Week 64: Socials Roundup
Posts from 18 March to 24 March 2024
Week 64 saw posts on The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020); Your Sister’s Sister (2011); The Thomas Crown Affair (1968); Passion (2012); and Side Effects (2013).
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Near the end of The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020) ep 1 "The Great Good Place" Dani and Hannah have a conversation . . . or more specifically, Dani tells Hannah a story while mostly avoiding eye contact.
Use of split diopter heightens the weirdness of the story and social awkwardness of Dai's avoidance, while enabling the audience to see both expressions of the actors without racking back and forth.
Your Sister’s Sister
When Iris (Emily Blunt) and Hannah (Rosemary DeWitt) argue outside, the take holds in a wide shot, with blocking literally dividing them with a tree, then a doorway.
Contrast that to both instances when they're in bed talking, where the long take holds in a medium closeup, nothing between them, pillows close together and/or similarly coloured.
By making every visual element different — division v cohesion, exterior v interior, day (and yellow sunlight) v night (and cool dimness), wide shot versus close, clearly seeing their faces versus sometimes being obscured by tree or body movement — the difference in their emotional state is felt even more deeply by the viewer.
It’s also interesting to consider technique in terms of Shelton’s mumblecore process; IE the actresses able to move and be more frenetic in the argument scene, versus able to be still and feel less ‘seen’ by anyone other than themselves in scenes where they’re on the same emotional wavelength.
The Thomas Crown Affair
#SexySaturday with smash cuts for comedy! This scene from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) looks like it's headed for a lengthy argument between Eddie and Jamie . . . but the word *she* leads to a double take STRAIGHT into the punchline (0:19): a smash-cut to said She, IE Vicki IE Faye Dunaway.
The closeup shots which follow make it clear Vicki is a tour de force, then the medium 3-shot oner blocking of the three converging at the airport is superb; Vicki flat-out ignores Eddie, not even making eye contact, taking Jamie's arm, making the half-step-behind Eddie even more curious.
The oner finishes as they walk away, supposedly 'even' but Vicki centred / standing out in the frame, having made clear who's in charge.
Passion
Loving how this split diopter shot from Passion (2012) adds even more layers to its multiple depths of field by having a mirror in play.
Side Effects
Roger Ebert said of Side Effects (2013) "Rooney Mara's performance is instrumental [...] She's terrified of the world, of the doctor, of Ablixa and of herself. Steven Soderbergh's camera often sees her from a slightly low level from her left, her hair doing the framing."
From dozens such shots, we picked 10 which demonstrate this:
