Compare / Same director Blazing Saddles vs Spaceballs Shot length, color & pacing compared
Both films are directed by Mel Brooks, 13 years apart. Spaceballs averages 5.6 seconds per shot, while Blazing Saddles holds each shot 43% longer, at 8.0 seconds.
Each stripe is the average color of a slice of the film, from the first frame (left) to the last (right).
By the numbers Metric Blazing Saddles Spaceballs Average shot length 8.0s 5.6s Total shots 699 1,037 Cuts per minute 7.5 10.8 Runtime analyzed 93 min 96 min Close-ups or tighter 50% 60% Setup: avg shot 9.8s 6.4s Middle act: avg shot 7.8s 5.3s Final act: avg shot 6.7s 5.3s
Shot scale mix
What the data shows 01 Blazing Saddles has 699 shots (7.5 cuts a minute); Spaceballs has 1,037 (10.8 a minute). 02 Spaceballs frames faces more tightly: 60% of its shots are close-ups or tighter, against 50% for Blazing Saddles. 03 The most common framing in both is the medium close-up. 04 Blazing Saddles is the brighter film overall: its average frame brightness is 22% higher than Spaceballs's. 05 Blazing Saddles cuts fastest in its final act (6.7s per shot) and slowest in its setup (9.8s). 06 Spaceballs keeps a steady rhythm across all three acts (6.4s, 5.3s, 5.3s per shot).