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Shot Zero

@shotzero.bsky.social

130 followers 110 following 740 posts

We talk shot design - because shot design isn’t just how it looks and feels, it’s how it works. www.shot-zero.com Produced by Stu Willis & Mel Killingsworth

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · Sep 10

#Andor FrameWithoutFrame 2/5
Through S1, Vel and Cinta had similar ideals, but polar opposite ideas of how they could work together within the Rebellion, and this frame reminds us of this visually.

I’m also interested in how we get *into* this frame, though:

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Reposted by Shot Zero

Edward the Movie Buff 🎞🎬🎥📽 @midgetmoxie.bsky.social · 7h

Charade (1963)
Director: Stanley Donen

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 8h

Doorways and ceilings and windows, oh my!

We look at many of the ways George Romero pens in, traps, and otherwise slowly suffocates his characters in 1978 classic DAWN OF THE DEAD.

shotzero.substack.com/p/frames-wit...

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 1d

HeGotGame 3/3

Colour and design nod to reds and infamous green of Vertigo, seeing their apartment from Jake’s POV is reminiscent of Rear Window, and shots inside feel like various plays-turned-films including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

See our Substack next week for a closer look at these shots!

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 1d

#HeGotGame 2/3

Sweetness constantly references old plays and films. Meanwhile you can see the film references in the set dressing, wardrobe and makeup of this subplot; for example Dakota wears multiple wigs and exaggerated makeup which show her as much a stage performer as a sex worker.

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 1d

#HeGotGame has a main story firmly set in ‘the real world’ of sports - everyone from Michael Jordan to Dick Vitale cameo as themselves!

There’s also a highly stylised, melodramatic subplot - the Sweetness (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) and Dakota (Milla Jovovich) storyline is more heightened.

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

#25thHour 4/4

This drastic change between shots makes us realise how Elinsky’s decision has radically shifted everything: his frame of mind, his relationship with Mary, possibly his entire future.

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

#25thHour 3/4

The oner evokes a drunken, woozy jerkiness until Elinsky reaches the door, pauses . . . and makes a decision.

Once Elinsky knocks, the camera jumps inside the room, the sound mix changes, and a short series of jump cuts ‘breaking’ continuity stand in sharp contrast to the oner.

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

#25thHour 2/4
The oner follows Mary upstairs, uses motion of a waitress to motivate it back down, then follows Elinsky up the exact same way it came, the slow constant motion through a crowded club (along with small things such as the way Elinsky places his hand every 12 inches on the railing) . . .

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

The way Spike Lee gets into and out of a long, drifting shot accentuate its effect, and underscore a character decision.

The sequence starts with a closeup of Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman) small within a ‘frame’ made of Mary’s body (Anna Paquin).

#25thHour 1/4

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

Every shot is stunning!!!!

The warp, esp in some of the pans and dollies [combination of lensing / film stock / format] really works for it, too.

Simply divine.

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

#TheMasqueoftheRedDeath 4/4

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

#TheMasqueoftheRedDeath 3/4

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

#TheMasqueoftheRedDeath 2/4

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 2d

but we know we still have the ability to make movies which look like The Masque of the Red Death (1964), right?

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 3d

shotzero.substack.com/p/visual-ali...

Visual Alienation: CROOKLYN

Spike Lee’s coming-of-age story starts with many of his typical hallmarks — pops of red, breaking the fourth wall, steep angles, people sitting on stoops, a moving dolly shot — and also includes…

shotzero.substack.com

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 3d

Don't adjust your monitors: that image is correct.

Today on our Substack we look at the techniques Spike Lee uses to give us Troy's sense of alienation in his semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film Crooklyn.

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Reposted by Shot Zero

Skip Bolden 💙🎬🎞️ @skipbolden.bsky.social · 3d

"Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders." ~ Alfred Hitchcock

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 4d

#MoBetterBlues 2/2
The wardrobe and background changing signal time and location change, but the shots and blocking remaining similar - not to mention where in the music the shots change - clearly tell us “this is the same person, all grown up.”

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 4d

This scene transition uses shots to clearly tell a story without any exposition, on screen text, etc. needed.

From young Bleek in a medium shot, it cuts to a close closeup of his lips on the trumpet mouthpiece, then to a medium of adult Bleek in a similar position and framing to young Bleek.

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Reposted by Shot Zero

Bright Wall/Dark Room @bwdr.bsky.social · 5d

"This is precisely the sublime unity of composition & content that most recommends Demme’s film, and—for this unrepentant repeat offender—insures its viewing against diminishing returns: SILENCE is a movie about forensic psychology that demands and rewards forensic (as in precise) observation."

Where to Look: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Consider how The Silence of the Lambs revolves around vision. Not only perception, but empathy and hindsight, and the non-empirical prick of intuition.

www.brightwalldarkroom.com

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 5d

Bamboozled 2/2

The camera looks up at Dunwitty, he looms large with open sky, bright light, and an American flag flying (!!) behind him, while the camera looks down on Pierre who is more shadowed, the floor as his background.

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 5d

Despite sitting at the exact same table, Pierre (Damon Wayans) and Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport) are shot at angles which depicted (exaggerated for greatest effect) how the company and society sees them.

Bamboozled 1/2

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 6d

#JungleFever 2/2

Even the pot on the stoop corner looks like a censer! If you don’t think that was intentional, we took a deep dive into how Lee’s intense collaboration with all departments is key to his production ethos! specifically within this film.

buff.ly/GSWemQ9

Passing Time: JUNGLE FEVER

Take a good look at how this series of short scenes over a five minute sequence from Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever depicts the passing of time as Flipper (Wesley Snipes) and Angie (Annabella Sciorra) get…

buff.ly

Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 6d

This shot where Angie (Annabella Sciorra) shows up at her father’s house to apologise is framed as a Catholic confessional booth; she's lower than he to depict her being the supplicant, the door with its frosted window showing only her father’s shadow is designed as a confessional booth . . .

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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 7d

open.substack.com/pub/shotzero...

Passing Time: JUNGLE FEVER

open.substack.com