Week 59: Socials Roundup
Posts from 13 February to 19 February 2024
Week 59 saw posts on The Princess Bride (1987) and Willow (2022-probably2022); Punch Drunk Love (2004) and Double Indemnity (1944); You Only Live Once (1937); Rachel Chinouriri‘s music video “Never Need Me” (2023); Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2024); and Wynonna Earp (2016-2021; 2024)
Happy Valentines Day
Our gift to you is these shots of our favourite fairy tale princesses and knights making the shape of a heart with their bodies.
The Princess Bride / Willow / The Princess Bride
Character Introduction Callout
We're continuing our series on Iconic Character Introductions in the next few weeks with Phyllis Dietrichson and Barry Egan.
Who are some characters you think have superb introduction scenes, whether it foreshadows their death, tells us about their goodness, or simply sends a chill down our spines?
Drop a name and we'll take a look, or submit a shot/analysis and we'll tag/credit!
Never Need Me
Rachel singing right to the camera plays to the fantasies we all have of how we WANT to react in the moment: in control, clever comebacks.
But Rachel while 'in the story' is at first shocked into stillness, her friend being the active "oh no this cake is no longer needed" person.
And then . . .
when the music video intercuts Rachel breaking the fourth wall while alone (ie "I wish I were all-powerful writer of my own life") with scenes cake-smashing then breaking fourth wall at the party, it signals she DID THAT.
Ultimate wish fulfilment!
You Only Live Once
Before this bank robbery scene, You Only Live Once (1937) establishes Eddie (Henry Fonda) as someone who did crimes and is trying to go straight.
(some of the armed car unloading was trimmed for to fit socials runtime parameters)
This robbery sequence is absolutely crucial to the rest of the film, as Fritz Lang shows all the mechanics and violence and chaos of the bank robbery while very carefully obscuring the face of the man who seems to be Eddie.
By shooting it this way, Lang puts the audience in the same place of unsurety as Eddie's friends and enemies: riddled with doubt over whether Eddie has really done this crime or not.
And by showing those eyes through the torrential rain beforehand, Lang isn’t just teasing us further, but asking a philosophical question about the windows to the soul.
Wynonna Earp
In honour of #WynonnaEarp's resurrection, we're breaking down more shots from our favourite kickarse supernatural Canada-does-American-gunslinger, starting with 1.06 "Constant Cravings."
Video CW: gunshot, supernatural gore
The (often literal) center of the scene is Wynonna's great-great-granddaddy's gun Peacemaker; whatever size shot, Peacemaker is noticable in frame. In fact Peacemaker often makes the second 'person' *in* a two-shot with either Wynonna or the Revenant (eg 0:07).
So much emphasis on Peacemaker sets up for the 'money shot' where the scene switches to the Revenant's POV from 0:16-0:18. (Bonus: notice the hammer movement coinciding with the shot at 0:18.)
The camera moves simulate the Revenant's attempt to move, though as we've seen he's blocked in by the fence.
You can see they connected the prop gun to the camera rig and let the camera movement lead Melanie Scrofano's motion; she also 'barrels' the lens.
All this culminates in making the shot (and the ‘shot’) feel even more personal and immediate.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
This shot from Mr. and Mrs. Smith 1.01 "First Date" isn't a true oner - it splits between 0:27 and 0:35, and the makeup on Glover and Erskine likely took ages.
If you must do heavy CGI anyways, why not use it to smoothly cover the cut, make it FEEL like a oner, and add to the 'imminent danger' feel as well as the technical impressiveness?!