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Quentin Tarantino loves this trope.
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 Quentin Tarantino who has a Trunk Shot in all of his films.
See Punk in the Trunk for one of the ways this shot can be used.
Sister trope to Binocular Shot and Mouth Cam.
Examples of Trunk Shot include:
Film[]
- He Walked By Night : Credited with being the first film to use this trope.
- Goodfellas
- Every Quentin Tarantino movie ever:
- Jackie Brown
- Kill Bill
- Pulp Fiction
- Reservoir Dogs
- From Dusk till Dawn
- Death Proof (Inverted, this one is actually a shot from under the front hood of a car).
- Inglourious Basterds (Actually, the POV is just lying on the ground.)
- 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.
- Laid to Rest
- Meet the Robinsons. A Shout-Out to Tarantino in a Disney film. With frogs.
- Hot Fuzz. Also an intentional Shout-Out. Ta da.
Live Action TV[]
- Supernatural—the Winchesters keep their weapons in the trunk, and so 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 ("Let's get to work.").
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia uses this trope in "Paddy's Pub: The Worst Bar in Philadelphia" Given the 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.
- The 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.