Moment in Adolescence when you can 'see' camera operator during 'impossible' scene

Adolescence is the show on TV that people can't seem to stop raving about, and while the plot is gripping, the creation of the show is just as interesting.

The limited Netflix series consists of four episodes, each an hour long and filmed in one continuous shot.

In fact, the streaming platform revealed which takes they used for each episode, while also releasing behind-the-scenes explainers to give viewers an insight into how they managed to pull off some shots, and one 'impossible' scene caught the eye in particular.

TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson was one of those that was left demanding an explanation to this shot, from the final scene of episode two.

In the scene, which comes after police detectives visit the school that Jamie, the accused student, attends, closes out the episode.

We go from a regular panning shot to a drone shot, which takes us to another location where Stephen Graham's character is, before ending with a shot of him looking emotional.

It looks almost as if the camera takes off, flying through the sky, before ending with Graham.

Director Phillip Barantini described how the scene was done in an interview with the Guardian: “As Ashley (Walters) leaves in his car, we have a team coming up behind Matt (cinematographer Matthew Lewis), who clip the camera to a drone with a hook.

“Then we fly the drone over the town. In the meantime, Matt legs it into a van. He drives to the end site, catches the drone with two other people, disconnects it and starts walking towards Stephen’s face.”

But that's not all, as a re-watch will reveal a little Easter egg.

A drone was used in the scene, and a camera had to be attached to it while filming (Netflix)

He pointed out: “If you watch it again, you’ll see his van drive into the car park as the drone comes in to land.”

Though it sounds doable, by watching the episode in real-time, you'll realise just how precise they would have needed to be to get it spot-on.

Even then, the split second where we can see the camera operators arrive in their van after driving from the previous location, shows that a couple of things, though barely noticeable, can slip through the cracks.

In the video, Barantini pointed out that Lewis came up with the idea, calling him in the first place to revealed that he'd ‘found a way to make the camera fly’.

Explaining his thinking, Lewis said: “If the camera could float away by itself then it couldn’t possibly be attached to a person it feels more ethereal.”

Basically, the camera was held by two operators before quickly being attached to a drone that flies to the final scene of the episode, at the murder site near the school.

You can see the camera operator's van arrive at the car park if you watch the episode closely (Netflix)

“It was an example of the technical meeting the story and finding a fusion which is actually better than anything the story had come up with on its own,” Barantini said of the scene.

Adolescence is available to stream on Netflix now.