Shot Zero
Close analysis of cinematography and visual storytelling. Read on Substack ↗
388 posts
27 April - 03 May 2026: looking through eyes which aren't ours
Revealing a Character's Thoughts Through Showing His POV
20 April - 26 April 2026: Spinning, Sideways, Side-eyes, and Superimposed, we've got many ways the camera gives us a unique POV
How Déjà Vu lets us see through another lens
Making a Oner out of a Three-er
13 April - 19 April 2026: video games come to life, booty shorts, amateur detective podcasters, supernatural detectives, and a lesbian space princess!
06 April - 12 April 2026 Broad City, Man Seeking Woman, My Brilliant Career, Death in Brunswick,
what did we learn from every single transition in Episode 2.09 - "3:00 P.M."
every single transition from Episode 2.09 - "3:00 P.M."
30 March - 05 April 2026: Reaction Shots! from humans and aliens
every single transition from Episode 2.09 - "3:00 P.M."
every single transition from Episode 2.09 - "3:00 P.M."
23 March - 29 March 2026: Using Lines to Lead the Eyes
every single transition from Episode 2.09 - "3:00 P.M."
16 Mar - 22 Mar 2026: whether made by puppets or people or panthers, shadows can be very effective!
use of ocular imagery in Alice Rohrwacher’s short film.
09 March - 15 March 2026: Limited Poses in a Limited Space
just what it says on the marquee
What We're Looking at in 2026
29 Dec 2025 - 04 Jan 2026: Compare and Contrast
22 Dec - 28 Dec 2025: Happy Holidays call for SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS!
In Lieu of the Yearly Special, May We Present . . .
telling story and depiction power struggles through shots
15 Dec - 21 Dec 2025: a scintillating series of short sharp shots
just what it says in the cryptic 3AM text message
angles, motion, surprizes, twins, and a magic book, all within 30 seconds, oh my!
08 Dec - 14 Dec Month 2025: Split Diopters, Winged Angels, Stark Staircases, TV Reflections, and Match Cuts
terrible people at a dinner table
making an aquatic chase fun and followable
how do I talk to thee? let me count the ways
just what it says on the blaster handle
24 Nov - 30 Nov 2025 - lots of light and shadows in this one!
just what it says on the fire index sign
17 Nov - 23 Nov 2025 A Different World; High and Low; No Country for Old Men; Veronica Mars; Safe in Hell
just what it says on the paperwork
or, literally going up and down
10 Nov - 16 Nov 2025: Pitfall, See How They Run, Notorious, Michael Clayton, White Heat
how an angel and a devil fight over a businessman in a living room
making an aquatic chase fun and followable
03 Nov - 09 Nov 2025: Happy Valley; Intimidation; Ladies in Retirement; Giri/Haji; The Last Stop in Yuma County
putting together a jaw-dropping sequence
27 Oct - 02 Nov 2025: Heatwave; The X-Files; Da Sweet Blood of Jesus; Portrait of a Lady on Fire
how Fritz Lang made what is now a special effects shot, practically.
just what it trumpets loudly in the streets
20 Oct - 26 Oct 2025: KPop Demon Hunters, The Haunting of Hill House, Monsterland
how animation manipulates eyeballs - both characters and ours!
13 Oct - 19 Oct 2025: (Spike Lee) He Got Game, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Bamboozled, 25th Hour
how Romero creates mini-tableaus within scenes, divides characters, and more
06 Oct - 12 Oct 2025: Evil, Cat People, Lisa Frankenstein, Rosemary’s Baby
Spike Lee's mastery of visual language
a short love letter to a very particular shot
29 Sep - 05 Oct 2025: Betty Blue, Saving Face, Evil, The Babadook, Fish Tank, Agatha All Along
Irma Vep and Different Motions Through the Frame
22 Sept - 29 Sept 2025: 12 Angry Men, Malcolm X, Raw, Taskmaster, Dickinson
five reasons Abbott is one of the best shows of the 2020s
15 Sept - 21 Sept 2025: Blindspotting, Giri / Haji, Saving Face, Ponyboi, Crooklyn
delineating a life in colours
just what it says on the marquee: five [more] of our faves
08 Sept - 14 Sept 2025: (Frames Within Frames) Dollhouse, Andor, Tea and Sympathy, Time Without Pity, Nothing Sacred
just what it says on the marquee
creating isolation within the larger picture
01 Sept - 07 Sept 2025: Bob’s Burgers, Tokyo Pop, Succession, Do the Right Thing
just what it says on the tin
a shot by any other angle may smell as sweet
25 Aug - 31 Aug 2025: Dead Presidents, None Shall Escape, Thief, Mo’ Better Blues, Romeo Must Die
how every episode marks the passing of time
18 Aug - 24 Aug 2025: Out of the Fog, The Bear, P-Valley, Taskmaster
Posts from 11 August - 17 August 2025
just what the boombox says
Posts from 04 August - 10 August 2025
how every episode marks the passing of time
Posts from 28 July - 03 August 2025
Posts from 21 July - 27 July 2025
just what it says on the VHS sleeve
Posts from 14 July - 20 July 2025
Posts from 07 July - 13 July 2025
Posts from 30 June - 06 July 2025
Or, Ang Lee likes a blocky bit!
