“Hi, I'm Sean Baker. I am the writer, director and editor of “Anora”. This is the scene in which our protagonist, Ani, played by Mikey Madison, arrives at the house supposedly owned by Ivan Zakharov, played by Mark Eydelshteyn. So obviously this was supposed to bring not only Ani into Ivan's world, but also the audience into Ivan's world. So I wanted the camera to essentially follow Ani, but also see the world through Ani's eyes. That's why I tried my best not to make it too cute, especially when she gets to the front door and enters the house. That's something unique. “Welcome to my humble aboard. Hugs! Because I really wanted the audience to walk through this space with Ani and see the space for the first time with Ani. So when you turn and look to the right, the camera turns and looks to the right. When you look left, the camera rotates and looks left. And what it does is it really establishes the geography because the geography is going to be extremely important later in the movie, especially in the home invasion scene. So Drew Daniels, my amazing cinematographer who I've worked with twice, is a master at handheld camera work, so he's the one who actually holds the camera and shoots this whole sequence. “Not bad at all!” “What is 'shabby'?” “Oh, I'm just playing.” Drew's handheld cinematography is as stable as can be, especially with a heavy camera like this. And then it lands on these beautiful two planes. For me as an editor, that gave me a really solid outlet to cut into our wide static shot. “Oh, sorry, I'm waiting for you.” These were my wonderful actors adding a little bit of improv there, where Mark runs up the stairs. And then in the next shot, they walk into the bedroom. This shot will be repeated at the end of the film. In many ways, that caps off your experience at this mansion. “Nice view.” “My eyesight is better.”
