Week 25.01 - Socials Roundup
Posts from 30 Dec 2024 - 05 Jan 2025
Week 104 posts include shots from Moontide (1942); Wait Until Dark (1967); BoJack Horseman (2014-2020); and Paris, Texas (1984).
Wait Until Dark
A quick and cheeky little Texas Switch enables this oner stunt scene.
Roat (Alan Arkin) stabs Mike (Richard Crenna), steps through the door, pauses menacingly, then the camera follows his turn as he pushes the stuntie down the steps, Crenna having taken that pause to get out of shot.
You can see they *could* have used a cut to Susy (Audrey Hepburn) a bit later, in case the switch didn't work, but since it did, it's much more impressive to show Mike staggering to the side then getting pushed all within one moving medium shot.
BoJack Horseman
BoJack Horseman 1.08 "The Telescope" perfectly visualises how our view of past and present don’t necessarily depict ‘reality’ but our feelings.
A medium shot shows Herb and Bojack within arm's reach of each other. As Herb picks up a telescope and asks "how'd we get so far apart?" the shot switches to Herb’s POV through the backwards lenses.
We see a wide shot of BoJack, distortion enabled by the telescope to show us how far apart Herb *feels* they are.
The scene quickly switches back to the medium two-shot to underline how close Herb and BoJack literally still are, even as they feel miles away.
Moontide
This sequence — with its woozy crossfades and spinning camera and short disjointed clips and double-exposures and CGI tricks — is a pretty fantastic depiction of what it feels like to have had a bit too much.
(Lest anyone think we're endorsing binge-til-you-blackout drinking, please note: Jean Gabin's character wakes up the next morning to find himself accused of murder, and unable to remember enough to know whether he's guilty or not.)
Paris, Texas
These two long conversations between Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) and Jane (Nastassja Kinski) in Paris, Texas are reminiscent of a prison visit, what with the plexiglass between them and having to communicate through phone and speaker.
Wim Wenders also shoots these scenes like Travis and Jane are in a church confessional, constantly reminding us they often can't see each other as each take turns as priest / penitent who is speaking / listening and seeing / being seen, also demonstrated by their literal positions relative to each other.
The confessionals are dreamy, emotionally intense scenes which imagery clearly gives and takes inspiration from many including David Lynch.
The lead-up shot of Travis entering the booth being very Twin Peaks / Blue Velvet, and the shots where one face is superimposed over a face or body of the other character reminiscent of Inland Empire are studies for another time.
Most of the time either Travis or Jane is out of focus, but this exchange uses a split diopter so you can see both their faces and emotional responses clearly.
