Maeve and Delores

Published June 4, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hi Guys,

Love listening to you!

I wanted to share something I read on Vulture as a transcript from a podcast with Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy dated Dec. 6, 2016.

According to Jonathan, both Delores and Maeve have awoken, and there is a visual clue to let us know when this happens. Everything was shot using Steadicam until the moment each character goes off script, and at that moment they switched to a handheld, resulting in a less smooth, more real effect. For Maeve it was when she made the decision to get off the train, and for Delores it’s the scene after William stabs her and Teddy rides to her side.

Keep up the good work!

Lori M.

Here’s a copy of the relevant portion of the interview:

We wanted everything to be Steadicam, we wanted everything to be studio mode. We wanted the camera to gently suggest in both movement and framing that it was siding with the hosts. That the camera almost felt like a host itself, or the collective essence of all of the hundreds of thousands of hosts who’d come and gone in this space. Gently anticipating the hosts’ movements, the camera anticipates what Dolores is about to do. She doesn’t know it herself. And then obviously, the milk and the flies and the player piano. All these visual elements Lisa and I talked about, and we talked about with the incredible team on the pilot.

And in the finale, when Maeve gets onto that train … the Steadicam is leading her over. Now, it’s just keeping pace with her as she makes the decision. What we understand in the moment is it’s the first real decision she’s made all season. Which is, she’s not going to fulfill the script she’s been given, which is to take this train wherever it’s going, and do whatever else she’s programmed to do. She can get off the train. At which point we shift to handheld camera, which we’d held back on throughout the entire season until one moment with her, and one moment with Dolores, when Teddy comes to rescue her. We get Maeve off the train with a handheld camera. And I remember watching the dailies and almost being shocked at how effective a cinematic technique can be if you hold off on it for long enough. If you dial it in at just the right moment that suggests she’s literally like a train coming off the tracks. We’re no longer in programmatic or prescribed behaviors. She’s improvising, and we’re right there with her.

LorI McKay

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