#but if not at least the cinematographer got to go off

[limitedseries]

Sorry if I'm distracting you from... From what? From looking for your wife.

Severance— "Woe's Hollow" (2025)

[euphreana]

Screen Direction in RRR

Okay so as a cinematography nerd, it bewilders me that during the flogging scene, there is no screen direction.

Let me explain.

In visual media, we have the 180 Rule, which basically means that stuff on the left side of the camera stays on the left, and stuff on the right side of the camera stays on the right. (There's a lot more to it, but for now let's go with that.) This gives visual continuity so you can tell what's going on and who's where, even when things are moving around.

The thing is, this rule isn't followed at all during the flogging scene. Sometimes characters are on the left facing right, then in the next shot they're on the right facing left or right facing right or however. Randomly.

I screencapped every camera shot in the scene (all 178 of them) and the only continuity of screen direction is in the shots of Jenny and the people watching the event on the right facing left, and the Governor & Co facing the camera. (In the single shot when Jenny turns around to face the Governor's wife, the camera remains in its fixed position, so that still counts as visual continuity.) Aside from that, there's absolutely no consistency of screen direction.

This isn't a thing in the other major scenes. During Bheem's first attempt to save Malli (with the animals,) he starts on the right and, except for the end, is always trying to go to the left. It's the same with the big barracks escape - starting right and going left. (This in itself is odd since (at least in Western media,) the goal is usually to go from left to right, which makes sense since that's drilled into us in reading and writing. (The LOTR and Snowpiercer movies come to mind as prime examples.) Telugu, the original language of the movie, also reads from left to right, so this whole thing struck me as odd. Then I remembered Bheem's whole mission is to rescue Malli and go back home. It's established from the beginning that home is on the left, and Malli is taken to the right. So the whole movie, the goal, both thematically and visually, is about going back home. (Ram goes back to his home roots and Bheem literally goes home.) ANYWAY.) The cinematographers obviously do know the 180 rule.

In the flogging scene however, the cinematographers don't just break the 180 rule, they snap it in pieces and trample all over it. Given how other scenes stick to the rule, this seems intentional. Why? My best guess is that they wanted to make the scene chaotic and disorienting, despite there being little actual movement of the characters. Think about it; Ram's horribly conflicted between love and duty, and Bheem's life just got turned upside down. What better way to show that than a scene that visually feels off-balance and unpredictable?

Gutsy move.

[antimonyandthyme]

maxiel snippet

set in the same verse as spring cleaning

Take It Easy’s playing in the background. Old people music, Max complained, even though he’s singing along in the video, as clear as day. The lighting’s a little shit, and Daniel hadn’t bothered to clean the lenses before filming. The scene focuses on the blank wall behind them, then Max’s hair, all mussed up as if someone had just run their fingers through it, then the blank wall again. When Daniel’s drunk (he is), he likes to think of himself as quite the cinematographer.

“Put that down,” comes Max’s grumpy voice. Three beers in and his smile is all lopsided. He’s got the most adorable alcohol flush going, though Max will get all huffy if Daniel says it to his face. It’s a look that comes out only when the rest of the world blurs away. Daniel zooms in on it.

“No way,” Daniel hears himself say. He doesn’t even remember why he says this. “If I sell this to the tabloids, do you know how much money I’ll make?”

“Fuck off.” Max is laughing, giggling, making grabby hands at the phone. All of this is still part of the video. “You’d have to be in this for it to make any kind of money.”

Max does this, says things like this. He stops Daniel from getting out of the car to collect takeout from the restaurant, because—

“You’d be recognized.”

“Me?” Daniel will roll his eyes, try to ignore the discomfort that comes with that implication. Not forgotten yet, not by Max’s standards at least. “You, I think.”

“No, you.” They’ve had this argument countless of times. “I’m just a driver.” There’s that small, silly smile again. “You’re special.” Like it’s a fact.

So Daniel keeps filming. “Come on, baby,” he hollers along to the Eagles, loud enough for the iPhone to register it as a squawk. “Don’t say maybe. I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me.”

All to see Max curl up and flush raspberry dark. All to see him unfurl like a sunflower. He wants to show this to Max later. When they’re just a little more sober. Say, See how special?  

Too bad. Daniel’s thumb hovers over the delete button. He’s a better actor than a director anyway.

Max is bulldozing onward through the song, the only way he knows how. We may lose, we may win. Though we will never be here again.

“So open up, I’m climbin’ in,” Daniel says. The rest of it is lost as the phone is knocked to the ground. The screen goes black. It lies there, forgotten. The audio picks up the distant, soft sounds of kissing, and the video keeps running, and running, and running.

Daniel brings his thumb down. Click, gone.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

Are you still doing reverse unpopular opinions? How about: Ram (the album as a whole), Seaside Woman, Friend Of Dorothy, Magical Mystery Tour (the movie)?

But, wait! There's more: Yoko Ono's musical career, Skywriting By Word Of Mouth, In The Family Way, Back To The Egg.

Okay, but I won't make these super long each.

Ram: love the album cover, really good flow, 3 Legs is underrated, incredibly fun album that's super fun to listen to in stereo. I really like Linda's vocals on it tbh.

Seaside Woman: cute! it's been stuck in my head a few times, actually. The melody really matches Linda's vocal style. She slays in the music video. It's fun to hear how much Paul is also having fun on the song. I like the little beeping at the beginning. Also, not what you ask but everyone should go listen to Linda's cover of Mister Sandman

Friend Of Dorothy: I think I'd only listened to this once before (this is the version I listened to just now). the little chatter with Yoko right at the start is 🥹. but also. wtf must have been going through Yoko's mind he sounds really good tbh and I like the piano accompaniment! (John got so good at piano towards the end :( ) Also "art deco decadent" is a great line.

Magical Mystery Tour: I really think all the music video portions of this movie hold up and show real cinematographic creativity. The way Paul points at Ringo at the start of I Am The Walrus. Their outfits are on point. The audacity of John wearing the dumbest fake moustache imaginable in that ticket buying scene. The wizard scenes are unironically charming.

Yoko Ono's musical career: this is hard because I just don't know all that much of it. I have advocated for many of her Double Fantasy songs before, which I find inspired and match her singing style super well. I also don't know if this counts but I find what she did with Milk And Honey deeply compelling. Also Season Of Glass is a harrowing album, and I highly recommend it.

Skywriting By Word Of Mouth: I haven't read the whole thing yet, but what I have has been at least entertaining if not very interesting! A lot of bits of the passages I've read sometimes just drift into my brain. I really like that bit where he did basically predictive text, like linking up words where two successive ones are common phrases but the entire thing is incoherent. I find John's wordplay really fun, generally, and his perception of phonetics fascinates me (linguistics is like a minor interest of mine)

The Family Way: think I only listened to this like once before. It's nice and I enjoy it. I like the changes in vibe throughout the main theme, and I like the more "pop"-esque percussion. I don't know the movie at all, but I'm picking up on some type of push and pull, possibly between present and past, which is cool!

Back To The Egg: excellent album cover, again. It's got a fair share of bangers. Again And Again And Again is my favourite Denny-penned Wings song and possibly my fave off the album. Arrow Through Me is soooooooo harmonically strange it's very cool. After The Ball is so sweet :(

[creamyberries-lovely]

The opening shot of Mermen (OFMD, S2E8). When I saw this shot, I immediately connected it to another shot in season one, which introduces us to Izzy.

I don't know why I connected these two shots. The obvious connector here is the zoom, but surely these aren't the only two shots in the entire series that have a zoom.

Anyway, it got me thinking about what the camera is trying to tell us:

The meaning of the zoom featuring Izzy is quite clear to me. We start on Buttons, who is inanely doing his own thing, completely unaware to his surroundings (emphasized by the fact that he didn't notice Lucius leave about 2 seconds before this and is still listing off sea creatures). Over Buttons shoulder, we zoom in on 3 approaching figures. We can't see their faces. The camera is communicating to the audience: "look, look over here. see what the character doesn't notice." the lighting is telling the audience that the newcomers are ominous. They are an unknown presence. The three newcomers are looking down on the camera, and as we zoom in, they physically become larger. We zoom in until these characters take up about 2/3rds of the height of the screen. These 3 unknowns are a threatening presence. They are a larger force than Buttons, who doesn't even notice them. This is how we meet Izzy.

On the other hand, the zoom featuring Ed is quite unclear. The shot starts looking directly up at some trees, and then pans across until we see Ed, at which point we zoom in. We don't zoom in quite as much as we do in the Izzy shot. The zoom stops and settles in an extreme long shot, where Ed is very much still a dot on the screen. This whole sequence could be a couple of things. The immediate thought is that it is setting up the scene for the joke (which happens a few minutes later, where it's revealed (unshockingly) that Ed is not a good fisherman), the second thought we will address in a bit.

