Week 25.18 - Socials Roundup
Posts from 28 April - 04 May 2025
Week 25.18 posts are about small camera moves with a big impact! and include shots from Legends of Tomorrow (2016-2022); Ghosts (US, 2021-current); Betty Blue (1986); Person of Interest (2011-2016); and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946).
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The kind of lascivious look which starts on the ground and travels up a woman’s body is nothing new, nor is using a camera to mimic that look.
But this move is just a little bit different; cued by a rolling lipstick, the camera moves the opposite direction of the lipstick, across a vast expanse of empty floor covered in jail-bar shadows, until it gets to Cora’s shapely gams and then . . . stops.
We’ve talked at great length about this entire introduction scene, but this camera move — and specifically its sudden end, which leaves us wanting more — is already subverting our expectations as it sets up Frank for a fall.
Legends of Tomorrow
This small moment comes from a 2-minute scene with lots of fun angles, crash zooms, spins, and more.
When Sara (Caity Lotz) lands a punch on her nemesis / wannabe-clone-puppet-master / comic torture guru Bishop (Raffi Barsoumian), the camera shakes, and then as Bishop staggers back, it follows him.
The timing of the shake, and quickly chasing after Bishop instead of sitting still to let the audience think about their depth perception, helps sell the stunt and the comedy.
Ghosts
As Captain Isaac Higgintoot (Brandon Scott Jones) gears up to tell of his historic clash with the dastardly Alexander Hamilton, he moves in tandem with the camera to go from a medium-wide-shot to a dramaaaaaaaatic closeup!
The setup for this swoop is a reaction three-shot of Pete, Flower, and Sass, which gives a chance to reset the shot from a single medium to the moving MWS.
Ghosts is also a show which still ‘writes to’ and uses not just their title card, but commercial breaks. They know they’ll be going out of Isaac’s closeup with swelling strings, and then coming back from commercial on him framed between Sam and Jay.
Person of Interest
Sure there’s a lot going on here, but there are two camera moves which really amp up the whole thing; the pan left at the very start to reveal Baddie Number Two, and the pan right which follows the gun barrel into its blast.
Betty Blue
As Zorg and Betty struggle, a cop car zooms towards them, and the camera movement puts us ‘in’ the scene.
The camera is barrelling towards them, which 1. gives the scene momentum 2. shows us what the cops inside would see 3. makes us feel their adrenaline when it cuts out, the feel of “oh they’re getting closer, so quickly”
The strong distinction between pale walls and yellow lighting / blue cop car and darker lighting makes clear who we’re looking at with every cut, and the juxtaposition between the frenetic camera move as Cop1 rolls out of the car, and steady, still frame as Cop2 steps out slowly, is a great comic beat in the midst of chaos.