Week 25.36 - Socials Roundup

01 Sept - 07 Sept 2025: Bob’s Burgers, Tokyo Pop, Succession, Do the Right Thing

Week 25.36 posts include shots from Bob’s Burgers (2011-current); Tokyo Pop (1988); Succession (2018-2023) times two; and Do the Right Thing (1989).

Succession

In regards to the shooting overall and punch-ins particularly, Succession’s operators and focus pullers are phenomenal at their jobs.

Note this moment in 2.05 "Tern Haven" where you see chef Rosa's withering look just as the focus pulls to her from her overbearing employer, and realise they planned it thoroughly.

Tokyo Pop

Love this visual joke from Tokyo Pop (1988).

As Hiro’s mom walks to his room past his praying father to say “You’re finally interested in Japan! Instead of American things!” she ends up next to Hiro’s poster of his favourite British boy band.

The way it’s framed makes the joke work, because *mom doesn’t know* she’s setting up (and then delivering her line next to), Hiro’s picture of The Beatles. If mom knew, it’d be too cute by half, but we can tell she doesn’t see the photo, even as she draws the camera and our attention to it.

The photo remains in frame after she leaves and the focus racks to Hiro’s dad, finishing the punch line with a note about the two cultures — rock and roll and traditionalism — coming together.

While you’re at it, check out this interview with director Fran Rubel Kuzui about the film’s new restoration having as strange and circuitous a route to existence as the film itself did 35 years ago.

Bob’s Burgers

This series of shots from 11.14 "Mr. Lonely Farts" is part of a larger story — but even without any other context, without any dialogue, these images could tell a story.

Even as Gene gets increasingly more frenetic, these first three shots make quite clear he: sees something (reaction shot), sees a bunch of silverware (him in frame with the kitchen utensils in the foreground), then gets an idea (POV shot of the utensils).

Which means it’s a very easy leap to . . .

“sure, now he’s using some of those utensils as a telephone.”

There’s comedy in the perhaps-unexpected jump, but it’s not confusing; after a moment we realise were clearly led here through the previous shots!

Do the Right Thing

This blocking setup from Spike Lee’s masterpiece literally visualizes the conflict of the scene, as it’s Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito) and his attempted boycot of the pizza shop which is ‘coming between’ Mookie (Spike Lee) and Sal (Danny Aiello) . . . but at the same time, he’s small and in the background, because Mookie and Sal have other problems with each other, too.

Succession

We’ve done a primer on what ‘the 180 rule’ is, and will follow soon with a more detailed breakdown of line-crossing in a longer Succession scene.

In fact, Succession crosses the line shooting as often as the characters cross moral lines, and just as often for kicks — as in this scene from 1.04 "Sad Sack Wasp Trap."

It’s relevant how Succession plays loose with its camera, its fly-on-the-wall-or-by-the-seat-of-your-pants style floating camera giving a slight documentary or reality show feel — this feel also means casual blocking and line crosses are more common and may be incidental. The way Roman and Kendall are juxtaposed in this scene, however, makes it feel quite intentional.

0:00-0:22 Roman comes in Camera Right, and approaches Kendall who is Camera Left. The next few cuts keep them on these respective sides as the shots change from wide to mediums, as the the off-camera actor dirties the frame.

0:22-0:32 Kendall stands and walks around his desk; though he is briefly aligned with Roman, they maintain their respective R / L positioning

0:32 cut from a single of Kendall Left to a single of Roman Left. Where the first several cuts were all from roughly the same two positions and established the 180 line, here the camera jumps across.

0:34 Back to Kendall, who is Camera Left, and Roman still dominating R side of frame.

0:37 Back to Roman Camera Left, similar to the shot at 0:32 but now with Kendall still in frame. This is the most jarring cut, because we go from a shot with both actors clearly in the frame, directly to a similarly framed shot where actors have 'switched sides.'

0:46 A single on Kendall, who now remains where he'd been repositioned, Camera R

0:48 A single on Roman, who now remains where he'd be repositioned, Camera L

0:52-end Kendall stands and walks to sit down; he re-establishes the line, and all the shots for the rest of the scene keep Roman L and Kendall R

This is a short and sweet sample, but Succession does things like this constantly, not only in large crowd scenes where the moving camera and ensemble nature means crosses go mostly unnoticed.