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Shot Zero

@shotzero.bsky.social
198 followers 136 following 1.3K 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 · 4h
Francis Ford Coppola does nothing in this movie subtly; not this fang-marks-to-eyeballs zoom-and-crossfade match cut, not the splitscreen which closely follows this iris transition, and not this transition which itself turns a peacock feather’s ‘eye’ into a train tunnel.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 12h
so it's in character and he says "Archie" not "Archibald," but @chrisvfeil.bsky.social and @joereid.bsky.social were looking for Cary Grant saying his own name, and here we have it!
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
#LegendsofTomorrow 5.06 “Mr. Parker’s Cul-De-Sac” involves an extensive homage to Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and it even recreates the distinct iris transition, in its own style.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
What's your favourite shot from inside an appliance? We'll go first . . . and second.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Welcome to another week of iris shots! And who says iris shapes have to be circles, anyway? Certainly not Bob Clampett!
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Today on main, we look at live lighting changes, monochrome sets, and three more of our favourite shots from the absolutely indescribable WHAT A WAY TO GO shotzero.substack.com/p/five-shots...
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Anthony waits below for his chance to rob a money truck, the drain grid jail bars foreshadow what’s waiting . . . really, what’s been looming since he returned from Vietnam. Meanwhile, the guards stand under a different set of bars; the flags of the country Anthony served for.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My Blueberry Nights frames for juxtaposition. As Lizzie looks longingly out the cafe window, shots of her / her POV are framed with glass and shades symbolising how trapped she feels; meanwhile the shot of Leslie is framed with nothing obstructing her, hair blowing free in the wind.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What a Way to Oner! Today we look at blocking characters and camera around a cramped set which also holds a ladder and a lot of water coming from the ceiling - all in two oners. Check the link for the full thing! shotzero.substack.com/p/blocking-a...
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
As The Penguin stalks towards its finale, “Inside Man” frames Sofia behind church windows and Oz behind a stairway railing, both which very intentionally look like jail bars, teasing the audience with what endings may loom for one or both of them.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio turns Pleasure Island into a boot camp, and this shot is explicit about how miserable the island is: the way it frames the children working across the monkey bars makes it look exactly as though they’re in a jail cell.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Plenty of noir films make use of window slats to cast fore-shadows on characters, but Pitfall takes it several steps further, using curtains, pajamas, stair railings, bedposts, a model plane, and more, to form visual ‘cages’ around Johnny and Mona. 1/2
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
All our posts last week were about spiiiiiiiiins, but what's around (and around and around) them has to work, too. This scene from Shadow of The Thin Man could use all the techniques it wants, but Loy and Powell sell it They're simply magic, and having a blast to boot.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Today we look at five of our favourite shots from our favourite ever director who raised the Mayor of New York (aka Mira Nair aka the mom of that guy Zohran Mamdani). shotzero.substack.com/p/five-shots...
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
When Nick (William Powell) hears Nora’s (Myrna Loy) voice, he tries to find her, and the scene switches to a literal POV, using a kaleidoscope effect to intimate how very dizzy all the spinning is making him. #ShadowoftheThinMan 1/2
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The entirety of this spinning oner from Blow Out is over two minutes, so the full thing will be up on Substack along with further breakdown, but take a moment to appreciate how effective the spinning sensation is at disorienting us along with Jack's (John Travolta) growing panic and freneticism!
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Our longread today is full of shots: shooting six-shooters from horseback, shooting whiskey in saloons, shooting showdowns at noon! Five of our faves from Woman They Almost Lynched shotzero.substack.com/p/five-shots...
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This week is about shots which spin! In Moontide (1942), Bobo (Jean Gabin) looks up, and the camera follows, moving into a shot of a ship's-wheel-like lighting fixture which spins and crossfades over a spinning bottle and clock hands, around and around . . . all to make us feel as dizzy as Bobo.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A great thread with good-looking work but we MUST in particular second the recommend for Corpus Christi! Reminded me (Mel) of Adam's Apples, if Anders Thomas Jensen's work is your bag
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Ashley Lynch ✂️🎞️ @ashleylynch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
You know what, I'm on board with every 15 years letting whatever completely unhinged director add to the mythos of this bizarre series. Looking forward to Fede Alvarez' Bad Lieutenant movie starring Pom Klementieff in 2038.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Today we break down this scene transition from Portrait of a Lady on Fire; including the several shots on either side, and how their echoes are enunciated by having such a strong, dramatic cut at the centre.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
These short, distorted moments all occur as Eric (Brandon Lee) follows a calling bird. (They come several minutes apart; we’ve edited for viewing ease, and watch to the end to see only the distorted shots together.) 1/2
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
In this scene from Girl 6, distorted shots are intercut with ‘normal’ shots. The warping and colour differences immediately distinguish when we’re in Judy’s world versus the outside world, and feeling what she’s feeling versus listening to some dudes prattling on.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Why does The Haunting (1963) treat its twisted staircase like a character? And also *how* does it get tight, twisting shots like this in 1963, long before the steadycam was in use? We look at all that and more in today's Long Read! shotzero.substack.com/p/distorting...
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Steve Roger’s Neighborhood of Horror @johnpaulmaler.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Time for a midweek mood check! Use a vid, GIF, or pic to share how you are feeling today 🖤
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Big Trouble In Little China Countach
ALT: Big Trouble In Little China Countach
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As Juliana (Hazel Court) drinks a potion in The Masque of the Red Death, she experiences a protracted sequence of nightmares, and the film’s effects reflect how her reality is warping. (we've trimmed the full sequence, which runs over three minutes, to some representative shots.)