Now it could just be a set up for the joke. Let's go into a little more detail to discuss how excellent a set up it is. We open the episode with a shot of some trees, and the camera pans showing us more trees for a few seconds until we finally see Ed. The camera is physically tucked away into these trees and the lighting is dark, both facts are used to show us how dense the nature is. Then, we zoom in on Ed, but only a little bit. In the background we see a large hill covered in (guess what) more trees and we see a little cove (or bay) of water. Ed, a small figure in the long shot, stands alone on a small dingy in the water. Ed is completely surrounded by nature and he is alone. Now, it's already been established that Ed hates nature and we know from watching him throughout two seasons that Ed loves comradery. Immediately, little bells of "this is out of character" go off in our minds.

This sequence leads into a montage of Ed talking about how peaceful and at one with himself he is. Now, ordinarily we wouldn't question narration from Ed, who, in season 2 at least, has been very upfront with his feelings and wants. However, after our pan and zoom that told us Ed is a small dot surrounded by nature and seemingly alone, we might be calling bs on everything he is saying. Sure, he may enjoy some parts of this lifestyle (especially if it were being shared with Stede), but is this life he really wants? Is he really at peace? Of course, all of this is a set up for the joke of Ed being terrible at being a fisherman, and he walks away (and back to pirate's cove) pretty easily.

That's already a pretty good amount of information that we gathered from the pan and zoom. We could honestly reach our final conclusion (yet to come) without the aid of Izzy's zoom. Additionally, we probably shouldn't be rely too heavily on comparing the two because they came from two different cinematographers in two different seasons but that doesn't mean we can't draw any connection or shared meaning. That being saaid, when we think about Izzy's zoom and take into consideration that zoom shots have been using to introduce a new character before, and have relied on camera angle/lighting to communicate character traits to us, we can reasonably assume that this pan and zoom also does that.

This entire season has been Ed's journey. We go from heartbroken and angry Ed to an Ed that has given up and then Ed that is not giving up and is also reinvigorated to express his hurt towards Stede. Then, we get the Ed who believes in change and can accept magic. This Ed doesn't know how to reconcile Blackbeard and Ed, and he turns to his beloved tactic of running away when he is hurt or confused. That's the last Ed we saw. Until our pan and zoom. This Ed is a new Ed. He's Ed who tried to run away from Stede again. An Ed who tried the simple life in nature. He's an Ed who is already ready to go back to Stede. He left his fisherman life so easily. And he went straight back to Pirate's Cove to find Stede. This pan and zoom introduced the Ed who we've been waiting for all season. He's the Ed who is truly ready to love and be loved.

We might have gathered all of this from the fact that Ed (who hates nature) is completely surround by nature and clearing bs-ing himself into loving this life. But I like the parallels between this shot and Izzy's shot and I like that in the episode that Izzy left Ed, the camera (who introduced us to Izzy) was able to tell us that Ed was ready for the next chapter in his life.

[tranquilspot]

John: Examine Deep Impact poster.

WOW, I always saw the black and white version of the poster, but DAMN. The colors, the composition, the angle. IT.SLAPS.

Never saw that one either, though I did watched 2012 which was a pretty lame russia vs usa dick contest apocalyptic movie. Why do they always have to kill off both assholes and sympathetic characters, only to leave the main and same template divorced man white american dude with his kid(s)? A War of Worlds already did it, and to be honest it was way better and iconic. I guess the answer is simple: single dude, strong man propaganda. Yep, guess that summarize it all. Wow what an overused and boring trope. Can I even call it that? More like 'white man saves the day' supremacy.

Morgan Freeman's genteel, homespun mannerisms were perfect qualities for a president residing over a crisis.

My man! Gonna watch that movie one day for at least appreciate his acting :D

OCEANS RISE. CITIES FALL. HOPE SURVIVES. WOW.

First, with how global warming is getting worst, less and less people are enthusiastic about apocalyptic movies nowadays. Give us movies that give hope and solutions instead dammit! Second, Hal was such a dork for using this catchphrase in his grandiose speech. Like I get it was ironic, but I guess it was because of Jake/for Jake. We'll talk about it again in Act 6.

Films about impending apocalypse fascinate you. […]

Another thing about John overlooked/forgotten. Didn't remember this myself. We've got a paranormal + apocalyptic events combo now! Though it remains on a cinematographic level, dude wasn't (and won't be) thrilled when he'll learn that a meteor is heading over here. That reminds me of my brother who used to be obsessed with catastrophes during his childhood. Creating stories, building and destroying again and again. He was a weird kid.

[…] Plus, a black president??? Now you've seen everything!

That sure was a novelty back in the day. It's not for nothing that Obama is called the "Homestuck president". I didn't forget that he's still a war criminal, don't worry. Good thing that it isn't weird to have a black president no.. *pause* *realization* HOLY SHIT WE NEVER HAD ANY BLACK PRESIDENT IN FRANCE. And we almost had a woman but she was defeated by a dude. Racism AND sexism are going strong still >:/ Though gender and ethnicity don't matter much if the person is a selfish entitled asshole during their presidency.

—>

[erindrifter]

I think that an underrated part of thinking about media is always asking the question "Why?"

For example, why would a movie have a single-shot scene? For those who don't know, a single-shot scene, also known as a "One-er", is a scene that does not have any camera cuts. Or, at least, no obvious camera cuts.

So, why would a movie have a one-er? There are several reasons why a movie would have a single-shot scene. The most common one is for immersion into the scene. Having many cuts in a scene is essentially the movie admitting that what it's showing the audience is fake, so having no cuts helps draw the audience into the scene.

Now, we ask the question of why don't more movies do this? Well, that's because it's actually very difficult to do a single-shot scene like that. You have to have a LOT of cohesion between the actors, director, cinematographer, set dresser, costumer, prop master, VFX supervisor, etc. in order to pull this off, because let's say that the actor stumbles on their line, or some piece of choreography gets messed up. Everyone has to go back to the start, any changes made to the set must be reverted, props need to be reset, costumes need to be checked, everything needs to change back.

After all of this is accounted for, a single-shot actually becomes impressive to see, because it's now a demonstration of skill for the entire production team. It's also still a storytelling device, so it has two important functions now.

Until you start to account for ghost cuts. These are hidden cuts in a one-er, giving the illusion that a scene has no cuts, but there are actually a lot of cuts sprinkled throughout. This allows the team to handle the scene in smaller chunks, and thus allowing for easier resets in the event of a mistake.

So now that the ideas behind a single-shot scene are established, we can tackle the original question: Why would a movie have a single-shot scene in it? Let's look at the opening shot in the James Bond movie: Spectre. Look it up if you haven't seen it. It's actually a very good example of a single-shot scene, and it's got everything. There are at least 3 hidden cuts by my count, possibly just changing the camera rig, possibly also changing between 3 completely different sets. I think I also saw another place where they COULD have done a ghost cut if they needed to but didn't use. The scene overall is over 4 minutes long and tell an entire story which sets up exactly what is going on with very minimal dialogue.

Why was that scene a single-shot? Surely it could have done the same thing with conventional cuts? Well, firstly it gets the audience immediately immersed. Secondly, it shows that the movie is actually going to try to be interesting. Thirdly, it's a cool opening to the movie.

So, what happens if you do an entire movie like that? 1917 did it to great effect. Watch the movie if you haven't, though keep in mind that it's a rated R war movie about WW1, I don't actually recommend it to everyone. So, why do an entire movie that is absolutely RIDDLED with ghost cuts? Easy. The entire purpose of the movie is to get the viewer immersed. It's a movie about a man who has to cross extremely dangerous land in a very short amount of time. Having a bunch of cuts would make the movie just a standard war movie. But, hiding the cuts and essentially forcing you to watch this man make this entire journey in real time makes the audience realize that this is a LOT of unfortunate circumstances in a very short time, because you are there for (almost) all of it. There is a part where the guy gets knocked out, and so there is a blatant cut there, but that's the only actual cut in the entire movie. It's honestly a great use of a single-shot, combining artistry, coordination, and skill to elevate what would otherwise just be a kinda interesting movie.

Anyways. Always ask WHY movies do what they do.

[jmflowers]

Hi hi hi 👋 I sent the Stefania diecting breakdown ask and then disappeared off the planet. Life was really life-ing there for a bit. But I'm back and I saw a reference to you answering this so then I scrolled through your blog and got a tea and had a read!

