Six Emmys, zero cuts: Behind the scenes of „Adolescence“ with DIT Dan Wilkinson-Cain 

Earlier this year, Netflix’s mini-series Adolescence became a global hit. So, it’s no surprise that the show also scored big at the 2025 Emmys, where it picked up multiple awards – including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Best Supporting Actor for Owen Cooper, who made history as the youngest male winner ever in the category. 

Told across four hour-long episodes, the series follows Jamie Miller (Cooper) in the aftermath of his arrest for the murder of a female classmate. The story explores the influence of misogynist online culture and raises societal questions about how teenagers and the adults in their lives confront the spread of toxic ideologies both online and offline.

But Adolescence didn’t just make waves for its timely subject matter. It also turned heads for its bold format: Each episode was filmed in one continuous take, pushing the limits of both storytelling and production craft. We spoke with DIT Dan Wilkinson-Cain about the unique challenges of shooting without cuts and how this approach shaped his workflow. 

Becoming a DIT and joining the project 

Dan is no stranger to demanding production environments, as he tells us: „I was an underwater cameraman for 10 years prior to moving back to the UK.“ However, relocating brought a change in conditions and ultimately led to a shift in his career. „I got into the underwater thing after becoming a scuba instructor and teaching myself how to film and edit. Eventually, I decided to come home to the UK and settle, and I didn’t want to dive here…too cold“, he notes.  

So, thanks to the chilly British waters, Hull in Yorkshire (where Dan now lives) gained one more DIT. The transition from underwater cameraman to digital imaging technician came quite naturally, as Dan recalls: „A friend, who was an assistant editor, told me about DIT, and I’d actually been doing a lot of the process anyway in my previous job. The last thing I’d done underwater was working for one of the founders of a very large software company as his personal dive guide and expedition cameraman. He had cameras all over the place, and I either filmed, edited, or had to format them to get them onto his very extensive system. So working across multiple formats was familiar to me.“ 

His career shift was sealed with a bit of luck and a big break: „Through my friend, I managed to get a few days of work data wrangling with a guy he knew, who then asked me to take over on a job he’d just landed but couldn’t complete. That was the first season of Peaky Blinders“. 

Fast forward a few years, and through the network he had built, Dan found himself joining the production of Adolescence: „I’d previously worked with Matt Lewis (DP) and his wonderful camera team on the series Malpractice and Boiling Point.“ Reuniting for Adolescence proved to be another great working experience. As Dan puts it: „Working with Matt and Phil Barantini (Director) is so enjoyable. Both are incredibly talented and humble, and have managed to surround themselves with great teams.“  

It was unlike any other show I’ve worked on […].

But Adolescence was unlike any other show Dan had worked on. Shooting each episode in a single take made the project truly unique, not just for him, but for the entire crew: „Initially, getting my workflow was difficult as everyone from the top down hadn’t done this before“, Dan says. „However, as a collaboration between different departments, we figured it out.“ 

Much of that problem-solving and troubleshooting happened during rehearsals, which was also quite unusual for Dan: „It was unlike any other show I’ve worked on in that we had one week of rehearsals and one week of tech rehearsals“, he explains. 

Those weeks were critical. With no cuts to fall back on, every performance, technical setup, and camera move had to be nailed in advance. „Those rehearsal weeks were spent trying to figure out how to shoot the show, overcoming a lot of technical issues, especially for Episode 2, which takes place at the school. Each episode was broken down into sections and worked on individually, then gradually linked together“, Dan explains. 

Netflix has released an exclusive behind-the-scenes video that dives into these challenges, including the tricky school episode that Dan mentions. It’s well worth a watch, but before you check it out, let’s take a closer look at Dan’s responsibilities, setup, and workflow. 

Dan’s setup and workflow 

„During rehearsal, I was mostly looking at all the footage in detail to see any transgressions with lighting, exposure, etc.“, Dan explains. „I then communicated back and forth with Harbor, who did the post work, to tweak the LUT. We spent a lot of time in review with Matt (DP), Lee David Brown (2nd Camera Op), and Max Hodgkinson (Gaffer).“ 

Once everything was prepped and rehearsed down to the smallest detail, it was finally time to go for it: „Overall, we had a week of shooting – we did two takes a day, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon“, Dan recalls. To keep such an intense workflow running smoothly, Dan relied on the following kit of hardware and software:

• Mac Studio M1 Ultra 
• Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Mini 
• Flanders DM240 monitors 
• Areca Raids (supplied by Neil at Rentaraid)
• Silverstack XT 
• DaVinci Resolve 
• Assimilate Scratch 

As for the camera setup, the production used a single unit throughout. „We used just the one camera, it was a DJI Ronin 4D with the 6K head. We went 6K due to the size of the mags the camera can hold, 1TB max, and we needed to leave room for an hour plus take, with wriggle room, plus the 6K looked and felt right with the lens we used,“ Dan explains. 

At first glance, shooting each episode of Adolescence with a single camera might sound like it would simplify things for the camera department. But in reality, it added another layer of complexity on top of the one-take approach: „There was a lot of chat, which I wasn’t involved in, pre-shoot with Netflix, in regard to using the camera as it wasn’t on their list of confirmed cameras. So there was a lot of testing and reviewing, pushing the camera to its limits to ensure that Netflix was happy with its technical output. It was the only camera that would allow us to physically film the show“, Dan recalls.

This job was unique, so it required a different way of thinking. It was incredibly refreshing.

With the camera ultimately approved, Dan focused on making sure his workflow could handle the hour-long takes. „Once we got the go-ahead, we decided on shooting ProRes RAW as a preference, but have 422HQ as a fall-back. 422 gave us about an extra 10 minutes per take, which was important as we didn’t want to hinder any performance due to timing. We really noticed a major difference in the highlights, 422 rolled off a lot quicker, but in the end, each episode was RAW.“ From there, Dan would convert the RAW to 422XQ in Assimilate Scratch before continuing his workflow in DaVinci Resolve. 

I’ve used Silverstack XT for years, and I find the interface very easy to use and reference.

To stay on top of footage and metadata, Silverstack XT was another essential part of his toolkit. „On this job, it was mainly offloading and logging take details. I’ve used Silverstack XT for years, and I find the interface very easy to use and reference. On a normal job, it’s great for accessing information quickly about camera settings, and take info; I export this as a CSV and import it into Resolve.“ 

Favorite memories

With his focus completely absorbed by the technical side during filming, Dan admits he only realized the full impact of the show afterward: „I was so immersed in the technical aspect that I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the genius of it as a story until I could sit down with my wife and watch it on the telly. Incredible.“ 

Looking back, his most memorable experiences were emotional as well as technical: „Trying not to cry at the ends of Episodes 1 and 4 every take/rehearsal! It got me every time. That and the crew, lovely people“, he says, before highlighting the culture on set as a key factor in making the job so rewarding:

„There’s a very important rule that Phil and Stephen Graham have on set, which is that everyone is as important as each other. Without everyone’s full input, it can all fall apart. That gives everyone a number of things: one, the confidence to suggest ideas and solutions that hadn’t been considered. The other is that it instills a sense of ownership of the project into the entire crew. This job was unique, so it required a different way of thinking. It was incredibly refreshing.“ 

Thanks, Dan, for sharing these insights with us!