Week 49: Socials Roundup
Posts from 4th December to 10th December, 2023
Week 49 saw posts on The Host (2006), The Ballade of Sad Cafe (1991), Tokyo Story (1953), Marvelous Mrs Maisel (2017-2023), and Vida (2018-2020).
The Host (2006)
Freeze any scene from The Host and there's something to study.
Case in point: this cramped 3-shot, where everyone has an eyelight as they look intently at someone/thing else, the line of the gun leads us to Gang-du's averted eyes, and colours and textures of the ephemera around them crowd the frame, adding to their (and our) stress.
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991)
The last of our split diopter shots from The Ballad of the Sad Cafe is also the most simple; one character in the background, whose eyes guide us to the character in the foreground, whose eyes are elsewhere and lead us into the next cut. Simple, but putting different wardrobe (light and patterned v bright and stark) and backgrounds (dark v light) helps distinguish them, as well as hide the 'blur' of the diopter split in the middle.
Tokyo Story (1953)
Tokyo Story often puts walls in the foreground / far-hand thirds of screen, where everything from fans to plants to lamps to humans sit. This creates shadows and patterns, while also making the middle-screen characters seem 'framed' by things and people around them.
… frames within frames within frames
Marvelous Mrs Maisel (2017-2023)
This Marvelous Mrs Maisel oner from 5.01 “Go Forward” relies mostly on blocking and actors' timing for the comedy. But the shot which comes before it is key as well; there's dancing choreography on the TV, the camera is moving the same direction it starts in the kitchen, and the audio pre-lap tells us what we're 'walking' into.
Vida (2018-2020)
This brief exchange on Vida between Emma (Mishel Prada) and Nico (Roberta Colindrez) is loaded with details.
Emma stands and is shot from a lower angle as she tries to have power in the conversation, but avoids eye contact and futzes with her keys, keeping her face more shadowed.
Meanwhile Nico is seated and shot from a higher angle, but maintains steady eye contact and is still, face openly lit; she's actually in control of the situation.
The background of both is out-of-focus but full of pinks and orange, a bit of glow and some highlights (that popcorn machine!) for good measure.