Thanks so much for your thoughtful breakdowns. It helped me better understand her choices (which I already loved!) and then I had to go back and rewatch to catch everything.

I loved the stuff about tight shots with Maya and the drill and then panning out. Of course, because that is Maya...completely focused on her task!

Stefania is so talented and I pray that no matter what happens with the show we get to see more from her in all the ways she wants to share her art.

Thanks again. This was fun to dive into! I'd pay for a director's cut of the episode with you and Stefania just talking through the whole thing!

Hi, friend! I'm glad to hear you're well. Life has a way of life-ing when we least expect it, eh? Sending you love and peace and rest and all that jazz.

Must know... what kind of tea pairs best with a technical episode breakdown? Peppermint? Orange pekoe? Early grey?

Stefania is crazy, crazy talented and I'd love to peer inside her brain for how she fits everything together. I've been analyzing this season a lot more from a technical standpoint (thanks for flicking that switch in my brain again!) and it really drives home how good she is.

I hope she keeps making and releasing art for all eternity because I'm a fan for life at this point. Leco Moura is one of my favourite cinematographers and photographers, too, so anything they want to create together, I am in.

And honestly, I would pay to be a part of a director's cut and audio commentary with Stefania. Those were my favourite part of DVD extras when I was a wee little fangirl. (The Alias ones SLAP.) Think I could get paid to do that for a living? Who should I contact?

[youryurigoddess]

Not saying that the final conclusions are necessarily wrong here, but out of all the things in Aziraphale’s bookshop to analyze, you’ve picked the one that’s most likely to lie to you, @archangelween.

There are many interesting things about this place, but the most important one is the fact that it’s literally magical. Aziraphale has not only spent a great amount of time and even some occasional miracles on its construction phase, but also soaked its walls with his angelic presence long enough to warp the structure of the reality in there. The end effect is a bookshop that’s bigger on the inside and free of the confines of the laws binding the external world.

During his panel at the last year’s Inneffable Con, Gavin Finney, the show’s cinematographer, has personally explained why — not coincidentally after being explicitly asked about the effects used in the Final Fifteen.

Since we're on that scene, can we talk about the lighting? Because lots of people have pointed out how it appears as though the kind of God rays that tend to be focused on Aziraphale switch to Crowley in that scene. Is that, presumably, intentional?

“It's all intentional. I mean, we had complete control on that. The whole street inside and outside was built in a studio in Bathgate, which is a small place halfway between Edinburg and Glasgow in Scotland. It was a former warehouse, I think — a sofa warehouse or something — because it’s a ridiculously big empty space, but quite low-ceilinged. We built this stage, the whole street and all the sets on that stage, because we'd had such problem with the elements in season one and we needed to be able to shoot day and night whenever we liked. And so the lighting was all built in.

We had a sky, which was 360 film lights shining through 12,000 square feet of silk, which is all stitched together to make a perfect sky. And then we had these big film lights called 18kW HMIs — 18,000 watts each. And they were on motorized remote control stirrups and everything could move in shop. So for instance when Crowley summons a storm to try to get Maggie and Nina together in episode three, that's all in camera; it starts sunny and then the sun fades away, and motorized lights fade off the set. And then the sky comes down and the lightning is all ripple sheet lightning, it ripples down the streets and then the rain comes in. That was all done in camera as well. So we had complete control over the weather, which makes me a kind— uh, you know, I don't wanna be blasphemous, but I can play God on the stage. It's either too sunny or too cloudy when we're filming outside, or it's too hot or too cold. Whereas on a stage I've got total control, which we needed for that kind of show.

The interior of the bookshop, as you can see, looks out onto the street. And what's lovely about this show is whenever you see the street, it's full of people, it's full of cars, it's full of life. And of course when Aziraphale is in his bookshop in Soho, it's generally sunny, because he's an angel and he's magical, and it's gonna be sunny. So it's always glorious. We use different colors and different filters for Aziraphale’s world. And whenever the magic leaves the bookshop, it becomes overcast. So the weather's chosen depending on the mood of what's going on in the bookshop and the shafts of light are created by what we call atmos, which is a kind of water-based glycol, which is very fine, but it's safe. And we fill the space with that. It's like smoke, but breathable for the actors. And when the light goes through that, it forms beams of light, and then they can be directed to wherever we need them in the acting area. And of course we want it to be glorious at this moment in the bookshop. He is about to lose the bookshop, so it's just poignant that it looks even more sunny and beautiful then.”

Tl;dr: windows in the bookshop lie, at least from the inside.

And if they’re capable of lying about such constants like the sun and the weather, what else could they be lying about?

Kind reminder that the A. Z. Fell & Co. bookshop was designed by Aziraphale as:

An Eden to return to — for him to guard, for Crowley to feel safe in;

A giant compass showing the directions of the world.

No matter how lost either of them is, they’ll use it to find each other.

[sakshialevelmediablog]

Editing Day 4

Category:- Coursework Development/ Production

The editing date got overlapped with my pilgramage tour and so I had to miss the editing day as we had already booked flight tickets, this trip was also not really a vacation for us it was more of a serious trip that I couldn’t miss. While I really really really wanted to be there I wasn’t able to because of the circumstances. 

Before the edit day, my group and I had a meeting to discuss some of the changes we might want to make during editing day 4. After day 3 I sat down and went through our project and the progress we had made so far with it. After that, I realised a bunch of places that could have been improved. The first thing I wanted to change was the title from For the Devil to Sympathy for the Devil as For the Devil looked and gave off Disney vibes that obviously didn’t pair well with our project and what we wanted to put across. Going with Sympathy for the Devil would also help with branding, as rolling stones is such a big part of our film. It was the song that connected Isha and Vivan in a way and it’s a song that analyses the dark side of humanity- one which allows itself to too easily give into the cliques of evil, thereby helping it to accomplish the wickedness it craves. This perfectly explains Isha in a way wherein she has fully given in her dark side to get what she craves. It also talks about how everyone has that little bit of evil in them and how one incident can change which side you choose. This film in a way follows Isha’s evil. The next was to add the library scene back in, in the monologue Isha talks about how in the 3rd conversation Vivan asks her out, and with the current edit, we have shown them interact only once. Not only that without the library scene in there, the film also looked sudden as there was very little context about how they know each other and what the dynamics of their relationship are like. So I noted down a couple of places that we could shorten to be able to squeeze in at least a glimpse of them interacting in the library. So to discuss these we had a meeting wherein I explained all of the changes that I wanted to make and why I wanted to make them, and they all agreed. We also decided to increase the volume of the dialogue in the party scene as, in some of the places it was hard to hear what people were saying. We created this list to make sure that we don’t forget what we planned on doing.

As the director, your job bounds to coincide with your teammates’ and you end up collaborating with them a lot. It’s also your job to be on top of everything and make sure everything looks nice and goes well with everything you have to sort of be a problem solver and it’s sort of hard to do that when you aren’t able to be there. Edit day 4 was hard for me in a way because there was only so much I could do with call and barely being able to check in and see what is happening and if things are working or not and how they look and if we can do anything to fix the mistakes, all I could do is trust my team members. On day 4 they completed the colour grading, which Aaryaa and Samarth were in charge of as they were the cinematographer and the editor. While I didn’t really agree with all of the choices that aaryaa made but since it’s a big part of her job there is less control that I have over it and not able to there reduced the chances even more. nonetheless i respect her choices and belive that her choices had reason and meaning behind them. They also changed the title, although I do wish that they could have changed the font type to something else that complimented the film slightly better, the title did look nice and not that bad. They weren’t able to add the library scene as it didn’t fit and it was also hard to edit the parts. They also did increase the dialogue sounds in the party scene. And with that, we were done editing our project.

[portraitofadumbassonfire]

Thots On NOPE (SPOILERS)

I get why this is divisive, but, Jordan Peele has constantly described the themes of the film as dealing with Spectacle. He is 1000% right, but I personally think that the themes have even moreso to do with exploitation.

When it comes to Ricky or "Jupe" I've seen so many reviewers saying that subplot had nothing to do with the film as whole, but it did in a VERY haunting way.

When Ricky is talking about the SNL skit that parodied a traumatic time in his life, he recalls it like a well executed comedy sketch. Then it cuts back to him hiding under the table.

I've seen so many videos online that have some sort of attention-grabbing title, regardless if it's accurate to what you will actually see, but the OP is aware of what makes people click on what's to be supposedly promised in the title or the thumbnail. They know what will attract a crowd. Not to be too graphic, but even porn videos will do the same thing, anything to get clicks & clout.

