DGA Monthly

1 2 I D G A M O N T H L Y These four shots cut between simultaneous action and perspectives, as Haqqani arrives and Carrie orders the drone operator to arm a missile. Editing was all about what you wanted to be on, when. In the second, Carrie and Redmond are in the foreground, with Quinn entering in the background, to layer the frame and keep it messy. Cameras are handheld. Everything they're doing is flying by the seat of their pants and making quick decisions. It's on a longer lens, so everything feels compressed — they're all overlapping each other. The third is probably a 35mm lens; slightly messy and soft focus with Haqqani's guys in the foreground. I like to embrace the reflections in the car windows and of the monitors in people's glasses because that's how life is. In the fourth shot, you have Quinn entering in silhouette, setting up the increasing intensity of decisions being made as the power shifts from Carrie to Haqqani, who knows he's being targeted but also holds Saul. 3 The drone operator is ready to fire but holds as they realize Haqqani has Saul with him. The camera swings up to the operator from the joystick, so you connect the human to the action. A lot of these operators have PTSD because it feels like they're playing a video game, but they're actually killing a lot of people. So, it's not a macro shot of the joystick but a wider, layered image with reflections and computers, so you see context. To get their best performances, we started the day shooting wide angles toward the actors, then did the closeups. With this kind of situation, you have to go all the way around the room, but you don't want to do it twice, so you're going to have to shoot out directions. And that's hard because you want to protect and save the dramatic performances. There's a lot of footage for each moment, because it's all about point of view and making choices. 4 Haqqani holds Saul to the drone to say, "You think you've got me, motherfuckers? You do not," and Aayan realizes Carrie set him up. I went up in the helicopter to direct when the drone would be zooming in and out for the drama of the scene. We shot it last because the ground had to be clear of the crew. We were all running with equipment to get it out of there — whoever was left, hid in a truck or brush or tree, wherever. The location was very remote. It was incredibly windy, which is really scary in a helicopter, especially in this saddle area between mountains. The monitor kept going out and communications were bad but we'd been through the scene already and the actors knew what to do. We got through the scene one-and-a-half times before they demanded we bring the helicopter down for safety. It was stressful, just praying that we got the scene, but we did! 5 Haqqani holds Saul so the drone can see him. I shot this in a wide angle and from the helicopter but this long lens shot with these two powerful men was it — Saul without his glasses, being completely manhandled. I wanted it that tight, that messy. It would have been fine had Haqqani dropped out of the frame entirely — which he did and then came back in. It made it feel realistically-real. We shoot a lot of footage for each moment, because it's all about point of view and often it's a tough decision as to where one needs to be to see the scene. I was in Cape Town editing with a 12- hour time difference and a five-second delay doing all-night sessions with this episode's amazing editor, Michael Ruscio, in the U.S. I wanted his take on where we needed to be so that each moment landed; on the ground when Saul is revealed or with Carrie watching it? 6 SHOT TO REMEMBER Continued from page 11 — Director Lesli Linka Glatter on Homeland, "The Drone Queen" — continued on page 14

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