David Austin Veal Hi David, personally I liked the way it ended. No courtroom drama, because we knew the lad was guilty, and it very powerfully gave the family the last word. Then there was Eddie’s final, devastating words. What a way to end a series!

Sandra Isabel Correia thanks for saying that, Sandra. Seeing Rachel has a singular vision for how the story is to be told. The cinematic style, the music, the psychology of the everyday costs of this social injustice.

Mike Boas thanks for sharing your thoughts Mike. Yes, we are programmed to think of crime stories as a procedural, but I loved the fact like you say, that it wasn’t a whodunnit but a whydunnit.

The one-take run through each episode didn’t bother me. I knew going in what it was going to be and felt that I was totally immersed in the story, not to analyse the technicalities of doing it, with the choreography of cast, camera and sound crews.

I don’t think it will influence me to use the one-take for any series I write, but I have complete admiration for cast and crew on the series.

Indeed Geoff Hall :))

It was ASTONISHING. Only thing I can compare it to in terms of intensity was the "wedding" episode of SUCCESSION and certain episodes of THE BEAR. As remarkable as the writing and performances was the technical wizardry necessary to achieve the one-continuous-shot illusion, which was seamless. Couldn't stop thinking of it all day today. It occurred to me this morning that each episode of the series preserved (in a 21st-century way) the classical unities. WHO WAS THAT CHILD ACTOR WHO PLAYED JAMIE? Good lord. What a performance.

Correction -- I had assumed there was some kind of CGI trickery to achieve the one-take "illusion" -- but it was no illusion, Which leaves me wondering how the hell they secured a camera operator to the front of a moving van, shooting right through the windshield as it sped down a real street for five or six consecutive minutes. Amazing. Per Wikipedia: "Adolescence is noted for its extensive use of one-shot filming, as each episode is shot in one take.[Shooting was planned through multiple rehearsals building up to full technical run-throughs, during which the director of photography would plan camera movements. Each one-hour episode was shot around 10 times, with two takes per day. Episodes were shown as completed in one take, with no cuts or blending of shots together with CGI.] Graham said that each episode took three weeks in total. The takes used were as follows: first episode, 2nd take; second episode, 13th take; third episode, 12th take; fourth episode, 16th take."

Yusuf Toropov Hi Yusuf, as much as we might think of the one-shot as a more economical way of filmmaking, it seems that from all those takes that it’s not the case!

Sixteen hour-long takes. Mind-boggling. The actor who played the father pulled a similarly astonishing feat in the one-take film BOILING POINT (which is excellent), but here he was, again, driving a real van on a real street with real traffic to navigate, to a real (distant) destination -- and then driving back home! But to your point -- I would be interested to learn if there was a cost advantage or disadvantage to doing it this way, in comparison with a traditional shoot.

Do we know how they did the driving scenes? I suspected they had a tow rig.

I was impressed with the management of hundreds of extras in the school. what a challenge for the AD’s to handle.

So I found this, which contains SPOILERS but also shows how they shot the damn thing. https://youtu.be/HG9XUSnK9g8?si=tMTizgi4dq1zMggS

Oh yeah this was unbelievably good. I hope one shot episodes become a thing because that was really cool. I didn't like the ending, though. I wanted to see more of the evil kid. Great watch for sure!

Yusuf Toropov thanks for sharing the link, Yusuf. That's a great find. I have seen various clips from it, but not the whole thing. I liked the rig on the front of Eddie's van and then cutting to the camera crew inside the van. Pretty darn cool.