When Ricky starts the show promising a spectacle, he's used to the reaction he gets, hence why he always does the show showing off the "aliens" at 8:00 PM. Or at least practices the show at night, but the reason he does probably has to do with the "aliens" showing up at that specific time, hence why it's the first time we see activity from the supposed "aliens". (When we see the lights from the show when the sun is down in the first few scenes of the film. We don't know if it's rehearsal or just another show of his.)

He's willing to risk the possibility of an attack from a wild animal like the supposed UFO because he dealt with the attack from Gordy. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. (like the shoe standing upright, which could be the "bad miracle" OJ refers to) He truly thought he could handle the intensity of the "alien ship" since he survived the attack and lived to tell the tale. He developed some kind of God complex that he could work around the danger of a "trained animal". His wife even said "Even trained animals can be unpredictable."

The people on set with Lucky are a great example. Who the hell stands behind a horse as an adult? Who's the genius who had different chimpanzees for a T.V. show with 0 wranglers? There are still people whom are dumb enough to go to the zoo and go over safety barriers, taunt the animals, or even hold their children close from any danger.

It's ironic how people are very obsessed with the concept of aliens, but if too many people can't handle creatures from earth, what makes us think we can handle the ones not from here?

The stars of the SNL skit straight up mocked a heavily disturbing moment in his childhood, yet he's still profiting off of the moment where this kids dress up as aliens to scare his neighbors as a joke and an intimidation tactic. (notice how their alien costumes look also like ape costumes)

Plus he said he was getting paid by people to sleep in a memorabilia room referencing multiple violent deaths on a TV set. Even with Oprah herself, when she interviewed the woman who was attacked by a chimpanzee and got her face ripped off, people in the comments criticize her for exploiting the woman instead of talking about how she moved on from the spectacle of a tragedy.

For the Haywoods, they're trying to uphold a legacy, they're the only black-owned horse trainers and their great great great-grandfather is someone whom had not been credited for their work as the first motion picture captured. For Emerald to be the one who captured a picture of alien proof as the descendant is SOOOO symbolic.

The cinematographer, Antlers, a white man played perfectly by Michael Wincott, didn't like the lighting in the shot he took so he took the risk to get a perfect shot. The TMZ biker had a whole helmet that reflected everything around him because who else would be obsessed with getting all of the chaos around them than TMZ? (The same publication that somehow managed to know that Beyoncé was filming the music video for "XO" & announces celebrity deaths before the family even gets a chance to.)

I've seen videos of so many disturbing events before, during, or after the fact that I can see what Mr. Peele was going for in commentating on. There's an infamous tiktok showcasing someone in the middle of a near plane crash I've seen reposted on Twitter, there's footage of a bear and a cougar in a circus attacking their supposed "trainers", talk show footage of a lion going after a toddler & almost biting the poor child it was sitting next to, the frozen and preserved bodies of those who've tried do climb Mt. Everest, and I've even seen a man who documented himself after getting graphically attacked by two grizzly bears. Yet the views on those videos reach the millions.

There's so many times a fucked up or upsetting moment in time has been exploitated to the point where it can be made a joke, a traumatic scene, or a topic of discussion, and that for me is what NOPE was commentating on. Some will not catch on with one viewing, but I recommend a second, or even third watch to fully get what's being told.

Films like that, that have a longer shelf life are what inspire me. It's a rarity that a filmmaker chooses to give their audience a challenge.

[scoobydoofenshmirtz]

The Horny Cinematography of Seasons 4 and 5 of Supernatural

So I made this kinda silly post about how horny the late Kripke era of Supernatural was and it was mostly meant as a joke, but then it got me thinking. So I did a little bit of digging, went through some memorable scenes, and noticed some actual patterns in the way Dean and Castiel are shot versus other characters. Disclaimer: this is not exactly a scientific analysis. I didn’t rewatch the entire two seasons for this and there are probably shots with other characters that I missed that go against it, but this is just the general trend that I noticed. 

Click on the images for higher resolution. Analysis is under the cut.

So the general premise of this analysis is that Cas and Dean are shot noticeably close-up, typically staring intensely into each other’s eyes. I think we all know about the whole staring thing, but the actual close-ups were way more intense then I think some people might realize, especially when compared to other interactions between different characters. Cas in particular is shot very close-up frequently whether he’s talking to someone else or by himself (there are so many gorgeous close-ups of Misha in season 4), but the intense eye contact is pretty much only with Dean. 

It starts off almost immediately in 4x01 Lazarus Rising where in Dean and Castiel’s very first interaction, they stand very close and the camera focuses on their faces. First we have two close-ups, then in what is maybe my favorite shot in all of Supernatural, Castiel steps in closer to Dean and the close-ups get even tighter. He tilts his head and stares thoughtfully at Dean with those big blue eyes. Cut to Dean’s look of discomfort after being told (very accurately) “you don’t think you deserve to be saved.”

Things amp up in literally Castiel’s second appearance in 4x02 Are You There God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester with one of the horniest Destiel scenes in the show (again this is only their second interaction!) We have Castiel unexpectedly showing up at Bobby’s house, Dean sassing him, and Castiel stepping very close to Dean and saying “You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in.” This is a very tense interaction with some beautiful low key lighting that pretty much went extinct after season 5. Notice how tight the frame is, even compared to 4x01. These are extreme close-ups where both Dean and Castiel’s chins and foreheads are cut out of the frame. 

Castiel’s third appearance in 4x03 In the Beginning is a lot more prominent as he has many scenes throughout the episode instead of just one. I’m not gonna include pictures of all of them because there’s lot, but there are plenty of close-ups and intense gazes between the two (e.g. sitting on the bed, “Hello Dean. What were you dreaming about?” which according to Misha, Kim manners said was “too gay” but they did it like that anyway) and contains the first time they touch and the first time they are shot in more high key lighting. Go rewatch the episode if you want to see more lovely close-ups between Dean and Cas. 

Next I would like to draw your attention to episode 4x07 It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester. This is Castiel’s fourth appearance and the first time we see him interact with a character who’s not Dean. This is where the differences between how they’re shot start to become apparent. First we have Sam’s first interaction with Castiel (greetings blood freak) that is shot with standard close-ups. Eventually, Dean comes in, conversation happens blah blah blah and we get to the more intense discussion about how the angels want to destroy the town. The discussion is between Dean, Cas, Sam, and Uriel, but Dean and Cas get most of the focus. The camera tells us that they are the main subjects in this scene. Dean and Cas are shot more close-up and tighter and they are standing closer and looking in each others eyes unlike Sam who is looking back and forth between them and standing a few steps back. 

Of course this doesn’t stop in season 4. Here is a similar example from 5x02 Good God, Ya’ll! but the difference between Dean and Cas and Sam is even more obvious. This is the “I'm hunted, I rebelled, and I did it, all of it, for you,” exchange which I find interesting. Some people could say here that Cas means “you” plural as in Sam and Dean but the Camera is so focused on just Dean and Cas while Sam just sorta hangs there in the background. 

One thing that I think is interesting is that these types of shots-extreme close-ups with two characters looking into each other’s eyes and standing no feet apart-are not necessarily exclusive to Dean and Cas, but they are usually in a different context. Pretty much all (at least that I could remember) the other examples of this type of shot are between one character and a villain. Below we have three fairly intense confrontations between characters, Sam and Uriel in 4x07 It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester, Dean and Alastair in 4x16 On the Head of a Pin, and Dean and Cas in 4x22 Lucifer Rising. The composition is almost exactly the same with similar lighting as well, but one of these things is not like the other. Very obviously Cas is not a villain and this scene in particular is a huge moment for his character that cements his decision to fully rebel against Heaven for Dean. 

Also characters that tend to be that close together looking into each other’s eyes in two shots are usually villains except for Dean and Cas. Below we have a shot of Ruby and Sam very close together right before he drinks her blood and a very close-up shot of Dean and Alastair both in 4x16 On the Head of a Pin. Compare that to the two shot from 4x02 Are You There God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester above for example. There is a certain sexual nature in these two villain scenes (and a lot of villain interactions on Supernatural in general). Obviously, Sam and Ruby are literally having sex, but Alastair is also portrayed as a villain who sexually objectifies his victims (the torture scene with Ruby, calling Dean “Daddy’s little girl, etc.) but Cas is not a villain and yet the framing is very similar. 

Now I want to compare two fight scenes, one in season 4 and one in season 5. Here we have the fight scene between Ruby and Sam in 4x09 I Know What You Did Last Summer. Ruby is of course a sexy lady who Sam sleeps with in a sexy fight scene where she “proves” that she wants to help Sam by killing the other demon instead of Sam. But of course, the fight scene in 5x18 Point of No Return is shot way more close-up and Dean and Cas are inches away from each other. While I wouldn’t described this scene as “sexy” (Cas is literally beating Dean to a pulp) it is way more charged...intimate isn’t exactly the right word but there’s a similar but more intense erotic energy than in the fight scene with Ruby. 

