Comparing and Contrasting Transitions: LEOPARD SKIN
The two transitions between these three scenes from Leopard Skin 1.04 “The Claustrophobic Diver” are differently connective — the first is indirect (a hard cut between scenes) and the second is direct (‘carrying over’ a beam of light from one to the other) — but both give a dramatic effect which shows forethought.
Take a look and we’ll get into it!
Transition 1
This scene transition (0:32-0:38) doesn’t directly link the two scenes, but fades to black — in fact, whether the fade was intentional or added by the network in post, it serves as a commercial break (a regular feature of Leopard Skin, which sometimes feels odd during a show which so otherwise feels like a semi-prestige cable miniseries).
The scene of Batista (Gaite Jensen) lying on the beach shows her with a hermit crab before pulling (well, drone-flying) out to show her in context, a tiny dot on a hinge abandoned beach.
The next scene opens on Batista sitting in a medium shot, with several pieces of furniture mostly-obscuring her from camera and the audience.
What’s cool about it is how the shots contrast:
The shift from warm, open outside from a high angle to cool, closed-off inside on a low angler elicits a specific sort of reaction.
The audio also contrasts hard, going from a persistent score and crashing waves to silence only broken by a soft electrical “tzzzdt.”
We did a whole post examining how this scene switches Points of View, so let’s cut straight to the end shot and how it sets up the transition into the next scene.
Transition 2
This transition (1:17-1:21) isn’t a true match-cut, where the wall-socket-beam-of-light would ‘turn into’ the sun-lens-flare.
But it uses the light to ‘blow out’ the scene to white, which then becomes the sun which shoots its own light beam as the camera tilts down to see Fausto (Gentry White).
Though the shot size again changes — this one from a closeup to a medium-wide — the colours and lighting are much more similar, easing the transition.
Maybe they planned to make it a true match cut but the sun positioning when they shot the second part didn’t allow for it, or maybe they always planned to white out the screen, who knows! But even if it was a ‘solve’ in post, it still works.
Takeaway
The first transition contrasts its two scenes, while the second transition links its two scenes.
Three keys to keep in mind when you’re considering your shotlist for every scene:
what you may be cutting from or into from the scenes on either side,
which shot in this scene is ‘linking’ to to the shot from those scenes
whether you want to directly compare or contrast scenes with your transition