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Skip Bolden 💙🎬🎞️ @skipbolden.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Suspiria (1977) Directed by Dario Argento
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Midnight showing of STREETS OF FIRE a definite bucket list movie experience!
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Carnivals are the perfect place for shooting distorted images; all those mirrors, screaming children, rigged games, and surreal feelings. There’s a carnival on in 1957’s The Tarnished Angels, but we don’t spend much time there . . . except to see lovers kissing in a funhouse mirror. 1/2
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Vivian Rutledge @hanginglamps.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Side note but one of my favorite things about the Roger Corman/Vincent Price Poe films is the liberal use of many different colored candles everywhere
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This week's shots are all DIsToRTEd, starting with this shot from Roger Corman's The Masque of The Red Death. as Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) walks, the room itself seems to warp, as the camera movement keeps him central while the lens distorts the people and objects around him.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
What's in a title sequence, and would the same thing in live action smell as sweet? We break down The Westies' excellent title sequence; the stories it tells, the themes it demonstrates, and what's with that graph paper? shotzero.substack.com/p/art-of-the...
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Jump cuts are often used for someone who is disoriented and experiencing time in a distorted way. The emotional effect of this single jump cut in this scene from The Brutalist is clear - László (Adrien Brody) is so worked up, he is experiencing time in an uneven, jarring way.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
As Susan (Anna Maxwell Martin) makes a shocking discovery, the edit begins to jump-cut through her response, conveying Susan’s initial shock, then speeding up the process of Susan wandering outside, as she tries to compose herself. 1/2
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Cory Marciel @cmarciel.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Tim Curry as Darkness. One of my favorite shots, and one of the best villainous roles, ever. #timcurry
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Darkness Legend: Fiery Ritual
Alt: Tim Curry in the film LEGEND. Curry plans a ten foot tall Dark Lord. He is kneeling in his chambers. A huge fiery hearth wriths behind him. Wind blows his long black cape back. It flutters in the wind. He looks like a devil with red skin and has enormous black horns that curve out from the top of his head.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Our deep dive today involves a two-minute oner with stunts, and a moving train, and period costumes . . . except we're actually concentrating on the ten seconds on either side of the oner, and how they perfectly frame the bigger, more complex shot. shotzero.substack.com/p/bracketing...
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Writing Goonies + Young Sherlock Holmes, directing Mrs. Doubtfire + HOME FUCKING ALONE 1 and 2 those five alone wld do most people for life, let alone shaping one of the largest kids film franchises of all time in this house, we put all due respect on Chris Columbus' name
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This sequence from Hot Fuzz is arguably not *quite* a jumpcut (it’s not an exceedingly obvious jump in time and/or jarring cut within the same or nearly-identical shot) - we selected it for this theme week because "JUMP CUT" is specified in the script. On the substack, we dig into intent & effect.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This is among our favourite shots from "Peter Hujar's Day," not merely because it’s a fun stylistic beat which keeps us slightly off-balance, but because it really helps to recreate the meandering feel of the day-long interview, including sometimes-abrupt shifts and train-of-thought derailments.
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LithiumChaser @lithiumchaser.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Fury by Fritz Lang starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney (1936)
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This week is all about jump cuts - starting with a famous example from LOST episode "The Constant." At first, the technique seems to demonstrate how Desmond is so upset his brain is ‘short-circuiting' in his panic. Eventually, we understand it's part of how Desmond is coming unstuck in time.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Today we look at scene transition, echoing shots, and this stunner circular oner from the BBC's stellar "Life on Mars." shotzero.substack.com/p/how-to-tra...
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
“Chapter 2” of miniseries The Other Bennet Sister needs to move us past the story we’re all familiar with from “Pride and Prejudice,” and into Mary’s story. It does this with a clever series of time-elapsing 180° whip pans.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
We did to look at the whole scene in its own post (link below), but this slow whip pan reveal is so perfectly accentuated with the video game sound effect, we can’t pass it up.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Ever had an almost-kiss interrupted by a death mask? Today we look at five of our favourite shots from Douglas Sirk's melodrama The Tarnished Angels, including how this interruption is earned, and how the shots after taunt LaVerne and Devlin.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
We [Mel, with a shameless plug] used several whip pans in @PhiandMeTV, a combination of stylistic choice, approximating Phi’s POV, and shooting constraints. We kept consistent visual language for Uncle Ray’s non-sequiturs, and similar techniques (eg crash zooms) for Phi's other POV shots.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
You can crossfade Tim Curry's face with an exaggerated cartoon smile which curls around itself at the corners, and it works a charm. From Rocky Horror to Clue to Home Alone 2 - what a man, what a legend.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
delicious thread, with samples and (our favorite!) stills with little circles and arrows demonstrating what's being said!
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The Big Steal is noir with a lot of physical comedy, and the camera gets in on the action! When Fiske opens the door, there’s a quick cut to the opposite side which holds just until we see Fiske’s eyes and mouth open with surprise, cuing the whip pan to a chair where Duke coolly sits. Perfection.
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Shot Zero @shotzero.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Our longread today is mostly pictures (and one video) worth a thousand words from documentary "Lael Rides Around the World" shotzero.substack.com/p/five-shots...
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