Trunk Shot
Usually deployed in any movie which involves a character placing or retrieving something in the trunk (boot, if you're using British English) of a car. POV will usually be from within the trunk looking up at the character opening it.
Popularised by Creator/QuentinTarantino who has a Trunk Shot in all of his films.
See PunkInTheTrunk for one of the ways this shot can be used. Distant relative of the HuddleShot.
Examples of Trunk Shot include:
Animated Films
- Meet The Robinsons. A Shout Out to Tarantino in a Disney film. With frogs.
Live Action Films
- He Walked By Night : Credited with being the first film to use this trope.
- Goodfellas
- Every Quentin Tarantino movie ever:
- Jackie Brown
- Kill Bill: The Bride is talking to Sophie Fatale, who is in the trunk.
- Pulp Fiction: Jules and Vince when they take their guns from the trunk.
- Reservoir Dogs: looking down on the captured cop in the trunk.
- From Dusk Till Dawn (which Tarantino scripted and acts in, but did not direct)
- Death Proof (Inverted Trope, this one is actually a shot from under the front hood of a car).
- Inglourious Basterds: the POV is just lying on the ground.
- Django Unchained: from the ground.
- Laid To Rest
- Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street: Mrs. Lovett looking onto Pirelli's body in the chest.
- Hot Fuzz. Also an intentional Shout Out. Ta da.
- Used in Triangle, after Jess stashes the body in the trunk of her car.
- In Wild Tales, when Simón Fisher loads explosives into the trunk of his car.
Live Action TV
- In Supernatural, the Winchesters keep their weapons in the trunk, and so it represents their "family business." The last shot of the pilot is a dramatic trunk shot with the trunk slamming shut serving as a cut to black. Also an example of Book Ends, as season 2 ends with the exact same shot, and line/theme ("We've got work to do.").
- My Mad Fat Diary uses this trope in its first episode, when Karim is first introduced.
- It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia uses this trope in "Paddy's Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia" Given the AccidentalKidnapping context, it may be an additional shout-out to Tartatino's films in general
- Life on Mars: Gene Hunt does this to Sam Tyler at least once.
- Monk: In "Mr. Monk and the Other Detective," Monk and Marty Eels look at the store manager's car and the camera shooting them from inside the trunk.
- Pilot episode of The Streets of San Francisco (1972) contains one near the end of an episode, when Stone, Keller and Malone find a chest with victim's belongings.
- Breaking Bad: In the ColdOpen for the Season 5 Premier, this shot is used as Walt looks at the M60 in his trunk.
- The Walking Dead: Rick and Shane argue about their prisoner in their car.
- In "And His Watch is Ended" of Game Of Thrones, Varys shows Tyrion a trapped sorcerer that is kept in a large box, bound and gagged, Varys and Tyrion are shown watching him from this angle, with part of the lid and the box visible.
- Faking It does it in the season 2 premiere when Shane kidnaps Lauren's boyfriend Tommy.
Music
- The music video for the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl" uses the trunk shot when the girls take Earl for dumping. It uses a similar shot (not in a trunk) earlier when Earl's on the floor dying of poison.
- The page picture for the Grindcore group Pig Destroyer.
- NWA's Straight Outta Compton's album cover.
Video Games
- Grand Theft Auto Vice City gives us this as a Shout Out to Pulp Fiction, just before Lance and Tommy lay siege to Ricardo Diaz's estate.
- A piece of concept art for Grand Theft Auto V depicts the three protagonists in this. It turns out to be a replica of a scene from the game's GoldenEnding, where the man in the trunk is one of the Big Bads.