Posts from 23 June - 29 June 2025
The Fall (2006); Watchmen (2019); A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Posts from 16 June - 22 June 2025
just what it says on the paper
Posts from 02 June - 08 June 2025
Posts from 26 May - 01 June 2025
just what it says on the neon sign
Posts from 19 May - 25 May 2025
just what it says on the tin badge
clothes make the woman
just what it says on the case files
Posts from 05 May - 11 May 2025
"The Final Frame" takes us from ultra-wide to super-close
Posts from 28 April - 04 May 2025
just what it says on the badge
Posts from 21 April - 27 April 2025
examining a shot which doesn't show much
Posts from 07 April - 13 April 2025
starting a film with a bang, and as you mean to go on
Posts from 31 March - 06 April 2025
The Quick and the Dead and the Villain Makes Four
Posts from 17 Mar - 23 Mar 2025
The Quick and the Dead and the Lady Makes Three
a look at some of our favourite shots [and meanings, and feelings] across the season
just what it says on sign nailed to the clapboard wall of the diner parking lot
Posts from 03 Mar - 09 Mar 2025
Posts from 24 Feb - 02 Mar 2025
Posts from 17 Feb - 23 Feb 2025
just what it details on the blueprint
Posts from 10 Feb - 16 Feb 2025
Posts from 03 Feb - 09 Feb 2025
just what it says on the paint can
Posts from 27 Jan - 02 Feb 2025
just what it says on the VHS cover
Posts from 13 Jan - 19 Jan 2025
how transitions and melodrama show us a narrator's reliability
Posts from 06 Jan - 12 Jan 2025
Posts from 30 Dec 2024 - 05 Jan 2025
just what it says on the bottle
just what it says on the label
Five of our favourites from 1938 comedy-melodrama-noir YOU AND ME
Posts from 02 Dec - 08 Dec 2024
how to use clever cuts to link concepts as well as scenes
Posts from 25 November - 01 December 2024
just what it says on the jar
using architecture and props to divide your frame, and your characters
Posts from 18 Nov - 24 Nov 2024
Posts from 11 Nov - 17 Nov 2024
Posts from 04 Nov - 10 Nov 2024
how blocking and framing can give big surprises and small emotional cues
Posts from 28 Oct - 03 Nov 2024
how colours show Alice's gradual acceptance of Death
Posts from 21 Oct - 27 Oct 2024
Filming a Break onto Stage and into Fantasy
Posts from 14 Oct - 20 Oct 2024
Posts from 30 Sept - 06 Oct 2024
Posts from 23 Sept - 29 Sept 2024
editing promos which convey a show's themes, genre, and content
Five of our favourite scenes and shots from 1948 noir Brighton Rock.
Posts from 16 Sept - 22 Sept 2024
Posts from 9 Sept - 15 Sept 2024
Posts from 2 Sept - 8 Sept 2024
Few Words, Big Impact
Piling On Jokes Through Cuts
Posts from 26 Aug - 1 Sept 2024
What's a J-Cut, and how is it used for Drama, Comedy, and Exposition
Posts from 19 Aug - 25 Aug 2024
How To Make a Death Feel Surprising, Yet Inevitable
Demons and Delights: Compiled!
