By Robert Goldrich

An accomplished commercialmaker on both sides of the Atlantic via RSA Films, director Adrian Moat had been looking for some time to secure that break to take him into substantive long-form fare. Not only did he get that break but he ran with it in breakthrough fashion, landing History channel’s Gettysburg, which last month won four primetime Emmy Awards, including the statuette for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.
    Produced by RSA sister company Scott Free Productions (headed by Ridley and Tony Scott) in association with Herzog & Company, Gettysburg isn’t your typical Civil War depiction. And for that reason, the project ultimately gravitated to Moat.
    “I was fortunate in that History went to Scott Free for the kind of storytelling it can offer,” related Moat. “Scott Free put me forward in discussion with History and the values I brought to the project were very much the ones that they wanted. They wanted to reinvent a genre that seemed very staged, formulaic and not immersive. They wanted to bring cinema to nonfiction programming.”
    Still, giving Moat the gig was a bit of a leap of faith, acknowledged Mary Donahue, one of three History executive producers on Gettysburg.
    “We would have had concerns with anyone who didn’t have a big background in factual TV. But we absolutely fell in love with Adrian, his work and his passion for the project. You could see the narrative skills in Adrian’s short films and commercials. And his compelling visual style was also essential for what we were trying to do.”
    As for defining exactly what they were trying to accomplish, Donahue related, “We knew that the 150th anniversary of the commencement of the Civil War was coming up. History had done a fair share of Civil War programming over the years. The norm was for these programs–done by History and others–to reflect the points of view of the generals. Sitting at home one day, I thought that what no one’s ever shown is what it must have been like to be a foot soldier in that war. Gettysburg of course was the most iconic Civil War battle. It represented three days that changed America.”
    Spurring on Donahue’s thinking was her recollection of how the Normandy landings were depicted in Saving Private Ryan, “which made me feel what it was like to have been a soldier. It was quite a departure from all the other World War II movies I had seen and experienced. So our thought was simply what if we took the same approach to the Battle of Gettysburg–focusing on the perspective of the foot soldier, offering a fresh take on the Civil War and in the process stripping away the levels of romance that had begun to adhere to Civil War storytelling. We wanted to show what the weapons of that time could do to human beings, the intense heat on the battlefield, how brave these soldier were to walk into certain annihilation.”
    Donahue then reasoned, “Given what we wanted to achieve, what better company to tell the story than the one run by Ridley and Tony Scott? Scott Free in turn connected us with Adrian who is one of the most creative, collaborative directors I’ve ever encountered. He was a true partner in the production.”
    Within the confines of a two-hour special, Moat was able to capture the stark brutality of Gettysburg while putting a human face on the historic battle. “The script,” said Moat, “was driven by eight characters–focused more on characters imbedded in the battle as opposed to a general or strategist looking over the battlefield from a distant hill.”
    Indeed the troops as portrayed by actors bring a poignancy and humanity to the proceedings. They include Sgt. Amos Humiston, a solider from upstate New York who perished clutching a photograph of his children, and Pvt. Joseph C. Lloyd, a member of Gen. William Bardsdale’s Mississippian Brigade.
    Actor performances meshed with documentary elements, including commentary from Civil War experts and scholars–as well as dramatic overhead shots to explain battle strategies–to bring a different tone, form and feel to nonfiction programming. The historic context is never lost in the storytelling; the battle in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania ran from July 1-3, 1863, with some 165,000 troops–nearly 50,000 of whom became casualties. But the numbers are translated into real people and their lives in Moat’s film, along with a tiny reflection of how so many died.
    “You can only go so far on the TV screen in terms of illuminating destruction that is so dark,” observed Moat. “But we were quite graphic by TV standards, giving viewers a feel of what these soldiers encountered–how brave they were to go right into utter chaos, death and destruction.”
    Moat did quite a bit of camera operating on Gettysburg, working with cinematographer Michael Snyman (Emmy nominated for his work on this special). “I’d have five cameras covering the battle–two main cameras providing classic cinematic angles, and some hand held cameras,” noted Moat. “I had a little camera in my hand at all times, shooting whether anything was going on or not–running around with the actors while setting up, helping to capture soldiers’ points of view.”
    For Moat, Gettysburg represented “a gift–especially for a director who loves facts, who loves to research, who could delve into black-and-white photographs taken at the time and use them to help envision what the battle was like. This was a wonderful opportunity to hold a narrative through 90 minutes rather than the short periods of time I was accustomed to in shorts and commercials. Being able to develop characters, to develop narratives with a throughline in my first foray into television drama, to engross the viewer in storytelling was a great gift.”
    As History’s Donahue alluded to, Moat’s ability to successfully diversify into TV drama was reflected in his shorts and spots–the former including a mini-documentary on the plight of children he directed for UNICEF, and Two Broad Arrows, a coming-of-age drama centered on a young cyclist.
    Moat’s commercialmaking spans assorted clients and genres, from the humanity of a commercial for a Kenyan telephone network, to European action fare for Speedo and Sony, a World Cup yachting piece for UBS Bank, fashion/beauty for Rolex, and U.S. car ads for such clients as Nissan, Mazda and Buick.
    The director now hopes that Gettysburg will open up not only other long-form opportunities, but also expand the advertising marketplace’s view of him for commercials and branded content.

MySHOOT Profiles