THE FIRE LINE



The Forest is our long take. It anchors our story and brings us back to our heroes, our firefighters. While we will have cutaways to different elements from our other 2 buckets, it’s this sequence roots and carries us on our journey.

The scene we are depicting is our Hotshots moving towards and then establishing a fire line. It’s dark, filled with smoke, and it’s raining ash. Slow motion, handheld, and anamorphic, to give us a sense of drama and pedestalize the visuals up to something cinematic.  

The shot starts low to the ground, glowing orange emits through the the underbrush to see that it isn’t burned yet... But the fire is close. A thick smoke, raining ash, and a pulsing light of flame bring what we are seeing in and out of focus.

Then, a boot on the ground, a hand on a chain saw, the grip on an axe. We are catching up to them -- The hotshots are moving, running through the untouched woods. They are going towards the fire. They are going to try to stop it by digging a line.

Tools strike the ground, we see the glow of a drip torch pilot light, yellow helmets and goggles are illuminated in the dark. They are working hard, through thick smoke, clearing brush, creating space.

And they manage to pull it off -- just in the nick of time. We don’t see the engulfing flame they’ve stopped, but we do see the aftermath. As the smoke begins to clear, they stand before the black. The pulsing glow of the flame is still glows through the smoke in-front of them... But they have halted this wall of flame for the time being.

But as quickly as the breath taken to see their goal accomplished, they are on the move again. Running towards to the next spot to dig in, to lay it on the line, and protect the land they call home.