Silent Films, Sequels, New Releases and Indie Icons
Hello, ShotDeck community!
We’ve had a busy July, with a brand new slate films, television series, music videos and commercials for you to add to your decks and get inspired by for your next creative project. We also have a new crop of articles, interviews and Shot Talks for you to dive into – check them out!
We added over 45,000 new shots to our library this month – learn more about our curations below!
FILM COLLECTION
New Releases
As summer movie season hits full throttle, we’ve got a huge crop of this year’s biggest new releases for you to add to your decks! Check out shots from Michael, I Love Boosters, Hamlet, Is God Is, Obsession, They Will Kill You, Tuner, Reminders of Him, Pressure, and The Devil Wears Prada 2.
FILM COLLECTION
Silent Era Gems
Let’s take it back to where it all began! This month, we curated a selection of nine gems from film’s silent era. But did you know that the term “silent film” is actually a bit of a misnomer, and was in fact applied retroactively? When films were screened for audiences in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they were often accompanied by pianists, organists, or even entire orchestras. Some films, like City Lights and Modern Times, even had a synchronized music-only soundtrack.
The term “silent film” instead refers to films made without dialogue or synchronized sound, which were the norm until The Jazz Singer was made in 1927 – the first “talkie”, made thanks to the advancement of the Audion amplifier tube and the advent of the Vitaphone analog sound-on-disc system.
Because most early silent films were shot on nitrate film stock, which was notoriously unstable and flammable, the vast majority of movies from this era have been lost to physical decay – making the ones we do have even more precious. Check out this month’s collection of silent films, which run from family comedies to romantic dramas, rom-coms to documentaries. Enjoy!
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
John Sayles
This month, we dropped thousands of shots from an icon of American independent cinema, John Sayles. A prolific filmmaker who has directed a film at least every three years since he kicked off his directorial career with Return of the Secaucus 7 in 1980, Sayles started out working for legendary low-budget indie producer Roger Corman, alongside other filmmakers of his generation such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Jonathan Demme. Sayles would go on to write screenplays for many of these filmmakers, often using the proceeds from this work to fund his own directorial efforts.
In an interview with Screen Slate last year, Sayles spoke about the need to stay conscious of budgetary constraints when working in the independent landscape. He said: “I’ve made enough movies now that I can ask myself: How much night shooting would this require? Do I have a character who’s just sitting there and I’ll have to pay him as a weekly player even if he only works two days? Can I combine his line with another character’s lines so we don’t have to hire two actors? It’s not cheap. I’m constantly editing as I’m writing. I’m also going to be the editor of the movie, so I’m editing as I’m shooting. I’m always mentally saying, I’ve got that, I’ve got that, We’re done with the scene.“
A celebrated humanist whose work has been lauded for the way it connects the personal lives of its characters to larger histories of labor, race, class, and power, Sayles’ body of work stands among the most significant of any American independent filmmakers of the past 50 years. Check out this month’s curation: crime drama City of Hope (1991), fantasy adventure film The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), political thriller Silver City (2004), coming-of-age romance Baby It’s You (1983), crime mystery Lone Star (1996), small town drama Sunshine State (2002), and adventure thriller Limbo (1999).
TELEVISION SERIES
Disclaimer
This month, we dropped thousands of shots from Alfonso Cuarón‘s 2024 drama mystery television limited series, Disclaimer. Based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Renée Knight, the series follows Catherine Ravenscroft, a prominent British documentary-journalist, discovers she is a prominent character in a novel that purports to reveal a secret she has tried to keep hidden. The series stars Cate Blanchett and Leila George as Ravenscroft, as well as Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, Lesley Manville, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Hoyeon, Indira Varma, and Art Malik.
Cuarón created, wrote, edited and directed the miniseries, but worked with two cinematographers – Emmanuel Lubezki and Bruno Delbonnel – who respectively shot each timeline through which the series takes place. In an interview with American Cinematographer, Lubezki said that Cuaron “wrote a script that was unusually specific about the cinematography, “even describing the color temperature of the light streaming through the window, how it changed during the shot, and why this was important,” Lubezki says. “It’s not just aesthetics. It’s very deliberate. It was a particularly interesting script because it was so different to any other.”” Delbonnel shot his portion of the series on Arri/Zeiss Master Primes, while Lubezki shot his on Summilux-C lenses, favoring their softer, less contrasty approach to give characters’ skin a smoother look in the younger Catherine storyline.
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Tami Reiker
In July, we curated a collection of seven films from the filmography of trailblazing cinematographer, Tami Reiker. Reiker was the first woman to win an American Society of Cinematographers award, winning the ASC Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography Award in 2003 for her work on the HBO television series pilot, Carnivalé. In a career that has spanned over three decades and covered all mediums, Reiker’s collaborators include filmmakers such as Regina King, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Craig Gillespie.
Reiker’s painterly eye, visual warmth and emotional precision has made her a touchstone cinematographer for the art of capturing performances across film and television. Dig into this month’s selection of her work – romantic dramas High Art (1998), Girl (1998) Disappearing Acts (2000), and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), and comedies Pieces of April (2003), Mr. Woodcock (2007) and The Love Letter (1999).
FILM COLLECTION
Sequels
So good the first time, they had to run it back! This month, we curated a “Sequel Weekquel” – 21 films from across the world, across genres, and across decades that were the follow-up to their preceding smash-hit.
Whether you’re looking for action, westerns, musicals, comedies, thrillers or family animation, we’ve got you covered. Sit back and add shots from these glorious “number twos” to your decks today!
FILM COLLECTION
Music Videos & Commercials
This month, we programmed over 11,000 new shots from a selection of 50 music videos and 150 commercials. We have music videos from metal bands, electronic artists and R&B stars, and commercials for make up brands, magazines, and social advocacy groups. Enjoy!
MUSIC VIDEODove Cameron feat. Khalid – “We Go Down Together” (2023)
COMMERCIALLouis Vuitton – “Preco 23” (2023)
COMMERCIALRolling Stone – “Timothée Chalamet” (2024) 
