Rabbit's Marc Wilkins Freezes Nightlife for Shake

Rabbit's Marc Wilkins Freezes Nightlife for Shake

Director Marc Wilkins, repped by Bicoastal Rabbit in the US, captures a slice of Kiev nightlife frozen in time in the sultry and atmospheric new 2:20 "Shake," for the Ukrainian alcoholic beverage of the same name, produced direct-to-client by Radioaktive Films, Kiev. "Shake" brings the same 'time-slice' film technique used in the now-famed Philips "Carousel" to a debaucherous night out on the town.

"In Adam Berg's Philips 'Carousel,' I finally saw a 'frozen story' told in a filmic way without being stiff and clumsy," said Wilkins. "The solution is actually a 'fake time-slice,' where people pretend to freeze-standing still on set-and the camera moves through frozen time. As a fan of unusual storytelling, I was excited to experiment with this approach myself."

The spot consists of a single shot, opening on a statuesque model frozen in a pose on a city street. As the camera pulls back, we see the scene around her: a crowd of club-goers and a doorman opening the velvet ropes for her, all frozen completely still. The camera continues to move inside the nightclub as techno music throbs, passing more motionless beautiful people, picking up the same model again later on in the evening, locked in mid-stride away from the bar carrying a bottle of Shake.

Continuing to move through the club, where drinks are frozen mid-pour and revelers' hair is suspended mid-dance, the camera picks up the model again. On the dance floor, we see a well-dressed, handsome man in the midst of reaching out to her. The camera continues to push past her, once again maneuvering through the clubscape of statue-like partiers. The camera's serpentine movement through the club continues to pick up the model and her new boyfriend at intervals throughout the night: taking over the DJ booth, spraying champagne and, finally, locked in a steamy embrace. The two minute-plus camera move continues across the floor before picking up the couple one last time-this time, she is frozen in mid-motion again as she leads the handsome stranger by the hand towards the exit, where the dawning sunlight pours through the open door. In her boyfriend's hand are two bottles of Shake.

"We put a strong emphasis on casting. We were looking for actors who were very skilled in freezing their movement and facial expressions, which was surprisingly difficult to find," Wilkins continued.

To create the seamless camera move, Wilkins used six different steadicam shots, shooting at 50fps with the Arri Alexa. "Shooting at 50fps helped the actors maintain their frozen pose, but also forced us to move the steadicam even faster. In post, we didn't have the time or budget for a lot of VFX, so we had to do as much as possible in-camera. This adds a level of realism that I'm really proud of," said Wilkins.