Week 70: Socials Roundup
Posts from 6 May - 12 May
Week 70 posts include Coffee and Noir (a series that does what it says on the tin); Hacks (2021 - present); and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
Coffee and Noir
In an absolutely shameless plug, we're here to share the Mel half of Shot Zero is currently (and likely for the rest of their natural life) cataloguing every instance of coffee in noir films — whether making, drinking, throwing, suggestively-sipping, or otherwise.
You can see a dozen so far (and sign up for more if you like what you see).
Hacks
Hacks 3.01 "Just for Laughs" knows what we want - Deborah Vance! So its opening oner teases us; swooping over Vegas into to a casino just as a familiar beehive and sequinned coat saunter in . . .
The thoroughly choreographed tracking shot — complete with hundreds of extras, interactions with a gushing minder and tourist fans, and VFX work in post to stitch it all together — goes for a full 90 seconds.
Just as I became convinced “Jean Smart was sick the day this shot was scheduled, so they had to get her stand-in to do the walk and they'll cut to swap Jean into a smaller setup" Deborah turns . . . revealing it's been an impersonator all along!
Excellent use of a oner to deliberately make us consider how much work and design is involved in TV production and celebrity as a whole.
The reveal is timed *just* as four other impersonators walk up behind her, which starts the camera drifting backwards to segue us into a slot machine unveiling, all clearly signalling 'we weren't trying to fool you, just elaborately showing you the gag everyone is in on.'
The way the season opener has its cake and eats it too — faking us out, then inviting us to laugh with them on the joke; seeming to hide Deborah while actually revealing a lot about the state of her career; an elaborate camera move calling attention to Vegas's artifice — is delicious.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The lighting of the beacons in The Return of The King is an amazing moment. And the shot that starts the sequence is absolutely EPIC!! But what makes it so epic? We breakdown some of the compositional tricks we think this shot uses to feel so huge.