Five Shots: REALITY BITES

just what it says on the VHS cover

Our favourite scenes and shots from Reality Bites (1994) — this one goes out to Ffunky Munky.

Frames within Moving Frames

This scene introduces tertiary character Grant Gubler (John Mahoney), but is a great show-don’t-tell of what Lelaina’s (Winona Ryder) job involves — and what it shows of her daily grind has plot implications through the film. We’ll call this A Cam.

As Gubler moves across the stage, a camera movement ‘resets’ the frame to show us Lelaina in context of the events.

Rather than a cut which ‘jumps’ back from the stage, a camera move keeps us in the flow of Gubler’s ramble as well as the Live On Air feeling of the show. It also makes clear and lets us feel the physical proximity between Lelaina and Gubler, yet then reveals she’s watching him on a screen, signifying her job depends not on ‘reality’ but what the audience at home sees.

Behind Lelaina is the camera shooting Gubler’s closeup (B Cam); when Gubler walks across stage, this camera begins to move, and Gubler leaves both the background and the frame-within-the-frame. This motivates the next cut (0:29) which is a feed from yet another camera (C Cam — clearly indicated by the angle, the wider shot size, and the fact the shot is static.

Gubler speaks to C Cam (shot 1, below) for a moment before switching to address B Cam (shot 2, below) which has now found its new position — we can tell it’s this camera because the angle and frame size are similar to Lelaina’s screen feed.

The movement keeps the scene kinetic, while the difference between fuzzy TV feed and crisper live action keeps us oriented to when we’re seeing what the audience sees, versus watching Lelaina. The fuzzy feed it also echos the handicam footage Lelaina shoots constantly.

The content of the scene shows us Lelania at work, while the way the scene is shot demonstrates the tension between what-we-see and what-is-really-happening that Reality Bites is concerned with.

Service Station Dance

When friends throw an impromptu dance party in the convenience store, the camera sits in with them — and Troy’s (Ethan Hawke) discomfort and the night clerk’s baffled expression — for several beats before jumping outside to a wide shot.

The scene’s ending exterior shot is gorgeous in its own right; bright lights and stark lines against a dark sky, similar to the next shot but showing the silhouette of city houses in the distance.

While the exterior wide shows the dance in context of how it might look to someone from the street, there’s some tension because the audio keeps us ‘inside’ with the dance. By choosing not to ‘mix down’ the music when the cut takes the camera outside, the film continues to play with that sense of reality, as even though we see what a passerby would, what we hear of “My Sherona” keeps us partly inside where the joyful dance continues.

Neon Framing

Directors love Winona Ryder smoking, photogenically, and Ben Stiller is no different.

The neon line guiding us to Lelaina’s and Vickie’s (Janeane Garofalo) eyes, the lights against pitch-black sky, the frame finishing on COFFEE SHOP — it may seem ‘obvious,’ but what’s wrong with that?

Besides which, it’s not a technical breeze, either! Just ask the DP getting the angle just-so, the gaffers adjusting the lights of the sign but also lighting the characters and blacking out some lights but placing others behind the fence, the locations and sets crew who had to clean the bulbs but not TOO much, the best person who had to program the lights, ask the actors who have to walk the exact right pace, the grip pushing the dolly, the focus puller . . . all for 23 seconds on screen, forever.

Feelings with Mirrors

The next scene shows Lelania at work again; first in a meeting with Gubler, then eavesdropping in the hall once Gubler thinks she’s out of earshot.

Both in Gubler’s office and outside it, we see Lelania in ‘reality’ and in a mirror, showing internal struggle between what she wants (creative freedom) and what she thinks she needs (this job).

Rearview Mirror

Speaking of mirrors, this is a cheeky shot — after Lelania causes a fender bender with Michael Grates (Ben Stiller), the camera shows us the cars in context, then switches to a shot where we can see Lelainia’s bemused face front-on alongside Michael’s car side-mirror showing his face.