elieandra

[elieandra]

I wish I got those weird anonymous inboxes my mutuals get

[elieandra]

LADIES, LADIES, LADIES! ONE AT A TIME PLEASE 🤚

[elieandra]

Cinematography analysis: This was NOT Mike's POV looking at the library, it was Jonathan's. What is Mike actually looking at, and what makes this shot different from all the rest?

I've seen a lot of people question this and wonder if Mike is looking at Will, or at the destruction of Hawkins. I'm a film/photography nerd, and I come bearing cinematographic evidence to prove my point of what makes this shot different from all the rest in this sequence!

Remember: the camera also tells a story. And a sequence like this takes a lot of planning, effort, and coordination behind the scenes.

When you break down the sequence, you can actually pinpoint exactly which POV belongs to who, and where they are looking. The cinematography is that particular about the details here. It's seriously so cool!

Note: The purpose of this entire sequence is to show us the characters' reactions to what they are seeing out the window. However, this is distinctly not the case with the Mike/Will shot in particular. It is filmed differently and therefore serves a different purpose. For a follow-up exploring the unique purpose of this shot and possible interpretations with feedback from a film student/cienmatographer, read part 2!

The filming follows a very strict & consistent pattern... however, the Will/Mike shot is the ONLY exception to their rules:

1. Every time we focus on a character, we are also shown a corresponding POV shot of what they're looking at through the window. Elements in the foreground (e.g. window frames, etc) are kept consistent. EXCEPT for the Mike/Will shot! It's the ONLY time we are NOT shown what the character is looking at! 2. All close-up shots were filmed from outside the van, through the windows, with added reflections showing what the character is seeing (either a practical effect, or likely VFX added in post-production). POV shots also show their view through the window. This is cinematic language to signal the characters are looking outside. EXCEPT for the Mike/Will shot! It's the ONLY close-up shot filmed inside the van, NOT through a window! There is no window between Mike and the camera!

What does this cinematic language mean?

It's meant to convey that Mike is not necessarily focused on the destruction of Hawkins outside the windows in this particular shot. Or at least, the purpose of the shot is not to show where the characters are looking, but how they are feeling. My interpretation: Hawkins is devastated, and yet Mike is still thinking about Will.

This is the only time the showrunners intentionally avoid showing what the character was looking at, creating ambiguity to give Mike the benefit of the doubt. The next shot, from Jonathan's POV of the burning library, misleads us into thinking that’s what Mike was watching—but it isn’t!

This misdirect is enough to make the viewer wonder what Mike is looking at and what he and Will are feeling, but not enough to make it glaringly obvious. It leaves the door open to interpretation.

See for yourself!

Establishing shots - Driving into Hawkins

Caveat: these close-ups don't have POV shots, since they showed us a bird's eye view of Hawkins instead.

*Note: All the following shots are shown chronologically! Some POV shots don’t have matching close-ups to avoid repetition, but the character's perspective is still clear.

Neighborhood Evacuations

Jonathan: Close-up (not included) → POV

Will: Close-up → POV (and the infamous Phineas Gage imagery)

Hawkins High School

Mike: Close-up → POV

Unknown location

Two-shot with rack focus and pan from Will to Mike (close-up → POV not included). A rack focus (focal point switching from Will to Mike) is a storytelling device here. Why not just start the shot with both characters in frame and in focus? The purpose is to emotionally link the two and hint at an unspoken dynamic or tension, and/or signal a POV shift from Will to Mike.

But we are not shown what Will or Mike were looking at! This is also the only shot not filmed through a window, so there are no reflections to serve as visual cues to show us the van's location. It could still be by the high school (and Mike's staring ahead at Will just cuz), it could be en route downtown, or it could be downtown approaching the library.

NOTE: The editing is also sneaky! From this point on, the sequence shifts from close-up → POV to POV → close-up. Reversing the sequence of shots was likely intentional with the purpose of allowing Jonathan’s POV to follow Mike’s close-up, therefore misleading the audience (since both he and Mike are looking forward) and subtly covering the absence of a matching Mike POV close-up. But they filmed Jonathan through the front windshield (you can tell by the reflections), or otherwise applied the VFX window or reflections for him, but they did NOT do this for Mike!

Just imagine how much more cramped the camera crew had to be to film Mike from inside the van, OR they had to remove the glass windshield entirely OR if the windows and reflections are VFX, they intentionally didn't add it to this shot. All I'm saying is, this shot took effort and intention!

Downtown Hawkins - Hawkins Library on fire

Jonathan: POV → Close-up. You can see the windshield wipers, dash, hood antenna, and corner of driver's side window frame in his POV shot.

El's POV → El Close-up → pan over to Mike (technically we don't get Mike's POV shot here, but that's just to avoid redundancy since he and El are looking at the same view). More cinematic language: note how the camera pans across the window frame to split up two characters within the same two-shot. This signals emotional separation and distance between El and Mike.

The church

El: POV → Close-up

The church (cont.)

Mike's POV (that looks like El's head's silhoutte) → Mike's Close-up (missing) → back to El's Close-up (zoomed in)

To conclude... the Mike/Will shot was purposefully filmed and edited differently from all the other shots in this sequence. :)

PART 2 Follow-up: feedback from a film student/cinematographer on the unique purpose of the Will/Mike van shot

[elieandra]

[elieandra]

guys we're all just joking when we say that hopper hates mike right? we all know that their beef isn't that serious and they do actually care for each other, right?

right????

[elieandra]

guys we're all just joking when we say that hopper hates mike right? we all know that their beef isn't that serious and they do actually care for each other, right?

right????

[elieandra]

Me and the 4 other Jonathan stans if he just fucking dies in season 5

[elieandra]

tyyy for the tag

(WTF I HAD 3 BINGOS)

ALSO, I'M LEAVING THIS OPEN, PLEASE TRY IT OUT

not mine!

@catboytsuki @effervescent-sapphic + anyone else!

[elieandra]

obsessed with hawkins' high's perception of that nerd lucas who turns out to actually be really good at basketball!! and he's so cool but he's like madly in love with the new girl (she's been here a year but in a town like hawkins you're always "new") and they were a thing but now they're kinda on again off again and no matter how many popular girls the team tries to set him up with, he'll always shyly wave to her in the halls. sometimes she'll wave back but most times she ducks into her classroom with her headphones on. and for some reason he still plays dnd with that group of freaks and will be seen in the halls with the freshman boy who was cast as the lead in the spring musical simply for showing up (but this time he's actually good) as they drag around that one mopey kid who curses out teachers and whose family was rumored to have been hiding a 12 year old russian spy that the middle school bully says has superpowers. and all 4 of them were some of the few survivors of the starcourt mall fire last summer and their best friend who moved away went missing in 1983 and they found his body but it turns out it wasnt his body and he showed up a couple days later and now suddenly they all jump when the lights flicker.

[elieandra]

Stranger Things in a nutshell

[elieandra]

st textposts 2 😛

[elieandra]

see because this is very scary for people out there so I had to choose the right sound

[elieandra]

reaching the angsty part of the fic that I chose for the angst

[elieandra]

Mike Wheeler better be gay, or I've just spent a lot of money on merch for a straight guy who's an asshole to his girlfriend

[elieandra]

I hope you guys missed me.... it's been 30 years (2 weeks) since I've stepped foot in this facility (byler community) and the war (school) was filled with fatalities (overloaded activities with short ahh deadlines)

[elieandra]

Straight Apology VS Byler Apology

[elieandra]

“I hate Mike” bro look at him. His dinosaur is named Rory because he roars.