MAY 2025 DROPS RECAP

CINEGEAR & TRIBECA! PLUS, NEW RELEASES OF 2025, ICONIC AUTEURS AND TV FROM AAPI CREATORS

Hello, ShotDeck community! We’ve had a massive May of new shots for you that we’re excited to dive into – but first, a couple of announcements about events on both coasts that we’d love to see you at in June.

For those of you in LA, we’re back at Cine Gear! Swing by our booth on Friday June 6 or Saturday June 7 to meet the ShotDeck team, test-drive some of our new features, and have the chance to win some of Tinseltown’s hottest merch (yes, the hats are back). But that’s not all – on Saturday at 3:15pm, ShotDeck founder and CEO Lawrence Sher, ASC is moderating a seminar with legendary cinematographer Don Burgess, ASC about his groundbreaking work on films such as Forrest Gump, Castaway and Aquaman. Finally, we’re excited to partner with Filmmakers Academy and Production Connect for a Cine Gear After Party at Neuehouse Hollywood on Friday June 6 from 7pm – 11pm. Join us for a night of music, networking and panels by some of today’s leading filmmakers. Entry is free – but hurry – space is running out!

We’re going bi-coastal in June! For those of you in New York, come to the Tribeca Festival and say hi! On Tuesday June 10, as part of Tribeca’s Kickstart with Canva program, our CEO Lawrence Sher, ASC will discuss his creative process alongside 2024 Kickstart with Canva winner and screenwriter / director Kanani Koster. The workshop is free, but entry is competitive – so submit your application today for an invitation to attend. Then on June 11, we are co-hosting The Village Social at Downtown Social alongside Portrait, Sony and Canva, where we’ll celebrate both the filmmakers behind the festival and the vibrant community that keeps our creative engines running. Entry is free but spaces are limited – so book your spot today!

To stay up-to-date with all the latest ShotDeck news, and to get full access to the world’s leading library of cinematic reference images, sign up today for a free 2 week trial, or download our app from the App Store.

And remember that you can also access ShotDeck via Canva! Our official integration gives you access to the entire ShotDeck library directly within Canva’s interface. You can also directly access any decks you’ve built in ShotDeck in Canva.

TRY THE CANVA INTAGRATION OUT NOW!
This month, we dropped over 52,000 new shots from hundreds of films, television series, music videos and commercials. Here’s a closer look at what we curated for you!

2025 NEW RELEASES

With 2025 in full swing, we’re excited to bring you thousands of shots from a fresh crop of this year’s latest releases! You can now add shots to your decks from films such as Warfare, Drop, Death of a Unicorn, One of Them Days and Flight Risk. Check them out today!

MANI RATNAM

This month, we curated thousands of shots from six iconic entries in the filmography of one of India’s most significant contemporary auteurs, Mani Ratnam. Born to a filmmaking family in Southern India, Ratnam did not develop an interest in filmmaking himself until adulthood, leaving a career as a consultant to start making movies. In 1983, he debuted with the Kannada language film Pallavi Anu Pallavi, but it wasn’t until his 1986 Tamil language film, Mouna Ragam, that he established himself as one of Indian cinema’s most powerful new voices. Since then, Ratnam has worked primarily in Tamil and Hindi, directing modern classics such as Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Dil Se… (1998) and Guru (2007), and along the way, redefining the range and depth of Indian filmmaking with both stunning visuals and bold political storytelling. 

Our curation of films from Mani Ratnam this month celebrates the astonishing range of his work. There’s the 1987 crime drama starring super star Kamal Haasan (who leads his latest film, Thug Life), Nayakan, and his bold political thriller which marked the beginning of composer and collaborator A.R. Rahman’s career, Roja (1992). Check out his action-romance dramas Yuva (2004) and Kaatru Veliyidai (2017), as well as his two most recent directorial efforts, the epic historical fiction war films Ponniyin Selvan: Part One (2022) and Ponniyin Selvan: Part II (2023).

POLLY PLATT

In May, we celebrated the work of American writer, producer and production designer Polly Platt. Platt was a true jack-of-all-trades filmmaker, serving as the executive vice president of Gracie Films alongside director James L. Brooks, creating Academy Award-nominated sets as an Art Director, writing screenplays for Oscar-winning shorts and celebrated feature films, and producing the early work of some of the world’s most notable directors.

