Compare / Same director Taxi Driver vs The Departed Shot length, color & pacing compared
Both films are directed by Martin Scorsese, 30 years apart. The Departed averages 3.3 seconds per shot, while Taxi Driver holds each shot more than twice as long, at 7.8 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 Taxi Driver The Departed Average shot length 7.8s 3.3s Total shots 873 2,711 Cuts per minute 7.7 17.9 Runtime analyzed 114 min 151 min Close-ups or tighter 70% 82% Setup: avg shot 6.3s 3.7s Middle act: avg shot 8.0s 3.0s Final act: avg shot 9.4s 3.7s
Shot scale mix
What the data shows 01 Taxi Driver has 873 shots (7.7 cuts a minute); The Departed has 2,711 (17.9 a minute). 02 The Departed frames faces more tightly: 82% of its shots are close-ups or tighter, against 70% for Taxi Driver. 03 The most common framing in both is the medium close-up. 04 The Departed is the brighter film overall: its average frame brightness is 23% higher than Taxi Driver's. 05 Taxi Driver has the warmer palette, with noticeably more red than blue across the film; The Departed sits cooler. 06 Taxi Driver cuts fastest in its setup (6.3s per shot) and slowest in its final act (9.4s). 07 The Departed cuts fastest in its middle act (3.0s per shot) and slowest in its final act (3.7s).