Unrelated side note: there is a great use of breaking the 180 degree rule in this scene that I think works way better in this instance at disorienting the viewer than the shaky cam does. 

Next I have some random examples I noticed that show some of the different shots between characters. We have Anna in 4x10 Heaven and Hell right before she has sex with Dean. It’s fairly close-up, but still pretty loose framing compared to a lot of scenes between Dean and Cas. Anna’s entire face is still in the frame. Then we have a scene between Sam and Ruby in 4x09 I Know What You Did Last Summer that is also not as close-up as a lot of Dean and Cas scenes. On the bottom is a shot from 5x17 99 Problems which is I think the closest Sam and Cas physically get in these seasons before they ever hug. It’s more of a medium close-up than most of the scenes between Dean and Cas where they get that close. Lastly I have probably the tightest close-ups between Dean and Cas from 4x16 On the Head of a Pin. It’s similar to the shots from 4x02 but the context is pretty different with Cas trying to reassure Dean about the apocalypse. I know these don’t really have a theme but I thought they were good examples of the general pattern.

Finally I would like to point out a scene that is sort of the opposite which is the infamous staring scene in 4x21 When the Levee Breaks that goes on for like an hour. I don’t really know what to say about this scene only that I can’t believe it’s real. They literally just stand and stare at each other.

So what’s the point of all this? I honestly don’t really know. None of these observations are hard and fast rules and I’m sure there are times when other characters are shot like this. However, Dean and Cas seem to be the only ones consistently framed this way-tight close-ups, staring into each other’s eyes standing zero feet apart. What does it all mean? To me it shows that their bond is unique and special (profound you might say). It’s not even like they’re shot in a similar manner to love interests, it’s that their framing is unique, it stands out. Was it on purpose? Maybe. How shots end up looking is interesting because it really is the work of a lot of different people including the director, the cinematographer, the editors and more. I don’t think they were thinking “we should film Dean and Cas in this very intense way because they’re in love” or anything, but they obviously recognized there was something special between these two characters. And truly, the intentions don’t matter all that much to me. What’s there is there, and watching it the first time around I noticed how close Dean and Cas always were and watching it back post 15x18 all those shots stand out even more to me. There’s really no conclusion here, but I think it’s interesting to look a bit more closely at the cinematography in TV shows that we don’t always think of as having the highest quality production. There’s a lot of layers to be discovered outside of scripts and acting and things we tend to focus on more as viewers. 

[t3tr0m1n0]

okay it's below the cut. as a preemptive tl;dr it's basically one of my album reviews but about a movie

Plot-wise, A Better Life would be easy to reduce to a couple short sentences: A single father struggles to both connect with his son & financially support the two of them when faced with the major obstacle of being an illegal immigrant to the United States. The one risk he attempts wanting to get a modicum of freedom back into their life backfires on him, but the ensuing strain on the security of their lives allows the two of them to reconnect, bridging (only) the emotional gap between their American-Mexican lives. What it must do as a film, then, is convey unto its audience the requisite emotions that would surely go along with this sequence of events, if not the story—I hesitate to call it a tragedy in the traditional literary sense, regardless of the degree of misery present. To my great amazement, it succeeded. The plot hardly twisted- the one moment that could be said to come as a shock qualifies more as an inciting incident, early on in the Hero's Journey, if we might pretend that's applicable here -the supporting cast served a thoroughly environmental role, much in the same way the environment served the role of a supporting character, the visual style stayed firmly realistic & commonly objective, and (while this might just be a me thing) not much further than halfway through the film the plot got pretty predictable. I'll mention, of course, that not everything I just listed is a bad thing—realism is very much what A Better Life was going for, and so a straightforward cinematographical style is at least understandable and at most the best the director could've possibly done. In fact, my favorite part of the movie would be the subdued sequences dedicated to following one of the main characters' movement through the environment, always showing off something a little different about L.A. each time, and finely conveying the far-reaching yet unstated importance of the setting to everything the film stands for. Los Angeles has historic ties to Mexico as much as the U.S.; as far as the law is concerned, there's no place for Mexican( immigrant)s there, and yet they still find places for themselves within it. It's an existence that won't be tolerated, and so has to insist upon itself, harkening to tradition lest it topple head-first into the kind of stable instability of violent self-expression. The quality of the exposition-via-setpiece found in this film is such that one gets the impression that its story is far from unique- that the events depicted happen time & again, from place to place -because the tragic events that unfold are so heavily tied to the deeply complex location where they take place.

Of course, the other component of that theme is an overall rather mild commitment to portraying any personal details of the main characters: it's never revealed how Luis got connected to people with familial/other ties to L.A. gangs, precisely why Carlos & Luis's mother got divorced, or how Luis's aunt got into the living situation she's shown having. Matters like these are merely additional parts of the background, in front of which our two main characters act, moving as lightly as paper cutout puppets. A Better Life is not a character piece, even when it's purely the strength of the strength of the lead actors' performance on which the film is carried. Luis & Carlos manage to be regularly real; not much more, not much less. I'll admit that I don't think I'm a good judge of acting quality (I certainly don't carry around the sort of standards for it that I do cinematography or pacing, as examples), but it was those two and nothing else, not the score, not the camerawork or lighting, just their commitment to the emotions felt by those characters in the final detention scene that brought me near tears, so I have to give them credit where it's due. They pulled that kind of reaction out of me, for whatever it's worth. It's maybe only that, at the end of the day, which makes me think I'd go ahead & recommend this film to anyone, but only if they were in the need for something with as specific a premise as its, and I knew they wouldn't find the base concept to be absolutely trite.

i don't have a letterboxd account. would anyone like to read my review of some film from 2011 uploaded directly to this blog

[anabsolutetrainwreck]

through the warning signs || h. styles

warnings: a couple of swears, mentions of covid

word count: 3.1k

summary: you first met harry on the set of dunkirk, but now you’re reunited on the set of his new film...

Films had always fascinated you. The endless possibilities of art you could create, from the cinematography to the mise en scène, even to the sound, had always blown your mind. So, even from an early age, you always knew you wanted to get into filmmaking somehow. You were perhaps the worst actor to ever grace the planet, so acting was never an option for you. But alas, you studied film studies in school and went to university for the very same thing. At first, you’d considered becoming a cinematographer, but you realised you could entwine your love of film production and fashion. So, you found yourself as a costume designer.

In 2014, your dearest friend, Louisa, had dragged you to see Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. She had an unhealthy obsession with Timothée Chalamet at the time, and had made you watch every single film he’d been in - big role or small. So, while Louisa was busy being in love with Timothée Chalamet, you were busy nursing an adoration for Christopher Nolan films. And then, in 2016, you found yourself in Dunkerque, France, working alongside Mr Nolan himself.

As well as being incredibly interested in films, you were also somewhat of a history buff in school. So, working on a film like Dunkirk alongside names like Kenneth Branagh and Cillian Murphy, was one of the most surreal first days on the job. Or, more notably, Harry Styles. Though Louisa was then going through her Tom Hardy phase, she was once a massive One Direction fan. And, though you never bothered to learn every last fact that was public knowledge about them, you could certainly appreciate their music.

As the weeks went on, you began to slip into place more. The more time that passed, the more you knew this was the career for you. And, you knew it wasn’t very professional, but you developed somewhat of a liking towards the singer. He was nice to you. But, then again, he was nice to everybody. It was just in his nature. You weren’t even sure he knew your name...

And then filming wrapped and you never saw him again. The pair of you had never exchanged numbers or followed each other on social media. And that was the end of that. And, after a month or so, your little crush on Harry died away. And, even when you went to the premiere, you only got a couple of glances at him.

In the three years since you last saw him, you’d never forgotten about him. It wasn’t exactly an easy feat forgetting about Harry Styles. But he had definitely been pushed to the back of your mind. Plenty of things had managed to take the front seat since then. You’d won an Oscar for Best Costume Design for your work on Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women at the beginning of 2020, which was completely insane (Louisa was still more amazed by the fact that you got to work with Timothée Chalamet). The award sat on your mantelpiece in your London flat beside a picture of Louisa and yourself.

However, more recently, you’d taken a place on the crew of Olivia Wilde’s new film: Don’t Worry, Darling. You’d worked on Booksmart with her and she simply adored you. Before production had even begun, you could already tell you were going to love working on this film. It was a psychological thriller set in the 50s - you were in love already. Not only that, but it was starring one of your good friends you’d made in the industry: Florence Pugh.

