20 Things You Didn't Know About 2021's Oscar Nominees

It's a simple practical reality that most movies cannot be shot chronologically, because doing so simply isn't efficient, resulting in more time and money being spent before shooting wraps.

But the generally low-fi nature of Sound of Metal's production afforded director Darius Marder the opportunity to shoot the film in sequential order as we see it in the final product.

For Marder, this was vital in ensuring that the character relationships developed organically, and considering that Olivia Cooke - who plays Ruben's partner Lou in the film - is absent for the movie's second act, her being also absent from the set allowed her and Riz Ahmed to replicate those emotional patterns of distance more easily.

Accepting how sublime the end result is, there's little arguing with the method, even if for most productions - especially big-budget tentpoles - it makes no logistical sense whatsoever.