Platt was the first woman accepted into the Art Directors Guild of America, and among other achievements, is credited with contributing to the success of ex-husband and director Peter Bogdanovich’s early films, mentoring then first-time writer-director Cameron Crowe, and giving early opportunities to Wes Anderson and Simpsons creator Matt Groening. A stalwart mentor to filmmakers involved with the Austin Film Festival throughout her lifetime, 

This month, we dropped thousands of shots from six of Polly Platt’s most notable collaborations. There’s The Bad News Bears (1976), Terms of Endearment (1983) and The Witches of Eastwick (1987), which she was the Production Designer for; What’s Up, Doc? (1972) and Paper Moon (1973), which she was the Production Designer and Costume Designer for; and Targets (1968), which she Production Designed, Costume Designed and co-wrote! Check them all out on ShotDeck today.

JEAN-PIERRE MELVILLE

Step into the office of the King of Cool! This month, we programmed five films from legendary French auteur Jean-Pierre Melville, whose slick, stylized crime dramas influenced by his time in the French Resistance during World War II made him one of the first fully independent French filmmakers to achieve both commercial and critical success around the world. Born Jean-Pierre Grumbach, he adopted the pseudonym “Melville” as a tribute to his favorite American author, Herman Melville, and kept it as his stage name once the war ended and he started making movies.

An unflinching minimalist whose formal precision and love of underworld stories made him a master of unspoken tension and existential dread, Melville’s work made stars of French actors like Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo, and positioned him both as an early godfather of the French New Wave, and as an enduring influence on contemporary filmmakers such as David Fincher, Nicolas Winding Refn and Quentin Tarantino. Check out this month’s curation on ShotDeck: The Silence of the Sea (1949), Bob le Flambeur (1956), Léon Morin, Priest (1961), Le Doulos (1962) and Le Cercle Rouge (1970).

EXPATS

In May, we dropped thousands of shots from Lulu Wang’s drama miniseries Expats. Based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel The Expatriates, Expats is set against the tapestry of the complex lives of a tight-knit group of expats living in Hong Kong, after a single encounter sets off a chain of life-altering events for each of them. The miniseries stars Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee and Jack Huston. 

Series cinematographer Anna Franquesa-Solano, who collaborated with Wang on her debut feature film, The Farewell, wanted to create a visual language of both restraint and sustained tension for the series. This is perhaps best encapsulated by two of the series’ opening shots. The first follows and zooms with a young Asian woman as she disappears into a crowd of people. The next cuts into a conversation with Margaret (Kidman) that starts on her back and slowly dollies around her as she speaks with a friend at a café. While Margaret is having a banal conversation, the camerawork underlines a subtext of tension that suggests that all might not be well under the surface. These long, sustained shots would come to define the visual language of suspense, tension and intrigue throughout the series.

BLUE EYE SAMURAI

This month, we curated shots from Season 1 of the animated television series Blue Eye Samurai. Created by wife-and-husband team Amber Noizumi and Michael Green, the series is set during Japan’s Edo period and follows Mizu (Maya Erskine), a mixed-race onna-musha (female warrior) who embarks on a quest for vengeance against four white men – one of whom is her father – who illegally remained in Japan during the closing of its borders by the Tokugawa shogunate. Blue Eye Samurai also stars George Takei, Masi Oka, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Brenda Song, Randall Park and Kenneth Branagh, and Season 1 won three Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program.

Blue Eye Samurai was animated using a hybrid of two-dimensional and three-dimensional techniques, utilizing the technologies of both mediums to give the series a 2D feel influenced by Bunraku puppets, a traditional Japanese art form utilizing puppets that could be over 3 feet tall and a performance heritage dating back over 300 years. Animated by French studio Blue Spirit, the series was designed to have the look of a “moving painting” with sets and characters influenced by westerns in both Eastern and Western cinematic traditions.

MUSIC VIDS & COMMERCIALS

In April, we dropped over 12,000 new shots from a collection of 200 music videos and commercials.

Check out shots from music videos by hip-hop stars Doechii and Kendrick Lamar, modern pop icons The Weeknd and Dua Lipa, singer-songwriters Michael Kiwanuka and James Blake, and rock duos Royal Blood and The Black Keys.

And in commercial land, we have new shots for you to add to your decks from work representing sportswear brands such as Adidas and Canterbury of New Zealand, automobile companies such as Honda and Mercedes-Benz, news outlets such as The Guardian, and jewelry designers like Ella Bull. Check them all out today!

In June, we’re bringing you Zombie Week!, as well as curations from filmmakers and television creators celebrating Pride Month, more 2025 releases, and a whole new bag of music videos and commercials. See you then!