Damien Chazelle is known for using long, uninterrupted takes in the film, but he also uses at least one sequence spooled backwards. In the last scene at the planetarium Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone fall out of the air and perfectly into their seats, then kiss, and the camera zooms in for a closeup before the fade. The sequence was shot backwards: starting in black, zoom out to the kiss, telescope out to the two-shot, then wide shot, then Stone and Gosling are lifted out of their chairs, and then the entire sequence is run in reverse. That’s how they land so perfectly and effortlessly in their seats: they don’t “land” at all. They are already sitting, the zoom in is actually a zoom out, and so on. (x)
