MATCH CUT: A type of transition between frames/scenes wherein objects are "matched" to each other, creating a sense of continuity or connection between the two separate objects.
...This is actually a more subtle match cut, because it's not matching the people that we're focusing on, but it's matching the background. The angle we're viewing the room from is the same. Creates an interesting dichotomy. If I really wanted to get into analyzing this, I would say that the way Miles and Gwen are flipped (Gwen upside down, Miles right-side up, I mean) really lends itself to the "mirror" effect we get here. They're on two sides of the same coin, opposite each other, reflecting each other--but in two separate realities. This reflects both the literal situation they're in (they've both come to Miles's room to gather their resources to fight the Spot and the Spider Society), and their more general characters, as their characters relate to each other. Miles and Gwen have very similar problems, and are "the same" in a lot of ways--but still different. Still flipped.
But I'm more interested in looking at the match cuts in the last scene of the movie.
I mean, there's a lot of match cuts in the last few minutes of the movie. The first, I think, is this one right after Miles G takes his mask off:
Jumping from Miles G to Miles.
Obviously this is an important moment because it's the moment you get confirmation that it's a Miles Morales variant under the Prowler mask. The match cut underlines that by framing these shots very closely to each other, with their faces the same distance from the camera, both with chins tilted up... the transition is very very seamless.
But their expressions contrast each other. Miles G... doesn't look happy, but he looks matter-of-fact. Closed off, impenetrable, eyes half-lidded like this doesn't bother him. The only real sign that he's upset is that his eyebrows are furrowed slightly.
But compare him to Miles 1610, and he looks totally devoid of emotion, because our Miles is such an open book. Raw, horrified, completely taken aback.
So you're like "yeah, we have eyes, why does any of this matter." Let me get to it.
We're more used to Miles 1610's way of reacting to things, at this point. We've followed him through the entire movie. We can read him like a book, or even if we can't we feel like we can. He's very very expressive. Shows a lot through his body language and facial expressions, and we're used to that openness from him. Because of that, when you see Miles G's face for the first time, you get a sense of... almost uncanny valley. Your first instinct is likely that something's very wrong because that's Miles's face, but it's clearly not him. Skinwalker vibes.
Beyond that: fear of the unknown is one of the most base fears most humans have. If you don't know something, it has the potential to hurt you. It's why we're scared of the dark: the more primal side of our brains tells us that there could be dangerous animals out there who could kill us.
And we don't know what Miles G is thinking. We only know that he's not letting us know. And so the first kneejerk reaction, for a lot of people, would be that's scary. He could be dangerous.
(Lack of information is used a ton throughout this scene, for both Miles G and Aaron-42, but I've talked about that enough that I'm not gonna get into that again here. Suffice to say: this scene withholds information from the audience a lot to ramp up tension, make the audience more wary of Miles's situation, and make the audience believe that Miles G and Aaron-42 are a big dangerous threat.)
Actually there's a lot of match cuts of their two faces, because it just kind of goes back and forth as they talk, but I wanna highlight that first one, as well as the last one we get of them, where they're not actually talking to each other:
I mean, on the surface this is very similar to the one I just analyzed, so I'm not gonna get too into it. Contrasting facial expression, closed off versus open, et cetera, you get it. But the reason why I'm showing this cut as well is because I think it adds something new to the equation, which is that: Miles looks like he's in a blind panic. Miles G looks like he's calculating.
No, it's not the same thing. What I mean is that: up until this point, Miles G has been putting up a very disaffected facade, where Miles can't get through to him, can't barter with him, because Miles G simply doesn't care. In this shot? He looks like he cares. He looks interested and invested in Miles. He's watching Miles carefully. Closely.
It's like a tiny little hint, a clue. The facade drops just barely. Miles's pure panic serves to underline that subtle change a bit more, because again they're opposites, so if Miles is not calculating then Miles G is.
And then, just a bit later, we get to jump between Gwen and Miles, very obviously.
This is the first one. Same expression, same framing, pointing in the same direction--super obvious comparison between the two. They're the same. ...In the important ways.
To me, both of these expressions say that they're looking ahead and steeling their resolve for what they realize they have to do. Of course, this shows us Gwen's character development--by contrasting her so closely against Miles here, we see that she's finally firmly on his side, and that she's come around to his way of doing things--in a way, she's about to do a leap of faith.
But conversely, I think this also shows Miles's development. As I've said, he's an open book, very expressive--I love him, but calm and collected isn't really how I'd describe him 90% of the time. But here? He looks like he's setting his emotions aside. He sees what he needs to do, and he's going to do it. This kind of feels like a moment of... taking control, taking ownership over what he does... because, I mean, Miles has insecurities about being Spider-Man. And about being Miles Morales, honestly. We see throughout the movies that he's very very often looking to other people that he deems "better" or "more sure of themselves" for approval and feedback. But here, there's none of that uncertainty. He "knows how strong he is now," as he told his E42 mom.
One thing I would say about that is that I don't think his insecurities or identity struggles are gone, by a long shot. I think this new resolve probably actually makes him closer to Gwen, than anything--as Gwen adopts Miles's persistence and his attitude that "it's all possible," Miles is starting to adopt Gwen's loner, isolationist, "I need to be a pillar of strength on my own with no outside help" attitude.
...That's what I get from this, anyway. And I think it's a good direction to go for the next movie, because they could teach each other in reverse to how they've been teaching each other, which would be fun and bring some good balance to their dynamic.
Anyway. The second one with Miles and Gwen comes a beat later:
Adding in two frames for Gwen because I wanna highlight a thing. Miles starts to smile--it cuts to Gwen, frowning and looking serious--then she starts to smile too. Obviously this is kind of just a continuation of their previous match cut--Gwen and Miles are matching each other in outlook now, both setting out to do the same thing with approximately the same attitude. They've both grown, and are aligned with each other in this moment.
But anyway, I think Gwen taking a second before smiling emphasizes her character development more, by showing a little microcosm of how she's changed and shifted to match Miles. Beyond that, I think this shows that she still has some lingering doubts and hesitation--she's mostly overcome it by now, but she's still going to have things she needs to work through in BTSV. Things she'll need to grapple with.
...Anyway, why match cuts? Why so many? Why does it matter? I think the reason there are so many match cuts at the end of ATSV is because at this point, the story has so many different moving parts. There are so many chess pieces on the board that it would be reasonable for an audience to walk away thinking, "how are they ever going to bring all of these different pieces together in a satisfying way?"
I think match cuts really work on a subconscious level to help tie together all the different pieces we've got going on, subtly showing the audience that although the story seems like it's going in ten different directions, it's actually still super tightly-woven in terms of the concepts they're exploring and the directions the characters are going. Despite the fact that they're separate in a lot of ways, all these characters and pieces still fit together. They're still connected.
gummygunk
areudirty
dailybridgerton
jacobvanloon
stormborns
izzy806
pixelskylines
germansingergirl
