The 1997 Oscars (though the video mistakenly lists the year as 1996), directed by Louis J. Horvitz, saw awards going to such films as The English Patient, The English Patient, The English Patient, and Jerry Maguire. The latter film’s honor featured a particularly memorable acceptance speech from Cuba Gooding Jr. as he took the Best Supporting Actor award, and it may surprise some people to know that it didn’t just happen that way on its own. Thanks to a relentless stream of direction and action from Horvitz and his team, audiences got to experience Gooding’s enthusiastic monologue at its absolute best.
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In a video shared by Twitter account Eyes On Cinema, footage of Horvitz in the camera room with his team is intercut with shots from the 1997 ceremony as it aired, and it sheds light on just how much work is put into such a small clip. With a simple number and a snap, he calls out cameras and switches them on the fly, catching the most important angles and complementing the speech. A single 5-second section could hold 5 different camera cuts, and with each operator maintaining positions as directed by Horvitz (even when their view isn’t live), they come together as a well-oiled machine that few even stop to consider.
Even in the quietest moments, Horvitz continues calling out angles. It’s a nonstop deluge of numbers and, after the viewer thinks about it for a second, it makes perfect sense that this much detail is considered during what many see as a largely unimportant aspect of the ceremony. The nominees are waiting for the announcement, he calls for a hold on the grid of their faces. Gooding’s name is called, suddenly he snaps between several different angles to capture the excitement from the winner, the other actors, and the audience as a whole. Gooding calls on his co-star Tom Cruise, the camera holds on him as he finishes his thought and then quickly shifts to Cruise. It’s an oddly satisfying display of coordinated chaos, and Horvitz and his crew deserve the highest praise.
Perhaps the most smile-inducing moment in the video comes near the end, where Gooding’s speech wraps up, the music swells, and Horvitz begins shouting numbers with the energy of a hungry football team at Burger King. His own enthusiasm nearly matches that of the winner, and after the energy reaches a climax and the show cuts to commercial, he leans back and triumphantly raises his arms with a passionate, “what a f***ing opening!” The excited director’s shout of elation rings out as the video ends, leaving viewers to wonder, “Wow, and that was just the beginning?”
People behind the scenes of films and shows rarely get the recognition they deserve, and that seems to go doubly so for any reality-based shooting. But there’s a whole different discipline involved when the director requires real time decision-making. That kind of split second thinking warrants some real respect, so hopefully there are plenty more videos like this out there to shine the spotlight on these unsung professionals.
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Source: Eyes On Cinema/Twitter
