Week 57: Socials Roundup

Posts from 30th January to 5th February 2024

Week 57 saw posts on Atlanta (2016-2022), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), Pulp Fiction (1994), and The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021-current), Broad City (2014-2019), and comparing falling scenes from Two Seconds (1931) and Vertigo (1958).

Atlanta

This scene in #Atlanta 1.01 "The Big Bang" the first time the audience meets Earn's parents, but this shot alone tells us a LOT about their relationship.

1. Earn is much lower than his parents; they literally look down on him.

2. The door is open but blocked by dad, while mom is visible but behind a window and facing away - they're not exactly estranged, but they aren't close.

3. Earn wears primary colours and a simple backpack; looking very young and childlike is emphasised by him standing in the yard while his parents stand in a house like adults.

A pilot has to get a lot across about the world, characters and their relationships with each other, and this shot does all that.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation wrote an extended fight scene for Sheeva, but when it became clear they couldn't animate all four arms on their budget (we talk about it on Rating Descending starting at 58:40) they killed her off with this 'dropping chandelier' move.

We gave this its own mini-post with screencaps, too.

Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction uses a few split diopter shots, often to focus on an object and a person, or two people who are quite far away.

This shot is one of the more 'basic' uses - instead of being a significant split, or one which draws attention to itself, it's almost a substitute for a deep depth of field, so we can see both Butch (Bruce Willis) and his kidnapper-turned-prey Maynard (Duane Whitaker) at once, in a somewhat dark room, without a rack focus.

The line is partly hidden by the doorframe and the lighting contrast there, but the giveaway is where you can see on the bottom half where Maynard's shirt is blurry.

The Sex Lives of College Girls

This #SexySaturday from The Sex Lives of College Girls 2.10 “The Rooming Lottery” scene uses four basic techniques to feel dynamic (#s 1 and 3), smooth into/out of the conversation and facilitate conversational flow (#s 1, 2, and 3), and land a double-jab punchline (#4).

1. Starts with motion, not just camera movement, but extras (note the red solo cup waver) as Whitney enters, 'bringing' the camera to Lila.

2. Breaks into medium-two-shots for Whitney and Lila's conversation, cutting to whomever is talking OR has the best reaction shot, while also allowing to see both in key moments like the kiss

3. From one of those two-shots, following Whitney out of the conversation; the camera is moving the same direction (R-L) because Lila was a pit stop on her journey to find Canaan. Note we saw Whitney's face coming in, but her back as she leaves, because we're about to be on Lila . . .

4. When the scene cuts to a medium front-on shot of Lila it may jar for a moment, because she's centred and almost breaking the fourth wall, but it's meant to feel funny. As she moves out of shot calling out to an unseen person, the camera stays put, making the joke two-fold

a. we never see Number 36, so we can imagine what they look like, which is funnier than seeing them

b. we can imagine we ARE number 36 (even though Lila doesn't barrel or come towards the camera, which would definitely too-big-a-break in the show's established style).

Two Seconds and Vertigo

These fall scene from Two Seconds (1931) and Vertigo (1958) use similar techniques, though Vertigo would immortalise them.

A silhouetted figure gets smaller (thus looking as though it is 'falling away' from the audience) superimposed over a spinning backdrop.

Both also cut from this wide 'moving' shot into face closeups, John looking desperate, Scottie 'barrelling ' the audience as he wakes from his nightmare. Though the shots are different, hard-cutting to their faces from this surreal death imagery is the crux of the scene, as both men are psychologically in similarly broken places. John is flashing back to his worst moment as he faces the electric chair, and Scottie is waking into an even more confusing nightmare.

Broad City

This #BroadCity shot is a great way to double-punch-line a scene; it's funny because Ilana has been on a phone call to Abbi pretending she's ready, but also because it makes sight gag cartoon-yell-effect with the wall decor.

It's set up with the previous shots (pics 2 - 5) all studiously avoiding the full wall, though we do get glimpses which seem like general chaotic wall decor until the final shot puts them into context.