what’s the best line read in television history?

we’ll start

Week 26.16 - CHANGING ASPECT RATIO Socials Roundup 13 April - 19 April 2026: video games come to life, booty shorts, amateur detective podcasters, supernatural detectives, and a lesbian space princess!

exhibit A - our Changing Aspect Ratio roundup, from last week's posts:

shotzero.substack.com/p/week-2616-...

Shot Zero: pithy posts on shot design | Substack working out what makes great shots great || Edited by @stuwillis & @melkillingsworth || Presented by @draft_zero. Click to read Shot Zero: pithy posts on shot design, a Substack publication with hundr...

*for some reason today blusky will not allow this video to post for love OR pleading

the full video will be up, as always, on our Substack socials roundup next week - all our shots this round are on Point of View

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shotzero.substack.com

a medium shot of a man, looking down

a medium shot of two feet in dress shoes; from the POV of you, if you were standing close to talk to someone, and looked down

This from THE CHASE isn't a ‘true’ POV shot - when we look down at our own feet, they point the other direction.

But it’s an unusual angle which distinctly puts us within Chuck’s mindset, showing he’s looking at from an ‘omniscient’ view, giving us insight into his thought process and actions.

1/2

#Film89ShotOfTheDay
No.3084
Sanjuro (1962)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cinematographers: Fukuzô Koizumi, Takao Saitô

Elizabeth (Rebecca Ferguson) has just received some bad news when she enters the great hall.

The shots give us her uneasy feelings: hand-held, distorted, focus moving erratically; faces bulging oddly, and a hazy blur effect which grows significantly stronger toward the frame edges.

Edward G. Robinson in #FilmNoir Double Indemnity (1944)

Today on our Substack, we look at how #SpikeLee's "He Got Game" uses a 60-second opening sequence to tell us all about Jake and Jesus, how they are related, and how they feel about each other.

shotzero.substack.com/p/intercutti...

#PValley 2/2
The scene transition uses the aspect ratio change (and unmissable music cue) to signal the big swing - the huge vertical shift immediately makes clear we’ve jumped time, place, and context, before showing Mercedes again.

Mercedes just had a win when discovers her dance team have been shaking their brand-name-booty-shorted-asses on snapchat.

#PValley 1/2

2/2

All 37 #ThePitt episode transitions are up on Substack now, starting here:

shotzero.substack.com/p/how-to-tra...

Missed our miniseries on #ThePitt scene transitions?

Now's a perfect time to hop in from the start!

Note how the camera motion out of Scene A is moving the same direction as the start of Scene B, even though that motion is only taking us *to* the actual scene.

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#LesbianSpacePrincess 2/2

The double-narrowing also serves to transition us into her ‘fantasy’ scene — which as it ends, changes aspect ratio back to the film’s normal size, revealing it to be a promo Kiki is watching of herself on her phone.

When Kiki the Destroyer (voiced by Bernie Van Tiel) narrows her eyes, the aspect ratio squeezes skinnier along with them.

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#BigMood season 2 is out today - if you have not watched, this is your sign to start!

We broke down another 'apparition' scene from Season 1 (see the Substack), but this shot is an excellent summation of the series in exactly ten seconds:

shotzero.substack.com/i/144522570/...

Turn the Camera Sideways: GET MILLIE BLACK We’ve already looked at how Get Millie Black shows off its locations; now, let’s look at how and why it turns the camera sideways.

We look at when and why neo-noir GET MILLIE BLACK turns the camera sideways . . .

shotzero.substack.com/p/turn-the-c...

This #DeadBoyDetectives aspect ratio shifts ‘skinnier and taller’ at the same time colour fades to black-and-white; sound design also emphasises the shift.

The 4:3 (square) aspect ratio and b&w specifically signal this is Edwin’s past even before the title tells us when and where we are.

Why does this #OnlyMurdersintheBuilding scene shift from its ‘standard TV framing’ aspect ratio to a widescreen aspect ratio and back again?

To show us the murder in as 'cinematic' — and draaaahmatic — a fashion as Charles imagines it.

#Film89ShotOfTheDay
No.3077
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cinematographer: Barry Sonnenfeld

A movie couple that would definitely have a podcast

This #GravityFalls aspect ratio shift is also a POV sight gag, as it turns out we're seeing what Dipper is seeing looking through two planks of wood!

Midnight with Madeline - Dolores Gray YouTube video by BestArtsFilm

Birthday boy Stanley Donen gave us Charade, the best comedy thriller Hitchcock never made and allowed Eleanor Bron to steal every one of her scenes in Two for the Road. But he also made dazzling musicals and It’s Always Fair Weather is the most overlooked. This is just wild.
youtu.be/g7k38rIGjxI?...

What did we discover from examining all 37 scene transitions from an episode of #ThePitt?

From camera handoffs to smash cuts, comedy to sound mixing, here are our learnings!

Because this is a teaching hospital.

shotzero.substack.com/p/the-pitt-h...

Is this an audio ‘joke’ or gag the way the rest of our shots this week are?

Well however you define it, it’s both startling and hilarious.

The camera holding a beat while nobody moves makes it that much better.

Love this sound choice / joke from Death in Brunswick - the upbeat music as Carl (Sam Neill) runs away continues into the next scene, until Carl CLICK!ing on the light switch abruptly cuts it off and shifts the mood.

The quick snort as the light wakes mom up is the cherry on top.

Depth of field is 🤌

Today we look at the final seven scene transitions of #ThePitt 2.09 "3:00PM" - some poignant, some funny, and one a total fake-out.

shotzero.substack.com/p/how-to-tra...

#MyBrilliantCareer 2/2
The PLOP is a punctuation mark, a joke, and the cue to cut to a closeup, the contrast between this shot of the flowers sadly floating and the big glorious wide which came before underscoring the humor of the whole situation.

A beautiful wide, a staid man climbs a fence to attempt to woo a strong-willed woman, the shot holds wide, then as soon as the man walks away, the woman throws the flowers and . . . PLOP!

#MyBrilliantCareer 1/2

Possessed | Vertigo (1958) | Bright Wall/Dark Room To experience Vertigo through the eyes of its female lead, Judy Barton, what once was a mystery becomes a horror film, a story of anxiety so profound that it approaches body horror.

"To experience VERTIGO through the eyes of its female lead, Judy Barton, what once was a mystery becomes a horror film, a story of anxiety so profound it approaches body horror."