Week 69: Socials Roundup
Posts from 22 April - 6 May 2024
You can see our ALIEN WEEK bursting out of your socials of choice or our handy substack posts — the rest of our posts from the last two weeks are here! Including Veronica Mars (2004-2006; 2019); Elsbeth (2024-present); Ripley (2024), and multiple shots from Resident Evil (2002).
Veronica Mars
Coming up on Draft Zero, we talk about use of voiceover, including the Veronica Mars pilot.
There's beautifully jaded VO over this splitdiopter shot, as Veronica stands FrameLeft, high up and close to us (as we identify with her), looking down on and talking about Celeste Kane, who she and we can see clearly Frame Right.
The split is over the window bar, while the panes beautifully frame Celeste in California sunshine and Veronica in angry red.
Resident Evil - Drop
There are few tricks that make this shot/stunt from Resident Evil so dynamic:
Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) drops into frame & while the camera move is sympathetic to her motion, it has to *accelerate* to catch up — yet doesn't quite make it before she does, so Rain feels fast.
Rain takes a beat, looks around, then stands up and we follow with — doing this without a cut makes her actions *flow*.
The dirty foreground "whooshing" past makes the visual rhythm faster and more intense.
And the shakycam gives the whole thing an air of spontaneity and danger while nicely setting up the jump scare that buttons the sequence, but more on that tomorrow
As an aside: the jump/drop itself is well setup by the earlier shot looking up, the wide angle and strong perspective lines making it feel really high (even though it kinda isn't).
Elsbeth
Elsbeth 1.03 "Reality Shock" kills two birds with one clip.
A quickly effective smash cuts from Kaya explaining 'cameos' to Elsbeth straight into the cameo itself.
When the sound mix shifts (0:39) and the camera pulls out, they've used the cameo to switch scenes / locations, to Kaya and Elsbeth in Captain Wagner's office, showing him their evidence.
A neat lil bonus - the slight video wobble which first feels attributed to the celebrity self-taping on her phone doubles as Elsbeth holding the phone out for Captain Wagner (and the audience).
Ripley
This split diopter from Ripley is gorgeous in its own right, with the blur well hidden in the white wall. Even more fun, they do something different and symbolic when they return to the shot!
The first time we see the statue and the stairs (above pic), Ripley feels like he's being watched. But the second time (below pic), the visual represent his emotional state and mental planning. The news in the papers makes him feel better about 'getting away with it', and he’s about to make his move to disappear entirely . . .
Resident Evil - Jump
The jump scare that buttons this little scene in Resident Evil is really nicely executed:
The earlier hand-held shot establishes the feeling that Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) is being watched; further reinforced by the drifting POV through the grates. But most importantly, this sequence is all about the verticality: The constant up/down motion primes us expect the monster to come from below.
So when Rain enters frame from the bottom, and Sgt Jerkface pops into shot from above and behind, it's genuinely startling.
Solid horror filmmaking.