Week 25.16 - Socials Roundup
Posts from 14 April - 20 April 2025
Week 25.16 posts include shots from Abbott Elementary (2021-current); You and Me (1938); Blue Jean (2022); and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017-2023).
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Many techniques play together in this sequence from 5.04 "Susan"!
It opens with a strong, not-quite-match-cut transition on phones being hung up, then when Mike (Jason Ralph) leaves the room, he draws the camera and our attention to the door, where Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) enters and crosses frame to establish her frame R, Gordon (Reid Scott) frame L.
The mirror shows Maisel's face 'trapped' between two Gordons as they argue from personal / professional standpoints.
Meanwhile, set dressing uses patterns and lines, a GIANT American flag outside the window, vintage rackets and booze bottles, etc. to keep things visually interesting, but also remind us who Gordon is . . . and the image he desperately wants to project to the world, and himself.
You and Me
Love this quick sight gag as big boss Mr. Morris (Harry Carey) mirrors the physical actions of the giant statue outside his department store window.
Abbott Elementary
This scene underscores why Abbott Elementary is low-key one of the best directed sitcoms on TV.
Mr. Johnson sets the stage, Jacob notes he’s making a change; Barb and Melissa give commentary. Blue is the predominant colour, as Jacob has been putting on an ‘everything is cool’ veneer.
Then Jacob jumps and stomp-lands to kick off the song; instead of an edit smash cut, the colour changes, smashing hot pink to immediately shift the whole feel of the scene as Jacob’s long-repressed turmoil boils over.
Barb and Melissa are also bathed in reddish tones as their peace and expectations are disrupted . . . note Melissa’s drink (prominent in the medium two shot!) is tossed in the air with her terror, the scare-spill perfectly timed in the edit from both angles!
Reader, I howled.
The next section uses more of Abbott’s signature mockumentary style and wall breaking, while checking in with some of the regulars, and then smash-cutting to black at just the right place.
The scene after switches back to a slightly-more-subdued blue wash for Barb and Melissa to have a little heart-to-heart-slash-intervention with Jacob.
Director Matthew Pexa and series regulars Chris Perfetti, Lisa Ann Walter, and Sheryl Lee Ralph absolutely kill it.
Blue Jean
Blue Jean puts a couple gorgeous, specific touches on the classic ‘two people face each other across a cafe table’ shot.
The windows are mostly opaque, but let in some beautifully diffused blue, green, and yellow light (see also: our in-depth look at Blue Jean’s colour theory), while Jean (Rosy McEwen) and Viv (Kerrie Hayes) are reflected in the dark countertop near us, where they look as upside-down and lost as they feel in their relationship during this scene.