This opening from “Shameless” communicates the hectic, anxiety inducing strain that poverty can have on a family. As the Gallaghers struggle to meet the electricity bill, they also find themselves in a rush to get ready, and a mess from the night before (looking at the boy with a whole happy-meal on his shirt in-particular!). Matching the chaos of their situation, the framing and editing helps induce these emotions WITHOUT going too overboard in a “Michael Bay” sense.
Firstly, when it comes to editing this scene is fast paced. There’s lots of close-up shots of quick actions like shoving the chair into the washer, or passing the box of money around. These shots are edited so that they cut quick, giving you enough time to see what’s happening, but not too much that things seem stagnant. There’s always movement whether it be the camera or the action of the character it is focused on.
When it comes to framing, I notice a lot of close-up shots that are almost motivated POV, but not quite. Like when the camera finds itself at eye-level of the kids at the table, but not directly from the perspective of one of them. I like the framing of these shots as they do give you some of the benefits of a motivated POV shot like the immersion, but without being tooo distracting or ever taking one characters perspective entirely. This is the story of the entire family, not just one of them.
From 0:38-1:00 I noticed the milk jug as an visual anchor. We watch it begin its journey as the mom opens the fridge, then it gets passed around the table, to the sink, and back to the table. It really helped anchor our action so the viewer doesn’t get lost and can better imagine this 3D-space.