We talk about shot design - because shot design isn’t just how it looks and feels, it’s how it works. || Produced by @stuwillis & @mehlsbells and @draft_zero
Joined July 2022
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May 25
Just your average establishing shot, a wide of New York from high on some building, or other, shot by second unit . . . but then it starts moving!
This scene from Crossing Delancey starts as one thing, and you won't guess where it goes from there.
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Shot Zero retweeted
The Host is always high on my ever changing top 10 movies list. If you haven't seen it... do yourself a favour and right that wrong, it's absolutely brilliant!
In this scene from #TheHost (2006), we likely expect focus to follow Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) - focus often moves with a protagonist through a crowded scene like this.
Instead, focus stays in the middle of the scene as Park’s whole family walks through . . .
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In this scene from #TheHost (2006), we likely expect focus to follow Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) - focus often moves with a protagonist through a crowded scene like this.
Instead, focus stays in the middle of the scene as Park’s whole family walks through . . .
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#TheHost 2/3
When a nurse in the background calls out, focus racks to her, before rapidly moving all the way forward to Gang-du, whose panicked turn cues the cut (and crash-push-in!) to his running away.
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#TheHost 3/3
The effect is to lull us into complacency, then suddenly pull our attention to the nurse, the way Park’s is pulled, and then bring us back to Park as the realization crashes into him they know, before he takes off.
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Jun 13
Blue Steel has a fantastic ECU Rack Focus in this scene, but the setup / payoff on either side are crucial.
The setup is full of tense closeups: bad guy Eugene (Ron Silver) talks and holds a gun on Nick (Clancy Brown); meanwhile, we see unmitigated dread on Nick’s face.
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Jun 13
#BlueSteel 2/3
When the scene cuts to an ECU of the trigger (Frame Right, where Eugene has been all along, tying the gun to Eugene even though we don’t see him), it is intense . . . then the camera pulls focus from the trigger to Nick’s eye, blinking as he waits for —
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Jun 13
#BlueSteel 3/3
BANG! The payoff is a jump-scare loud noise simultaneous with a sudden cut to Eugene getting shot, followed by a quick flurry of action shots as everyone scrambles. The closeup / closeup / ultracloseup tension us broken with medium-and-wide chaos.
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Shot Zero retweeted
10 Oct 2023
can’t believe i just found the only tiktok account that matters.
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Jun 12
Today's longread is short and deceptively simple: five of our favourite shots from Peter Hujar's Day.
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Jun 11
Now, Voyager uses rack focus in drastically different ways; many shots take it long and slow, but this one is short and sweet!
As Jerry notices Charlotte, he turns his face towards her (and thus towards the camera/audio), the camera racks along with his movements.
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Jun 11
#NowVoyager 2/2
The quick rack focus gives us Jerry’s feeling of surprise and delight, then when Jerry jumps up, his motion carries us into the next 2-shot as he joins Charlotte.
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Jun 10
The opening of #GoodCopBadCop gives us a lot of information: the crime the episode will centre around, the tone of the series (high stakes like death, but also plenty of comedy and pop culture savvy), and the location.
The final shot rack focus has *all of the above*
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Jun 10
#GoodCopBadCop 2/2
When focus pulls from the dead President to the greeting card carousel, it emphasizes the contrast between paradise and death, as the postcard tells us not just where we are, but the throwback vibe Eden Vale wants to project.
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Shot Zero retweeted
I ended up revisiting bits of Who Framed Roger Rabbit just for fun and I'm always amazed by how good the filmmaking is. The scene with Eddie Valliant in his office is some amazing storytelling with Zemeckis and Dean Cundey allowing the camera to tell all alongside the score.
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Jun 9
The flying tools / ‘monsters’ of Hated in the Nation are bees. Well, not really bees, they’re “autonomous drone insects” or “ADIs.”
And the three rack focuses in these shots is for more than just a fun buzz . . .
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Jun 9
#HatedintheNation 2/3
The rack focus makes sure we see these insects in each shot — first in a big wide shot; then a medium shot; third a medium-closeup where the bee is on a mirror, so actually superimposed over its target.
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Jun 9
#HatedintheNation 3/3
Repeating the technique of camera movement rack focus makes us really notice the other differences: IE how each time, the ADI is closer, and closer, to its target.
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Jun 8
Spike Lee does a lot of small things to set us up for this spinning, disorienting shot . . . and none of them involve spinning, but all of them make us feel slightly uneasy!
Check out our scene analysis on Summer of Sam.
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