#tangentially related: I don't understand people who think nancy/ace 'came out of nowhere in s3'

[bethanyactually]

The other day I was rewatching Nancy Drew 1.03, The Curse of the Dark Storm, and chatting with @wereadtoliveathousandlives, and there was a scene that felt like a Nancy/Ace scene to me, even though it's a conversation between Nancy, Bess, George, and Ace.

A gifset of that scene by @grints popped out of my queue yesterday, and it got me to thinking: why DID I want to see that scene as a Nancy/Ace scene, even though 4/5 of the Drew Crew is in it? So I went back and watched it again, and noticed something about the way it's shot.

When Nancy is speaking (or sometimes just reacting) she's in a single-shot.

When Bess or George are speaking, they're either in a two-shot with both of them or a three-shot with Ace as well. A couple times, they're off-screen when they speak, with the camera focusing on Nancy's reaction instead.

Every time but one when Ace is speaking, he is also in a single-shot, despite being on the same side of the booth as Bess and George.

In the shot above, you can see it shifts from a three-shot to a single-shot when Ace speaks, even though Bess isn't in a single-shot when she speaks.

The only time Ace isn't in a single-shot while speaking is the last line of the scene, and it's immediately followed by thunder and lightning, underscoring his question.

Also, as @wereadtoliveathousandlives pointed out, Bess and George are both in light colors while Ace is dressed entirely in black, which makes him stand out on that side of the booth.

In conclusion: the reason I read this as a Nancy/Ace scene is because the camera, the costuming, and the editing wanted me to read it that way. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#nancy x ace #nancy drew meta #nancy drew cw #wereadtoliveathousandlives #flythesail #ash i'm tagging you because I know how much you like storytelling via camera work #the curse of the dark storm #tangentially related: I don't understand people who think nancy/ace 'came out of nowhere in s3' #the show clearly started setting them up as far back as 1.02 and they're definitely doing that here #also this scene is definitely part of 'ace [redacted]: the journey of a goofball slacker to plausible crew member & romantic hero' #bethanyactuallyedit #cookies for the nancy drew costume designers