This all seemed great, until you were notified that Harry Styles would be taking the place of Shia LaBeouf to play ‘Jack’. You promised yourself that you wouldn’t let yourself be caught up by his unintentional charm once again. So, on the first day of filming, you turned up in your puffer jacket (despite it being filmed in California).

You had already worked with Olivia before filming on the costumes, or at least a large bulk of them. It was an odd sort of dynamic; she wanted you to take control simply due to your brilliant eye for fashion, especially vintage fashion, and you wanted her to take control as it was her film. In the end, you managed to create a cooperative working environment.

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t stalling as you were fixing up Florence’s costume. Harry’s needed doing next and you didn’t exactly want to face him. You’d tried desperately to stay out of Harry’s sight. And, so far, you’d been successful. When it came to measuring, you’d kindly asked one of your assistants to measure him (and she was more than happy to do so). But all your clever sneaking around was about to go down the drain. “You all right, Y/N?” Flo asked, noticing your shaky hands and your incessant fiddling.

You nodded quickly, “Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I think you’re good to go.”

She smiled, “Thanks. Love you.”

“Love you too!” you grinned as you watched her jog away. She disappeared behind a couple of trailers. As you approached Harry, who was busy talking to a couple of other crew members, you tried to convince yourself that, if you kept your head down, there was no way Harry would attempt to make small talk as you fixed his costume. You’d have your mask on, so there was absolutely no way he’d recognise you. Besides, it had been four years since you filmed Dunkirk, he wouldn’t even remember you. As you neared Harry and one of the gaffers, you cleared your throat, “Do you mind if I steal Harry for a second?”

“Sure,” the gaffer nodded, turning to work on some of the lighting. Keeping your head down and your hands quick, you got to work on adjusting his tuxedo. Awkward was definitely an understatement. Or, it was for you, at least. In an odd sort of way, you were begging for him to make some sort of conversation to ease the sheer awkwardness, but you prayed he stayed silent at the same time. Alas, your prayers weren’t enough. “It’s Y/N, right?” his voice came, though slightly muffled by his mask, you made it out clearly.

“Uh, yeah,” you nodded, adjusting his cuffs and trying your very hardest not to make eye contact with him.

“Congratulations on your Oscar,” was what he said next. “It was for Little Women, right?”

That got you to look up at him. Had he actually remembered your name all of four years or had he just recognised you when you made your acceptance speech at the Oscars? Maybe Florence had just mentioned your Oscar win earlier in the year, and that was how he knew. “Yeah, it was,” you replied. “Congratulations on your album.”

“Cheers,” he said. It was a good album - both of his were. Louisa had forced you to listen to his entire discography whenever you drove her around. Not that you were exactly complaining, you enjoyed Harry’s music. And, just as the awkwardness was beginning to pour back into the atmosphere, he added, “It’s no Oscar, though.”

“It was a bloody good album, though. It was nominated for a Brit too, wasn’t it?” you asked, vaguely remembering Louisa scream in your ear that Fine Line had been nominated for Best Album, or something along those lines.

He nodded, “Well, yeah.”

And, just like that, the conversation fizzled out into uneasy silence. You wanted to kick yourself for being such a shit conversationalist; there’s people who would kill to have a chat with Harry Styles. Yet, here you were, complimenting an album you weren’t even sure you could name all the songs on. Thankfully, the sound of Olivia’s voice caught your attention, “Y/N!”

The two of you turned to see her approaching quickly. She was waving two samples of fabric in front of you, “Oh, hi, Harry. Good thing you’re here, actually. Which of these were you thinking of for his other suit?”

You took both from her, inspecting them closely. One was a brown and the other was a blue, slightly lighter than a navy. “Well, I thought both would work. I mean, it’s up to you, but I think the brown contrasts with Florence’s costume better,” you replied. “But then I’ve got this lovely tie set aside for the blue. So, really it’s your decision.”

She hummed, agreeing with what you said, “I see what you mean. We could always use the blue for a different scene?”

You shrugged, nodding, “Yeah, I mean, the brown will definitely work better with Florence’s costume for those couple of scenes we’re shooting in Palm Springs. But, like I said, the blue is very fifties.”

She smiled, “Brilliant. I’ll sort out the brown, then.”

Quickly, you said, “No, it’s okay. I’ll sort it out when I’m finished with Harry.”

She thanked you as she left. Harry couldn’t take his eyes off you as you worked away, your eyebrows furrowed slightly as you sorted the hem of his trousers. And, thank God for the mandatory masks, as he couldn’t help the smile that danced across his lips. Then, in no time at all, Harry was snapped out of his small trance at the sound of your voice, “Right, you’re good to go.”

“Cheers, Y/N,” he smiled slightly, watching as you walked off towards one of your assistants. Sighing softly to himself, he left to find Florence.

The two weeks the entire cast and crew had off due to somebody testing positive for covid was a lovely break for you. As well as constant fear that they’d just call Don’t Worry, Darling off completely and you’d be out of work again. And the relentless guilt you felt for having to stay at Florence’s for the two weeks with her boyfriend because you didn’t have your own house in America, and you couldn’t fly back and forth between England and America. And the nights where you cried into Florence’s arms as you missed your family from back home. And the nights where you couldn’t sleep because you began to overthink things like if you’d locked your front door or turned the oven off. But, other than that, it’d been a smooth run.

But now you were back and in Palm Springs. And the sun was out and you were longing for a cold shower. You found yourself stood in front of Harry once more, trying to decide which tie would work best with his brown suit. He’d followed you on Instagram since your first interaction since Dunkirk, which received an onslaught of ecstatic texts from Louisa. But that was as far as it had ever gone. None of your conversations progressed past his costumes or anything work-related. And, when you first turned up on set on the very first day of production, that was what you’d wanted. But now you had to surround yourself with him everyday, you longed for him to ask about something other than the job. You wanted to discuss favourite novels and guilty pleasures and pet peeves and bad habits and embarrassing childhood stories with him. All these little things you wanted him to know about you.

Your mind was wandering and it took you a moment to realise that you weren’t even thinking about which tie worked best anymore. Your head was full of swirling fantasies that you knew would never come to be.

Harry, however, didn’t notice your zoned out expression either. He was too busy trying to figure out whether you were single due to the shirt you were wearing, which hung much too large on your frame. And the feeling of knowing there was a possibility that you were living a happy life with somebody else was beginning to rip him up inside. He was trying to remember if you’d thanked a boyfriend in your acceptance speech at the Oscars, but that all seemed so long ago now - he couldn’t possibly remember. So, in spite of himself, he asked, “Missing your boyfriend, then?”

You looked up at him, your hands dropping down to your sides. “What?”

“Your boyfriend - are you missing him?” Harry repeated, a small smile on his face to make his tone sound slightly less bitter.

“Oh, I don’t have a boyfriend,” you replied, finally settling on a tie.

“You don’t? I just figured, you know, with the shirt...” he trailed off, prompting you to elaborate.

You chuckled awkwardly, “Right, of course. I only do it to make myself appear less single.”

He laughed, but it was mainly out of relief. It wasn’t like he’d forgotten about you from the set of his first movie, you just hadn’t been on his mind for the four years following. But then he’d turned up on the first day of filming, seen you laughing with Florence and Olivia, and everything just came rushing back to him. All of the pent up feelings and the nights pondering all of the what ifs and the maybes. “Well, you fooled me,” he smiled.

“Just my ingenious plans working, as usual,” you joked, earning a small laugh from Harry.

As you finished wrapping the tie around Harry’s shirt collar, you informed him you were finished. He thanked you and left to get his hair and makeup done. You practically jumped out of your skin at the sound of Florence’s voice behind you, “I’m pretty sure if he asks you about your love life, it means he likes you.”

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” you exclaimed, hitting Flo’s shoulder with the tie you opted not to use.

She laughed loudly, “You know I’m right!”

“He’s just making small talk.”

“No, Y/N, small talk is how nice the weather is, not ‘oh, are you single?’”

“Okay, firstly, he didn’t say that. Secondly, it’s California - it’s always nice weather,” you retorted. As much as you fought back, you quite liked the idea that Florence thought Harry liked you.

“You know what I mean!” she replied, grinning her infamous broad, cheeky smile. “Don’t even try and act like you wouldn’t mind if he liked you!”

“I don’t know what you mean,” you said sheepishly, a small smile gracing your features. As aforementioned - you were perhaps the worst actor to grace the planet.

“I knew it!” she grinned excitedly.

“Don’t you have hair to be done?” you chuckled, pushing her towards where she needed to go to get her hair styled for the shoot.

