Art of the Shot: WYNONNA EARP

Demons and Delights: Compiled!

In honour of Wynonna Earp’s resurrection on Tubi (exact premiere date TBD), we've compiled a few of our favourite shots and scene breakdowns from this kickarse supernatural Canada-does-American-gunslinger show.

1.06 "Constant Cravings"

We took a long look at this whole scene — how it transitions in and out, how it orients the audience to characters and layout — and here’s a close study of the money shot:

The (often literal) center of the scene is Wynonna's great-great-granddaddy's gun Peacemaker: whatever size shot, Peacemaker is noticeable in frame.

In fact, Peacemaker often makes the second 'person' in a two-shot, sharing frame with either Wynonna or the Revenant.

Such emphasis on Peacemaker sets us up for the 'money shot' where the scene switches to the Revenant's POV from 0:16-0:18. (Bonus: notice the hammer movement coinciding with the shot at 0:18!)

The camera moves simulate the Revenant's attempts run, even though — as we've already seen — he's blocked in by the fence.

Love the ‘trick’ shot where they connect the prop gun to the camera rig and let the camera movement lead Melanie Scrofano's motion; she also 'barrels' the lens, looking right at us making the threat feel even more personal and immediate.

1.11 “Landslide”

This fun shot/cut/camera move sequence gives audience a taste of the surprise and disorientation Doc experiences getting knocked out.

Bonuses for the audio shift when the camera cuts to a different wide, and the cut from wide, gorgeous yellow-and-teal-with-lens-flare to total-black-inside-trunk before Doc opens it.

*chef's kiss*

4.05 “Holy War”

This sort of match-cut scene transition may or may not be scripted, but is definitely shotlisted and/or storyboarded: may seem simple, but takes plenty of pre-planning and attention to detail.

The Basics:

• The cut out comes before shattered glass settles; the cut in comes as a broom sweeps into the camera move

• Depth of Field and lighting in the house and bar are similar

• Sound mix adds the final piece to help our brains transition

Bonus: the scene moves quickly on with a fun bit of blocking and kinetic movement as Waverly, Nicole, and Jeremy barrel into the bar and tongue-tiedly describe their fraught, froggy conundrum.

2.05 "Let's Pretend We're Strangers"

Working on a low-budget supernatural show requires making us of creative combinations of CGI, practical effects, and creative blocking+framing.

This Demon Death scene uses all of those:

Right after Lucado touches the goo, there’s a lovely little Dolly Zoom and sound effect which help bolster the CGI around her eyes.

For the Big Moment, the camera moves as Lucado's head EXPLODES. The window which then comes in Frame Left has been pre-painted and set with goo dripping down it; the dripping helps 'sell' the explosion, while the opaque goo obscures the still-intact body.

Cut to black, then back with a teeny time-jump-cum-visual-joke, as Dolls has somewhere found and changed into a full hazmat suit to clean up all the goo.

2.10 “I See a Darkness”

In a 30-second Sorkin/Sherman-Palladino walk-and-talk, Wynonna runs a gamut of pop culture references from Deep Impact to America's Next Top Model . . .

capped with a zinger which twists biblical Armageddon into a Michael Bay joke.

Takeaway

Can’t wait for more of these gooey, firey, blang-blang-y shennanigans!