the eyes have it

I know this is a lazy post, but I've been busy this week and am now sitting in front of the television which is dispensing an episode of Coronation Street. Not usually part of my viewing, but entertaining to deconstruct.

Corrie has a bittersweet sense of humour and a fun sport is to 'count the looks' whilst it plays.

Tonight's episode is a classic, with plenty of cutaways to different peoples' eyes, in church, in the pub and along the Street. Even the baby gets a chance to do a look. And then a grim reaper appears in a big car and wearing a black hoodie. I don't know the plot, but the similarities with something from Lord of the Rings are worth a mention.

There's also a heavily sweating man with shifty eyes (well lit) who I assume runs the unisex underwear factory, which got a few closeups and got me thinking. I predict this character is on a heart-attack trajectory for some time next week. He could be rushed to hospital, wired up and then fess-up to something fairly evil. It would make a good storyline like the above sketch (complete with a 'look').

Sorry, "fess-up" is probably more Eastenders than Corrie.

the eyes have it

Another day running around office blocks and finishing in the early evening.

Back home, my frazzled brain briefly joined in with some soap watching, counting the number of 'meaningful looks' in the episode. It works for both Eastenders and Coronation Street, and I'm sure there must be eye auditions alongside the speeches.

The spotting rules are simple. It has to be a 'reaction shot'. No dialogue.
Some of the best sequences have two or three cutaways in a row.