Week 25.40 - Socials Roundup
29 Sep - 05 Oct 2025: Betty Blue, Saving Face, Evil, The Babadook, Fish Tank, Agatha All Along
Week 25.40 posts include shots from Betty Blue (1986); Saving Face (2004); Evil (2019-2024); The Babadook (2014); Fish Tank (2009) and Agatha All Along (2024).
Betty Blue
This use of mirror is lovely; as the scene opens, Zorg is already in motion, which attracts our eyes to the mirror. When Zorg comes into frame, his ‘real’ self’s motion motivates the camera to move, and by the time we can’t see him in the mirror any more we’re in the flow of the scene.
Zorg’s movement and the camera’s are ‘paired,’ both pausing, then restarting at the same time, then coming to a rest at the end of the shot.
Because Zorg’s and the camera’s movements are linked, it’s the mirror which allowed the camera to be still at the start; the camera only moves with him fully in frame, instead of his reflection.
Evil
Episode 2.02 “A is for Angel” makes great use of production design by setting up shots which frame drawings of demonic angels (or angelic demons, depending how you read the episode . . . ) to look like they’re part of the team (shot 1), or sitting over David’s shoulder (shot 2).
Saving Face
In a wordless sequence, white flashes serve to demonstrate how grief comes in waves, and leaves strange gaps in your memory in those first days reckoning with new and painful loss.
In another scene which deals with grief, Agatha All Along goes a different route, using strong colours instead of white flashes.
Agatha All Along
Episode 7 "Death's Hand in Mine" uses the painting which first popped up around Teen in Episode 2 to frame Jen in her own High Priestess tarot card, complete with twin lamps as torches.
The Babadook
The Babadook’s opening sequence uses surrealism to give us an uneasy feeling and 'bridge' from Amelia's dream to reality, then immediately follows by using Amelia's body and the two mismatched bedside lamps to create a picture of the Babadook.
What an all-timer way to start a film.
Fish Tank
Fish Tank isn’t shy about using imagery which evokes its name; several frames place Mia (Katie Jarvis) within frames and/or around screens and windows which evoke being trapped inside a square, glass tank.
Like Chas and Stu argue on Draft Zero Episode 120 — sometimes subtlety and subtext is overrated!