It’s an often-repeated axiom that filmmaking is a collaborative art form. It’s certainly true. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of people whose creative work goes into making the movies that we watch on the big screen or at home. That said, some of the people in the collaboration tend to get noticed more than others. We always see the actors, and we might often notice the work of the costume designer. We frequently notice the work of the editor, especially if it’s particularly good (or not). But other talents are no less important even if we frequently don’t notice.
There are some skills where it’s said that, when they’re done right, you don’t notice them at all. I might have tended to agree with that idea in the broad sense, but when I recently sat down to watch Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery with my Netflix subscription, I noticed one particular element of filmmaking in a way I’m not sure I ever had before.
