Shot Zero
@shotzero.bsky.social
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
Produced by Stu Willis & Mel Killingsworth
The focus pull, ‘opposite sides’ framing, stark colour difference between locations - these 45 seconds (only 30 actually spent talking) SHOWS us how these people feel, and how strongly they oppose each other.
see today's substack for a deeper look at this #MichaelClayton scene
see today's substack for a deeper look at this #MichaelClayton scene
December 3, 2025 at 4:01 AM
The focus pull, ‘opposite sides’ framing, stark colour difference between locations - these 45 seconds (only 30 actually spent talking) SHOWS us how these people feel, and how strongly they oppose each other.
see today's substack for a deeper look at this #MichaelClayton scene
see today's substack for a deeper look at this #MichaelClayton scene
A phone call often ‘merely’ conveys information, so how do you make it interesting?
Focus pull, framing, shadows and smoke galore.
Then cuts juxtapose mobster and innocent - him sweaty in a dingy crowded room, her in a bright white room with her waitress hat as a sort of halo.
Focus pull, framing, shadows and smoke galore.
Then cuts juxtapose mobster and innocent - him sweaty in a dingy crowded room, her in a bright white room with her waitress hat as a sort of halo.
December 1, 2025 at 11:02 PM
A phone call often ‘merely’ conveys information, so how do you make it interesting?
Focus pull, framing, shadows and smoke galore.
Then cuts juxtapose mobster and innocent - him sweaty in a dingy crowded room, her in a bright white room with her waitress hat as a sort of halo.
Focus pull, framing, shadows and smoke galore.
Then cuts juxtapose mobster and innocent - him sweaty in a dingy crowded room, her in a bright white room with her waitress hat as a sort of halo.
#Noirvember is for stark shadows!
We go from seeing nearly nothing, to silhouettes, to the tiny spotlight of a moving handheld torch, to nothing again, to click Nick’s ominous face, in this delightfully shadowy scene from Alias Nick Beale.
We go from seeing nearly nothing, to silhouettes, to the tiny spotlight of a moving handheld torch, to nothing again, to click Nick’s ominous face, in this delightfully shadowy scene from Alias Nick Beale.
November 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM
#Noirvember is for stark shadows!
We go from seeing nearly nothing, to silhouettes, to the tiny spotlight of a moving handheld torch, to nothing again, to click Nick’s ominous face, in this delightfully shadowy scene from Alias Nick Beale.
We go from seeing nearly nothing, to silhouettes, to the tiny spotlight of a moving handheld torch, to nothing again, to click Nick’s ominous face, in this delightfully shadowy scene from Alias Nick Beale.
Yesterday we looked at how the earlier part of this scene used mirrors, but check out the transition at 24 seconds! [stills below]
The way it crossfades between Cody (James Cagney) and his Ma (Margaret Wycherly) clearly shows them to be cut from the same cloth / kind of psychopathy.
1/2
The way it crossfades between Cody (James Cagney) and his Ma (Margaret Wycherly) clearly shows them to be cut from the same cloth / kind of psychopathy.
1/2
November 28, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Yesterday we looked at how the earlier part of this scene used mirrors, but check out the transition at 24 seconds! [stills below]
The way it crossfades between Cody (James Cagney) and his Ma (Margaret Wycherly) clearly shows them to be cut from the same cloth / kind of psychopathy.
1/2
The way it crossfades between Cody (James Cagney) and his Ma (Margaret Wycherly) clearly shows them to be cut from the same cloth / kind of psychopathy.
1/2
#Noirvember is for chase scenes!
Check out how this dialogue-less chase scene in neo-noir TELL NO ONE shifts POV
It's an audacious sequence, but note it always ties the first-person POV to the proper angle and motion of the runner’s eyes through a shot of the runner looking.
full breakdown below
Check out how this dialogue-less chase scene in neo-noir TELL NO ONE shifts POV
It's an audacious sequence, but note it always ties the first-person POV to the proper angle and motion of the runner’s eyes through a shot of the runner looking.
full breakdown below
November 28, 2025 at 9:01 AM
#Noirvember is for chase scenes!
Check out how this dialogue-less chase scene in neo-noir TELL NO ONE shifts POV
It's an audacious sequence, but note it always ties the first-person POV to the proper angle and motion of the runner’s eyes through a shot of the runner looking.
full breakdown below
Check out how this dialogue-less chase scene in neo-noir TELL NO ONE shifts POV
It's an audacious sequence, but note it always ties the first-person POV to the proper angle and motion of the runner’s eyes through a shot of the runner looking.
full breakdown below
Shot-Reverse-Shot, but also make it a double reverse in a mirror!
As #Noirvember draws to a close, we take a closer look at how this scene from #WhiteHeat has fun with mirrors.
shotzero.substack.com/p/shot-rever...
As #Noirvember draws to a close, we take a closer look at how this scene from #WhiteHeat has fun with mirrors.
shotzero.substack.com/p/shot-rever...
November 27, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Shot-Reverse-Shot, but also make it a double reverse in a mirror!
As #Noirvember draws to a close, we take a closer look at how this scene from #WhiteHeat has fun with mirrors.
shotzero.substack.com/p/shot-rever...
As #Noirvember draws to a close, we take a closer look at how this scene from #WhiteHeat has fun with mirrors.
shotzero.substack.com/p/shot-rever...
When Abel (Louis Garrel) finds a gun in his mom’s boyfriend’s jacket, the scene makes clear how he peeps to spy on said boyfriend through a crack in the door without showing them 'in context' of each other.
How?
#TheInnocent 1/2
How?
#TheInnocent 1/2
November 26, 2025 at 11:01 PM
When Abel (Louis Garrel) finds a gun in his mom’s boyfriend’s jacket, the scene makes clear how he peeps to spy on said boyfriend through a crack in the door without showing them 'in context' of each other.
How?
#TheInnocent 1/2
How?
#TheInnocent 1/2
Like yesterday's scene from Guilty Bystander, everything here relies entirely on blocking and camera/actor movement in and out of lights and shadows.
Such fun!
Such fun!
November 25, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Like yesterday's scene from Guilty Bystander, everything here relies entirely on blocking and camera/actor movement in and out of lights and shadows.
Such fun!
Such fun!
Some of the tension in this wordless scene comes from just waiting to see if Max Thursday (Zachary Scott) exactly hits the beam of light with his eyes as he moves . . . and he always does!
November 24, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Some of the tension in this wordless scene comes from just waiting to see if Max Thursday (Zachary Scott) exactly hits the beam of light with his eyes as he moves . . . and he always does!
Stu and Mel (and Chas!) did a whole Draft_Zero episode on #VeronicaMars’ voiceover [link next skeet]
1.12 “Clash of the Tritons” uses it to toy with the audience! Here the VO / internal monologue gives us information . . . then makes us reconsider what we've just seen and heard.
1.12 “Clash of the Tritons” uses it to toy with the audience! Here the VO / internal monologue gives us information . . . then makes us reconsider what we've just seen and heard.
November 22, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Stu and Mel (and Chas!) did a whole Draft_Zero episode on #VeronicaMars’ voiceover [link next skeet]
1.12 “Clash of the Tritons” uses it to toy with the audience! Here the VO / internal monologue gives us information . . . then makes us reconsider what we've just seen and heard.
1.12 “Clash of the Tritons” uses it to toy with the audience! Here the VO / internal monologue gives us information . . . then makes us reconsider what we've just seen and heard.