You know this does kinda make me wonder how many examples there are of what’s basically the exact same shot that aren’t the akira motorcycle slide. I know there’s another specific set of anime trope shots of characters getting crucified, as an homage to the many times it’s happened in ultraman. There’s another one of characters holding a sword with a super exaggerated perspective so the tip is close to camera and the character is farther away. Then there’s the infamous “crazy” shot, where you do a kind of fish eye lens close up to the character’s face.

Certainly, if you wanted to get more general and all-encompassing, you could take every form of shot reverse-shot used in a conversation as a pretty common example, though that one arises more out of necessity than anything else, I think. The coen brothers and occasionally wes anderson are a good example of how to make that actually be interesting, I suppose. I definitely think I’ve seen the “staring out the window” shot more than once, usually on a bus, since that’s a pretty good opportunity to use it, as the protagonist isn’t driving, and that’s an example that’s little more specific than just shot reverse-shot.

I dunno, I kinda wonder what are some other good examples of shots like that. Shots not iconic or specific enough to entail a clear reference to something, but shots that are specific enough that they don’t arise solely out of necessity, but arise out of a need to illustrate a common cinematic point. Shots that exist as shorthand, basically. I think it’s probably in those shots that we’d very clearly see “cinema”, as an artform, as a language that communicates things to the audience. Any shots like that come to mind?