When your 87-second short film prompts the director of Toy Story 3 to tweet praise calling it “one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen,” you know you’ve done something right.
Filmed at Bryant Lake Bowl and Theatre in Minneapolis with one continuous drone shot, Jay Christensen’s Right Up Our Alley is a stunning short film that’s essentially a high-speed tour of a regular night at a bowling alley. At the time of writing, it’s clocked up over 6.1 million views on Twitter and 660,000 views on YouTube and caught the attention of Hollywood star Elijah Wood and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who both had similarly enthusiastic things to say about it.
In terms of how it was made, Christensen confirmed on Instagram that the sound was added separately later. It’s worth noting that Christensen has previous form when it comes to single-shot drone films — you can watch his previous shorts, including one filmed at a movie theatre and one that follows a motorbike rider through an empty mall, on his YouTube channel.