Week 72: Socials Roundup
Posts from 20 May - 26 May 2024
Week 72 posts on Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s musical episode “Once More with Feeling” (2001); The Breaking Point (1950); Long Shot (2017), Forrest Gump (1994), Scorsese’s Chanel Ad (2024); the Trigger Warning (2024) trailer; and Dreamgirls (2006)
The Breaking Point
This shot from The Breaking Point (1950) encapsulates everything at stake.
Harry Morgan (John Garfield) holds center frame, 'spotlights' on his hands full of money and face full of desperation.
Though the gun is out-of-focus, it takes up much of frame and crosses Harry's body as it slants across the foreground, lighting its edge to draws attention to it.
Harry has gained the cash he hopes can save him, but doing so puts him right in Death's sights.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 6.07 “Once More With Feeling”
Buffy shot its musical "Once More With Feeling" in 16:9, and took the opportunity to play with other conventions like a split diopter shot!
Ofc you can use split dio in 4:3, but the shift in format means other breaks to Buffy's usual style, including fourth wall breaks and split diopters, are more easily incorporated.
The split (0:22-0:36, 0:41-0:44) just grazes Tara's lips (you can really see it on the bannister) which helps hide Giles walking through it, and fully into focus himself.
The split focus as Tara and Giles sing in harmony visually demonstrates though they are singing about / looking at different things, they are philosophically on the same page.
To ease the transition, when the scene moves into (a radically different angled) wide of Tara and Giles, it keeps them on same side of frame as they reposition and continue to sing, Giles sitting in defeat and Tara moving forward in determination.
Long Shot
In this scene from Long Shot (2019) Sec of State Field (Charlize Theron) is higher than a kite and trying to talk to another Head of State while 'hiding' from her nosy cabinet.
Three visual notes:
1. We haven't met any of these suits before, so making sure 'the cabinet' are all dressed and lit in blues along with Field while 'other HoS' is wearing a green tie and lit in warm orange makes sure quick-cuts aren't confusing.
2. POV gag 0:14-0:19. Field moves her head in a closeup, we get a medium of her head (incl bright white sunnies, indoors) poking above the edge of the table, then a quick handheld shot at 0:16, table edge bobbing into frame to approximate her woozy POV.
3. Field is (understandably) paranoid, so the camera is close to her, and pushes in a little; especially claustrophobic / hilarious after 0:27 when her general leeeeeans in to try and hear, the better for her to deliver that "we do negotiate with . . . " punch line.
BLEU DE CHANEL
the edits when the camera is moving on both sides of the cut versus when the camera is still on both sides of the cut, then the edits which mix-match move+stillness, could be a whole essay a master at work
Forrest Gump
This split diopter is evocative because we can see the object Forrest is gazing at / thinking of with the same level of detail we can see his gaze
but it's made even more aesthetically interesting by way Forrest's pose positions his pajamas.
The house's lines - vertical beams, windows, and railing bars; horizontal siding and porchtop; diagonal eaves, stairs, and shadows - are all echoed in the way Forrest's pose makes his blue pinstripes run in three directions.
Dreamgirls
Dreamgirls finds many different ways to visually depict its characters' inner conflict, especially in the middle section as the group fractures.
1, 2 - Deena Jones (Beyoncé) is torn between what she wants and the career path Curtis (Jamie Foxx) is pushing her towards
3 - everyone tells Effie what to do, the mirrors showing their many sides, but none of Effie's face
4 - Effie (Jennifer Hudson) sings "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" with her many fragmented selves around her
5, 6, 7, 8 - Jimmy (Eddie Murphy) is shown in several monitors, and his shadow is doubled and split on the coloured backdrop as he loses control onstage
9 - Deena hunts in Curtis's desk for proof of his duplicity, as multiple versions of him look down on her
Trigger Warning
No idea if the film / fight scenes are cut this way:
but if JUST for Alba + this 0:18 edit, we're seated
the OTT sound mix. the speedramping. the transition from twisting bolt cutters into hands pulling dog tags (0:11-0:13) into "what do you do?" *blows shit up* !!!