Hello, class:

This opening scene from Shameless is both appropriately chaotic yet extremely well-structured and framed to create a sense of continuity. The framing of the scene creates a real sense of both urgency and normalcy, as if this is just a normal happenstance for this family during rent seasons. Visually it’s a family getting ready for the day, shown from many different perspectives and creating a sense of what the house layout is. The different edits around the table, in particular, help create the sense of family dynamics. Especially when they’re passing around the rent box and they’re pitching in their shares, it shows how much each kid makes and/or contributes, which could then directly correlate to how much effort they put into helping keep their family afloat.

I think throughout the opening scene, there are two visual anchors: the mother as she moves around, and the planted table in the dining room. The mother is almost constantly in frame, which makes sense, as she appears to be the main character we’re supposed to be following in the shot, and we help obtain her sense of urgency for the bill, yet care for her kids. The other anchor, the table, gives us a grounded piece halfway through the scene that helps the scene become structured. Chaos still ensues, simply because that’s the nature of a large family dynamic, but by using a large object like a table to center all the chaos around, it helps everything feel controlled and grounded while still giving off it’s own sense of excitement.

-Jeremy Sauter

Apologies for the slight delay on getting this in, I had to make a last minute change to make sure it was natural audio only.

-Jeremy Sauter

Hello, class! Today I will be analyzing this scene from Duel, which we watched last week in class:

Steven Spielberg managed to create an extremely intense chase throughout the movie, but this scene in particular used continuity edits extremely well to raise the tension even further.

As the scene begins, continuous, longer shots are used to create a hightened tense of uncertainty, while using the 180 degree rule several times to face the driver from the side, so that he’s facing left from our perspective, to get his thoughts and expressions. As the scene approaches a refueling station, the camera uses a reverse shot as our main character talks with the gas attendant. It then turns into a panning shot to turn around and see the gas truck parked and supposedly anticipating something.

As more and more of the gas stop is revealed, as our protagonist walks around the venue, you can faintly hear the attendant fiddling with his car as he makes his way to the telephone booth, which is done in one longer take to help get a sense of the distance between his car and the booth.

As our main character talks on the phone, we get match cuts between him and the gas truck, letting us “keep our eye” on both sides of the situation and further increase the tension. And as the truck begins to turn around and approach, wide shots are match cut with the booth as he frantically tries to get the police to help. The shot right before the gas truck gets ready to ram the booth, continuity is held thanks to the constantly growing louder engine of the truck, and it comes into frame from the left, which was established where the truck was at compared to the booth in previous shots.

Finally, high and low angled, yet wide shots help capture the scale and danger of the truck as it destroys the stop, the noises of the crashes and the truck engine pushing you to the edge of your seat. It truly becomes one of the more tense and pulse-rising scenes in the movie.

-Jeremy Sauter

Hello, class! Here is my submission for our Framing assignment. It took a bit of clipping to make sure it looked smooth, but I hope you guys enjoy it!

-Jeremy Sauter

Hello, everyone! For this blog post, I will be framing and analyzing the iconic Avengers circle-up scene.

The 2012 Avengers movie is one of the biggest and most iconic superhero movies of all time, and for good reason. The cinemetography, the character interaction, the well-paced writing that kicks off the beginning of an incredible story arc, and the action all makes this a movie that is enjoyable on every single rewatch.

Shots and references: We start with Bruce Banner arriving in the middle of the Battle of New York, establishing all but one of the core Avengers in a wider shot as the conversation begins, before closing in on the heroes to get more details.

Long shot, behind, wide angle

Medium shots, over the shoulder style-ish?

Medium close up shot, frontal

We then cut away to an almost direct perspective shot of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, as he prepares to bring Bruce a Chitauri Leviathan to fight. We’re then brought back to the grounded heroes, to remind us of the aerial capabilities of this beast as they are all looking up and out off camera to watch it approach.

Close up shot, frontal view

Long shot (to capture the scale of the Leviathan), frontal

Medium shot, zoom, over Bruce’s shoulder

Medium, zoom, frontal shot

Medium close up, zoom, frontal

Long shot, frontal

Medium shot (to help capture the size of the creature, behind

We then get to watch both the heroes and the enemy approach to capture both the scale of the city and feel the intensity of the battle that is about to tip towards the heroes’ scales, with the awakening of the Incredible Hulk.

Medium shot, behind Captain America, wide lens (to include the Leviathan)

Medium close-up, zoom, frontal shot

Medium shot, wide lens (to include the beast), behind Bruce

Close up shot, zoom (focused on Bruce, but you can still see the beast approaching)

Medium shot (watching the Hulk emerge as it grows), zoom, side shot

Long shot, wide lens (helps capture the size of the Leviathan and just how strong the Hulk is), behind Hulk

And with the Leviathan wounded, the Avengers manage to destroy the beast and officially begin the Battle of New York, with wide shots to show the army they still have to fight, as well as unique and never before seen shots in the entire movie.

Long shot, side view, wide lens (to help keep the Hulk in frame)

Extreme long shot, high, wide lens

Medium shot, zoom, frontal shot

Medium shot (chosen thanks to how much of Thor is in the shot, low angle (to help the viewer also feel the power of that explosion), zoom

Long shot? (It’s full body but I didn’t know if it was zoomed in enough to qualify as medium), high angle (to show him hiding behind the car)

Medium close-up shot, wide lens (to include more of the army), zoom to focus on the main grunt in front, frontal shot

Medium shot, wide lens (to include all of the Avengers), frontal shot

The continuity is held up remarkably well, as several of Hulk’s shots are quick cut shots to show the sequence from a different angle, yet they still feel realistic enough to help us see a better picture of what’s happening. And the narrative purpose of the scene, as said, serves as the turning point and the excitement that the entire movie has been building towards up to this point.

-Jeremy Sauter

This is a test of the blogging system. If this works, then awesome! Nice to meet you all!

My name is Jeremy Sauter, I’m a senior in the DTC program. Some of my favorite hobbies are video games, watching Marvel content, and reading books!