“This isn’t over, Y/N!” she called back as she slowly disappeared.

The following day, as you were patching up one of Chris Pine’s suits, Florence came and sat down opposite you. She had one of those devious smirks on her face and you knew that couldn’t mean anything good. You placed your needle down, staring expectantly at her. “How can I be of assistance?” you asked skeptically.

“Well, as your dear friend, I thought it was my duty to report back to you. So, I’d like to tell you that our good pal Harry was asking about you,” she grinned.

You sighed, “Was he? And what was he asking?”

“Something about if you have any allergies,” she replied.

“Wow,” you laughed, “must be hopelessly in love with me then.”

“No, listen. He asked about your allergies and then he asked what kind of food you liked. So, my guess is he’s going to ask you to dinner.”

“We’ll see,” you said, offering her a smile in the hopes that she’d just drop it.

“Indeed we will. I’ll see you in a bit, Y/N,” she grinned, pinching your cheeks as she got up. “Love you!”

You chuckled, “Love you too!”

And, just like that, you were left to your own devices. Though your flow had been disrupted, you got back to stitching up Chris’ suit, which had a minor tear in the lapel. Working on a film set, you were used to being interrupted; people would come and go, asking you all sorts of questions. You always found it pretty easy to get back into your rhythm. However, when Harry came and took the place of Florence, you were sure you wouldn’t be able to get back into your desired flow easily. “Oh, hey, Harry,” you greeted. “Are you okay?”

He nodded quickly. He wasn’t hiding his nervous shifting very well - despite how good of an actor he may be. He fiddled with his fingers, which lay in his lap. They were lacking the many, expensive-looking rings they usually adorned. He was out of costume, instead dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. His hair wasn’t slicked back and full of gel like it usually was on set. “Yeah, yeah. I’m okay,” he said, rather unconvincingly.

His eyes followed your fingers as they gripped the little needle, weaving it in and out of one of suit’s lapels. Another wave of awkwardness washed over the pair. But, for once, you didn’t feel uncomfortable. You weren’t the one who came over to start the conversation. “Are you busy tonight?” he suddenly asked, his voice almost shaky.

“Uh, no. Not if I can get this lapel finished,” you replied, your tone joking. Your eyes were still trained on your needle, but your mind was most definitely concentrating on every last syllable that fell from Harry’s lips.

He let out an awkward, breathy chuckle, “Right. Um, well, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab something to eat?”

You couldn’t help the tiny grin that pulled at the corner of your lips, “I’d love to.”

This was what you felt you’d been waiting for for a good four years. And, thank God, Florence had warned you that she suspected Harry was thinking of asking you out, otherwise you weren’t sure you’d be able to get out any comprehensible words. “Great,” he grinned, whatever nervousness that had been racing through his veins seemed to slowly drown away. “I’ll see you tonight, then. At 6?”

You nodded, overwhelmed with serotonin, trying to suppress the urge to let out a loud squeal. You knew you’d get back to Florence’s, share a glass of predate wine with her and dance about happily in her kitchen. All of these marvellous emotions swept through your body, which was abuzz with electric euphoria. And yet, all you replied was, with a small smile, “At 6.”

part two.

[chroniclesmacaque]

Truffle Kerfuffle

Summary:

""Of course, that didn’t last long. Michi turned her attention in the direction Sara was looking at, and —in an almost cinematographic coincidence— Kazuma turned around right in that moment as well. Both their faces lit up, and, in a matter of seconds, Kazuma’s long strides had crossed the cafe to meet them at their table by the large window pane."

In which Kazuma unwittingly crashes a date.

AO3 link in reblog

Lopmon settled the foamy moka cup in front of Michi. 

"Thank you!" Michi beamed and immediately started downing it. 

Lopmon nodded solemnly, completely ignoring the intensely amusing streaks of foam sitting atop Michi’s upper lips. "A pleasure to serve you." 

Since Plotmon wanted to try strudel, they settled on it for the four of them. Despite Bakumon's natural shyness, curiosity had it at the edge of its seat, staring intensely as Lopmon served each of them their portion with impressive adroitness, for using its long lop ears to do so. It had a rather impeccable precision.

“Please enjoy!” Lopmon bowed and excused itself, gliding back to the counter.

The reason Michi favored Truffle was evident— allowing tamers to bring along their partner digimon was hugely convenient. It was also far too noisy for Sara’s tastes, but such was the nature of cafes. In general, Michi seemed to really enjoy loud places. Speaking of boisterous, a particularly rowdy boy accompanied by a bearmon entered the cafe at that moment. Sara recognized him as one of the tamers who was friends with Michi. Kazuma was his name, if she recalled correctly. Given the location of Truffle, that it had a lot of teenaged patrons wasn’t rare. But even among all of them, Kazuma stood out due to his rather rakish build and loud voice. At least he was entertained making chat to the owner at the counter.

Of course, that didn’t last long. Michi turned her attention in the direction Sara was looking at, and —in an almost cinematographic coincidence— Kazuma turned around right in that moment as well. Both their faces lit up, and in a matter of seconds, Kazuma’s long strides had crossed the cafe to meet them at their table by the large window pane.

“Kazuma, long time no see!” Michi slided to make space for Kazuma on her side of the boot. 

Kazuma took the offer without missing a beat, carrying Bearmon in his arms to sit it on his lap. And just like that, Sara’s outing with Michi also included Kazuma. Bakumon drew closer to her side, and she wouldn’t deny it brought her comfort before the prospect of having to deal with someone who was essentially a stranger.

“I’ll say! You barely drop by Truffle anymore!” 

Michi chuckled, abashedly. "I have been a little busy…” 

“Well, I’m just glad I got to see you today,” Kazuma beamed and then turned his attention to Sara, greeting her with a slight bow. “Hello! I think this is the first time we get to hang out! I’m Natsuyagi Kazuma and this is my partner, Bearmon!” His partner waved at her as if on cue. “I have been wanting to get to know you!

"Yes! We have heard so much about you!" 

Wanting to get to know her? It was true they ultimately had fought together to settle the spiral matter, but… It struck Sara as an odd thing to say to someone you had faced off against as an enemy many times, especially when Sara had been rather merciless to them. Then again, there she was, sitting with Michi. Perhaps most of Michi’s tamer friends were like that. The little Herissmon and their partner had also expressed a similar sentiment.

Sara reciprocated the bow. “I am Shinkai Sara. My first name uses the character for sal tree and my last name the characters for new and sea. This is Bakumon, my partner.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Bakumon folded its legs together.

"Pleasure is all mine!“

It was probably strange to be introducing each other this late, but it gave Sara a sense of relief upon clearing a socializing step correctly. 

"So, how is exam prep going?" 

Michi grimaced. "Let's not talk about that." 

Naturally, Plotmon, who had milky streaks all around its mouth to match Michi's, had to give him the details: "Michi has been getting distracted as usual. Just the other day, we dealt with a digiegg that appeared at the library instead of her studies."

"Ah, man! That brings back memories!" Kazuma laughed and petted Bearmon's head, who was busying itself with part of Michi's strudel. 

"I'm not worried, though," Plotmon added, turning to see Sara. "Because Sara has been helping Michi; as long as she's with her, I can be at ease."

"Aw, she does look super reliable," Kazuma looked at her with a strange look, like he had witnessed something incredibly moving. 

Michi chuckled awkwardly. If Sara were inclined to laugh when nervous, she'd do the same now that all eyes were on her. She wracked her brain for a reply. 

"I-it's not a problem…" 

Bizarrely, Kazuma's ear-to-ear grin seemed to grow larger. "You two are spending a lot of time together, aren't you?" 

"Kazuma…" 

"Well, I am tutoring her. Of course we see each other often." 

And Michi had been grounded, which probably played a bigger factor to her not paying a visit to her friends than their study sessions. 

"I'm so happy!" Kazuma raised his balled fists close to his face, clearly pumped up; over what? Sara couldn't tell. Her tutoring Michi hardly warranted so much fanfare. "Michi worked super hard to get to you before, seeing that things worked out between you two makes me super happy!" 

Michi buried her face in her hands and groaned. 

"It's true, it's all she could think about," Plotmon giggled. 

"Not you too…" 

Sara covered her mouth, feeling her cheeks starting to warm up. It's not like she didn't already know Michi had chased her relentlessly, but having pointed it out like this was a little embarrassing. 

"You helped us a bunch when Grandracmon took Michi, too! I have been wanting to talk to you since then!" 

Sara recalled that he had waved at her back then, after she had created the digital point at the park. At the time, she hadn't known what to make of it. So, this is what it had been about? Kazuma was, shockingly, even more candid than Michi. In general, all her friends seemed to be that way— openthearted and warm. Sara seemed to be the odd one out. That other boy, Keito, had been able to be frank to Eiji in a way she had only begun to graze. 