Posts from 05 Aug - 11 Aug 2024
Using Theme in Your Intro
Posts from 29 July - 04 Aug 2024
from crafting an inventor's dream to to tipping the deerstalker to other Holmes detectives
directing to keep theme in frame
Posts from 22 July - 28 July 2024
Introducing Evil's Antagonist
*this post about a sequence from the pilot contains no spoilers
Posts from 8 July - 14 July 2024
Directing Episodic Television with Choreographed Moves
showing us who Marco is by how he lives
Posts from 1 July - 7 July 2024
"Herogasm" Shows Us Who Homelander [Thinks He] Is
or, the one where DC's LEGENDS OF TOMORROW makes TV about making a monster movie where monsters are shown within fake camera footage then humans fight like monsters on a miniature movie set
A Formula and Cigarettes
Posts from 10 June - 16 June 2024
just what it says on the label
Posts from 03 June - 09 June 2024
making the most of scene transitions, with zero dollars
how framing and blocking can show characters' feelings about each other
Posts from 27 May - 02 June 2024
from fixing coffee to unpacking suitcases - using props to specific ends
how a silent scene speaks crystal clear
Posts from 20 May - 26 May 2024
how to switch from 'Omniscient Third Person' to 'Subjective First Person' POV
Posts from 13 May - 19 May 2024
shooting with clarity even amidst chaotic action and changing POVs
Posts from 6 May - 12 May
editing which jumps through time (and the boring parts of arguments)
an animated sequence with symbolism and flair
Posts from 15 April to 21 April, 2024
a beautiful bit of lighting and camera choreography for fun and foreshadowing
Social Media posts from 8 April to 14 April, 2024
Social Media posts from 1 April to 7 April
how Lulu Wang uses an unusual technique to great effect
Posts from 11 March to 17 March 2024
what "Bad Things" images and editing say about True Blood's themes
Posts from 4th March through 10th March 2024
Having Fun, Creating Movement, and Hiding Demons, all in one!
Posts from 27 February to 04 March 2024
Using Image to Compare Characters and Demonstrate Their Interiority
Or, When Lack of Big Introduction Speaks for Itself
Using set design, blocking, cinematography, repetition and deviation - basically everything - to visually illustrate key themes and motifs
Posts from 13 February to 19 February 2024
Posts from 6th February to 12 February 2024
Using crossfades to give clever visuals and tell character's history
Or: How To Smoothly, Calmly Depict A Mental Break
Or, Having Fun With Size!
Posts from 16th January to 22nd January 2024
How Legion uses specific shots to seperate objective and subjective POV
Posts from 9th January to 15th January 2024
Posts from 2nd January to 8th January 2024
How Should We Use A Split Diopter?
Posts from 26th December 2023 to 1 January 2024
just because a scene is overtly hot and explicitly sexy doesn't mean you can't also be silly and suggestive
Posts from 19th December to 25 December
Willow's direction clearly considers character journeys, start to finish.
Posts from 11th December to 18 December, 2023
a brief look at what four colour changes tell us about characters' shifting emotions
Posts from 4th December to 10th December, 2023
or, how 'three dots during sexting' demonstrates time dilation
Posts from 27th November to 3rd December, 2023
How Ang Lee uses simple angles to demonstrate dynamics in a scene
Posts from 20th to 26th November, 2023
detective or fugitive, lover or killer, they can't live without it
Ang Lee's preferred frame for literally and figuratively centering character expressions
How can you use split diopters to create visual tension?
Horrifying, Hilarious, Halloween Shots
How do modern horror films use oners to create tone?
How are oners used to align the audience with the perpetrator or the victim?
Two scenes bring humour in different ways; one through editing, one through a single take, both with careful blocking and timing.
or 'how to make the simple, sublime"
Why is Hans Gruber’s character introduction in DIE HARD so iconic?
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS demonstrates how constant camera moves versus sudden moves from stillness can draw our attention differently
what we can learn from a chase sequence in Bong Joon Ho's first feature
Electric Dissolve? Who made that up?!
How Framing Lends Weight to Film and TV References
How every episode of THE BEAR S2 shows the passage of time
How can an invisible oner make us feel a character's sense of revelation?
via Goodfellas, Children of Men, and The Adventures of Tintin
How can staging a scene differently completely change how we feel about a character?