What Martin Scorsese Teaches us About Remote Work
I have this theory that we’re missing mountains made of bits of information that we took for granted in the office. Some have called it water cooler conversation or hallway talk or spontaneous collaboration, but I think we’re missing something that’s more informative and harder to see.
I call them structural cues.
Structural cues are the tangible evidence of the organization’s design come to life in observable ways. Like what teams share floors in the office or who happens to be holding interviews right now in the conference room. Who’s walking to a meeting together and who gets the corner office.
In everyday life we’re incredibly attuned to pick up on these signals that silently and instantly communicate status, power dynamics, and relationships. In film, nobody understood this better than Martin Scorsese.
His signature long-take steadicam tracking shots pull the audience through buzzing environments brimming with tightly orchestrated blocking and immersive sound design. The viewer is awash with visual information; they’re plunged into a world where the actors, often shot from behind, take second stage to the stage itself.
