Shot Zero

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

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

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.

1/2

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

Great little focus pull in "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl".

The focus is on Shula's intent face except for *just* a moment, when it racks back to see Nsansa through the window, as she pulls the tarp over their dead Uncle Fred.

Just a moment, but we see what we need to know.

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

Last week our bite-sized shots were all about animals - if you missed any, we've got you covered, in our handy Weekly Roundup, which collates not only every shot, but all our commentary on it, with some links to additional related shots!

Check it out at https://t.co/18fHy0iFl0

[PJ • The Andor Guy • 🟢 • @matpolloy]

I love Andor understood how great pushing buttons is and just had dozens and dozens of shots of it.

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

#Oldboy Blocking a Sneak 2/2

https://t.co/SZmBSFRRxj

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

Today we look at how Spike Lee blocks a near miss in his Oldboy remake . . . but not the gangster and knife-fight kind, the tea party and sneaking-into-a-study kind.

Full one-minute scene along with our breakdown on the Substack.

1/2

[Joshwelt @weltszzn]

food and drinks consumed in a movie theater doesn’t really go into your body. it goes into your movie theater body which is separate & holy and harm-proof

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

A meta-moment in Gerald's Game, where as a hand turns the radio dial to change the station, it acts like that hand is also racking focus to Jessie in the background.

[All Things Movies @ThatMoviePage]

Like here, which is a really fun use of the theme.

[Ben Crew @BenjaminCrew1]

Beautiful gag in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) where Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall are fantasizing about marrying a wealthy man and then it cuts to Betty Grable who is just dreaming about a delicious sandwich

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

If you missed any of our posts last week about Shots of Animals, from stuffed armadillos to rattlesnakes, we've got them all for you here

https://t.co/HPQr3OPyl4

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

Our focus this weeks is RACKS.

No, not like that.

All our shots about shifting focus - whether once, or back and forth.

And as always, next week we'll round them all up in one handy dandy place, for your viewing pleasure.

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

This small camera drift and focus pull back and forward as Jade (Erin Kellyman) turns to look at Kit (Ruby Cruz) puts us in Jade’s point of view, without literally putting us in her point of view.

We’re ‘with’ Jade’s thoughts the whole way.

[Meesh Hell @waziot]

What did spielberg mean by this transition?

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

If everything were in focus, we may look at Bridget’s eyes.

If the hand started in focus, we might she was simply driving, or her hand was about to move.

The rack DRAGS our attention, waving a 'she's married' flag and also telling us Bridget is *thinking* about that ring.

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

https://t.co/LW9ApXeOHf

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

PUUUUUUUUULL!

All week we're looking at rack focuses, and we kick off with some very pretty and practical uses of the rack from #InterviewwiththeVampire Season 1.

Check the substack for the many ways this scene pulls focus.

[Meso☄️ @M3S0soic]

Forgive the incoming info dump but it seems that this 1954 movie has more behind the scenes footage than most movies today. Part 1 of how they made the squid scene. First they filmed it in broad daylight and the squid was a catastrophe.

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

Gravity Falls takes a mall outing as opportunity for a “Build a Beaver” sight gag.

However, “Build a Bear” already involves an animal name; the possible implication being in this universe, bears are more like people, and beavers are more like what bears consider animals . . .

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

#TrueBlood's opening sequence linking the motion of a woman in lingerie coiling herself onto a bed to a striking rattlesnake coming out of a coil: sheer genius.

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

https://t.co/jB0tVT6Z0w

[Shot Zero @_shotzero]

The Way of Water - how #SHRINKING's pilot episode traces character journeys through H2O.