"I-it was no trouble at all…" Sara repeated herself, feeling beyond awkward. 

"Anyway! Enough of that!" Michi patted Kazuma's shoulder, "How is practice going?" 

He shot her a thumbs up: "Coach Akira praised my footwork the other day!" 

"Do you play any sports?" Bearmon asked, snout sprinkled with pastry crumbs. 

"No, I don't. They have never been my forte."

It was a phrasing that usually kept people from prying, although she wasn't too sure it'd work as effectively in this instance. She pressed her thumb to her cheek. It was always like this— Sara always had to put in a lot of work to answer seemingly innocuous questions in order to predict whether her replies will fall into a range that will still read normal and agreeable to her interlocutors. Having to dodge the invisible obstacle course of unwanted pity and condescension. This is why she hated talking to people. 

"Kazuma is super good! He can score field goals no problem!" 

Sara nodded, feigning understanding of the terminology. She wasn't sure what sport Kazuma played, but, at this point, it felt too awkward to ask. 

"Well, I still need to polish my throws," Kazuma scratched the back of his head. "But I appreciate the faith, Bearmon!" He ruffled his partner's hat, and then, like a switch flipped, his expression got downright dreamy. "I hope someday I can be half as good as Takumi!" 

Wait. That Takumi? The same Hiiragi Takumi she briefly cooperated with? 

"You're always going over how great Takumi is, it's making me curious whether he really is that good of a player," Michi frowned. 

"Of course he is! How could you doubt that?!" 

Michi held up her hands. "I mean, I have never seen him play but…" she started muttering almost unintelligibly, "...cold and he just took so long to work together with us. Hard to picture him in a team."

"Takumi was our ace, that's true," Kazuma's chest swelled, "It's true he would get ahead during matches and be strict as a captain, but that's because he knew the game better than anyone! When it was better to apply this or that strategy. I still have a lot to learn from him! And I mean! Him and Sara had amazing teamwork, that proves it!" 

"He was reliable," Sara conceded. 

And very gruff. Although, Sara wouldn't deny she had liked it best to keep their talks strictly about business. Besides, it couldn't be helped given the circumstances of how Takumi's collaboration with Eiji came to be. 

"I knew it! If there's one word that describes senpai, it's reliable!" 

“Eh, I guess."

Sara had to choke back a snort. Kazuma’s adoration for Takumi was somewhat endearing, though. It reminded her of a certain someone…

"Dorumon was nice," Bakumon mumbled. 

Sara scratched behind Bakumon's ears, who sighed contentedly. Perhaps it had been selfish to keep Bakumon all to herself. Maybe they both had longed to meet others. She hoped Bakumon and Plotmon could continue to get along and, maybe, even learn to rely on each other. Michi always liked saying that the more, the merrier. Sara had serious reservations about the phrase, but perchance she and Bakumon could use more company, more allies, more… love. 

When Sara tuned back into the convo, she caught Michi and Kazuma talking about pastries and a girl named Mayu. A little blink, and the conversation had gotten out of her hands. Sara wasn't even sure she knew who Mayu was. She covered her mouth with her fingers, biting her index slightly. She had always known keeping pace with others was harder for herself in a myriad of ways, but it truly could get disorienting.

Right in that moment, Lopmon glided into their table, clearing its throat: “Pardon the interruption, but, Kazuma, Chihiro says you should pick up your order before it goes cold.”

Kazuma shot to his feet. That Bearmon knew to jump ship before it got sent flying was a testament to their partnership.

“Ah, crap! I forgot! Sorry!” He turned to both her and Michi, bowing apologetically. “I’m actually on an errand for the club, I’ll see you later, okay?” 

And then he ran off. Michi bursted out laughing. 

"I don't know why you're laughing, you do the same thing all the time," Plotmon shook its head. 

Lopmon sighed.

“Is everything to your liking?” 

“Yeah!” Michi said in between bursts of laughter. “Can we get the bill, please?”

“Right away.” 

And off Lopmon went as well.

“Sorry about that,” Michi joined her palms together. “I just hadn’t seen Kazuma in a while.”

Sara shook her head. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Really? You seemed uncomfortable.”

Tch. Of course, Michi had noticed. Somehow that turned the experience into something actually irksome.

“Michi—”

“Sara,” Michi looked at her with a look that rivaled her Plotmon’s wounded puppy look.

“I don’t mind meeting your friends…” Sara exhaled more deeply than she thought she would, “But knowing in advance would be good, yeah. Not to mention we were in the middle of…”

Michi blushed. “Let me make it up to you!”

Sara sighed, endeared. Michi was about to drag her who knows where, no doubt. “Fine.” 

It really was fine. It was part of what made being with her exciting.

[ambreiiigns]

so i didn't watch Anything today but yesterday. maxxxine it. fucks so hard. pearl is still the superior movie of the series but i was lile secretly worried abt maxxxine blowing it and 20 mins in i was like HOW COULD I EVER DOUBT YOU MIA GOTH!!!! 20 MINUTES IN I GOT GENITAL MUTILATION SPECIFICALLY VERY LITERAL BALL BUSTING I GOT SO EXCITED ABOUT IT I JUMPED OUT OF MY CHAIR AND TOOK A WALK AROUND THE HOUSE TO CALM DOWN OR ELSE I WASN'T GONNA FOCUS. it was fun & exciting & visually stunning Obviously i wanna say the story and final reveal and all was. kinda mid. but it's fine like i didn't care for it but the Fun of everything else made up for it. it was weird. lots of characters who are barely relevant but feel like they wanna be so it just leaves you a taste of Unfinished ? i feel like it kinda Lost the slashery-esque vibes the first two had going it very barely feels like horror at this point but i think it ties the series together nicely like it's ok if it gets wordier they were Finishing A Story. and the sfx were slappin good so i don't care. girlbossing to success that's FINE with me!!!!! idc. it was fun i liked it :)

in a violent nature was. So So Weird. i was so excited to watch it bc i heard it was like A New Fresh Slasher Movie Icon Wow!!!!! so. i was so hyped. and i don't wanna say i was disappointed but it surely is not what you expect. it's insane. like every single storybeat is something you've already seen in a friday the 13th (which is not a critique i will never mind a slasher movie being formulaic like if you do something new that's cool but if you stick to the plan i will Never complain. that is what i'm here for.) BUT the way it's shot is like. argh. it feels like a natgeo documentary and i say this so politely. which goes w the Theme of the movie where they keep implying that the killer is like a mindless wild animal and that Nature itself is out to get you it really does work incredibly well but it's so strange. bc you expect slashers to be so silly and campy and over the top and this is so quiet? the camerawork is so weird the framing the movements are So Weird. it's not super cinematic i don't know how to explain ittttt but. yk. but then the kills. some of them were off screen which made me sad but the majority that were on screen HOLY SHIIIT MY DUDEEEEE GO OFFFF it was SO GOOD SO GOOD. THE ONE. IF YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE YOU KNOW THE ONE. W THE HOOK THROUGH THE STOMACH INTO HER HEAD AND THEN HER HEAD GOES THROUGH HER STOMACH AND HE KICKS HER OFF A CLIFF HOLY SHIIIIT SOOOOO FUN THE WAY I WAS CHEERING!!!! but it being Like This kind of. disrupts the idea that the killer is mindless like an animal???? like. a feeling i kept having was that it had some cool ideas but never committed 100% it always did something that Interrupted that concept and ruined it. yk? like the camerawork is always like distant and impersonal except for that one or two scenes were it's almost traditionally cinematographic. the killer is mindless except he gets a flashback w his Motivational Dead Mother so now it feels like he's on a mission. yk?? a bunch of stuff. idk. the ending segment w the final girl is so unbelievably stunning tho it's just good. it's so much of johnny the slasher walking thru the woods filmed from behind and the lighting changing from day to night but it's not boring. really weird watch to make opinions on

and then stopmotion i don't even know what to say about it. it's incredibly good and weird and it has a certain post 2000s pretentiousness about it but it backs it up by HAVING ACTUAL STOP MOTION SEQUENCES AND LITTLE CREECHERS THAT ARE SO TERRIFYING AND HORRID and it even made me FLINCH at least once maybe twice. just watch it i can't even talk abt it. mommy issues are briefly at play and being consumed by your art and work is the whole point and it's done so well and the gore oh god. god god i had to call my brother into the room at some point to look at the little puppets bc they look So upsetting. insane. makes me feel crazyyyy

hi i watched three movies yesterday