"Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk."
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk."
— The Bee Gees, "Stayin' Alive"
Introducing a character by showing the feet and either panning or cutting to the rest of the body, ending with the face. Evidently, shoe selection is a big element for characterization. Or the director is just into feet.
This trope is often used to introduce characters who are evil or sexy, or both. Someone may be crouching down or laying prone for some reason (perhaps injured) and a pair of shoes will step directly in front of them, creating unease. Or a number of people - maybe even a huge crowd - are waiting for someone to arrive, and that arrival is heralded by footsteps and then the appearance of feet. Either way, the camera will travel upward very slowly, building anxiety as the audience (whether in-universe or out) receives the full effect of being towered over by an intimidating figure. Leg Focus may come into play, but not necessarily. The same can also be applied to Fearsome Foot.
Sometimes the trope is used for reasons other than villainy or sex appeal. A character's feet, for example, might be a clue to their personality. Extremely colourful shoes can indicate someone either mischievous or buffoonish, while bare feet might signal anything from a Noble Savage to a person determined to triumph despite poverty.
And sometimes the character's face is just so worth waiting for that the creators put off The Reveal until the last possible second. They might even cut back and forth to whoever is looking at this character to draw out the process even more. A Giant Foot of Stomping is, as you might expect, introduced this way.
Not to be confused with Dynamic Entry, which sometimes also happens feet first.
Examples:
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Advertising
- A French Lipton iced tea commercial opens on a city of abandoned shoes, until a tea-drinking man's sneakerednote feet walk into the scene.
- A Sky Italia commercial featuring giant soccer players introduces two of them with closeups of their large feet.
- The Splatterhouse TurboGrafx-16 port's commercial begins with a live-action Rick Taylor's bruised bare feet dragging across a dusty floor.
- A commercial for a scuba-diving Stretch Armstrong figure opens on a live-action Stretch's left foot taking a temperature-testing dip into the water, hiding the daunting height of his dive until the next scene; in which Stretch, sitting on top of a tall dock, retracts his leg to finish putting on his flippers.
Anime & Manga
- The first time L's full appearance is revealed in Death Note, when he meets the Japanese Police Force, the camera pans up from his bare feet (one of which is scratching his leg) to his face, both establishing his eccentricity and saving his face for last.
- Digimon Adventure tri.: The first thing we get to see of Mimi are her feet with her stylish sandal boots.
- Misaki from Excel♡Saga is introduced this way. However, the camera keeps stopping at her breasts and her face is blurred out in various ways before finally showing what she looks like.
- In Fairy Tail, almost every entrance of Zeref is like this.
- In the Fatal Fury film, Kim Kaphwan's gorgeous wife Myeungseuk is introduced legs first. A Justified Trope, so to say: her and Kim's youngest son Jae Hoon is with her, and he's a tiny Cheerful Child no older than six.
- In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), the first episode introduces Roy mustang with a shot of his military boots from behind, signalling his power to the audience, before showing his face.
- The first we see of Yukari in The Garden of Words is her feet and shoes as seen from Takao's POV. A nice touch on the "getting on your feet" symbolism in the movie.
- In GTO: The Early Years, Nao Kadena is first seen as just her stiletto-clad feet walking past the mail slot of the Oni-Baku's apartment.
- In Hellsing, Alexander Anderson is introduced this way, with the slight twist of it being him walking down some stairs.
- In the Inuyasha anime, the first thing we saw of Kagura was a close-up to her always bare feet.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: Hifumi Abe, the final of the five counterparts to Princess Kaguya's suitors (and thus the implicit final member of the Student Council) in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is introduced this way. In reality, the focus was actually on his cat Gomanosuke, who goes on to be a very minor recurring character. Hifume himself never shows up again after that one panel.
- The epilogue for Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd As uses this in a heartwarming manner. Specific focus is put on Hayate's legs before her face is shown to underline the fact that she is finally free of the Book of Darkness' curse, which had rendered her paraplegic for most of her childhood.
- In Noir, when the Bouquet family's killer is finally seen they are shot from the feet up, with the distinct shoes revealing it's Kirika before we ever reach the face.
- Sailor Moon: the first part of Makoto Kino in Jupiter, the Powerful Girl in Love" is a shot of her heel, close to the camera when she confronts a gang of bullies threatening Usagi, who accidentally bumped into them. The camera then pans from the lower-half of her body to her upper-half to reveal who she is.
- Shakugan no Shana: Yuji's hitherto missing father, for almost half the episode.
- Oddly Reiji Akaba from Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V is always introduced this way.
- This is how Makishima Shougo is introduced in the first episode of the Psycho-Pass new edit.
Comic Books
- Supergirl storyline "The Unknown Supergirl": The readers' first look of the Infinite Monster is two absolutely humongous, scaly red feet trampling over a city as Supergirl futilely tries to stop their advance.
- X-Men: Not couting the cover, Gambit is first introduced in Uncanny X-Men #266 walking towards a de-aged storm.
Fan Works
- The Evil Queen: Goro Akechi is first introduced by kicking his way out of a police car in the Metaverse, so his legs are the first things described.
- Upon making the jump from Prehistoric Earth to its subsequent Continuity Reboot Prehistoric Park Reimagined, the very first moment in which Cynthia physically appears consists of her foot stepping down from a helicopter.
Films — Animation
- In Beauty and the Beast, when the Beast steps into a spotlight to reveal himself to Belle, the camera shows his lupine feet before his monstrous face.
- Cars: As Doc Hudson drives into the courtroom and takes the podium, the camera is focused on his tires.
- Massive manservant Max from Cats Don't Dance enters the soundstage via an Impact Silhouette in the wall, and his feet are shown in polished shoes that create tremors with every footfall. The next shot shows his brutish head way up among the Kleig lights. His last footstep squishes a rubber duck.
- Cinderella is introduced this way in Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.
- In Incredibles 2, Tony's first glimpse of the rest of the Parr family is at their boots, aside from Violet.
- The Saturday Night Fever example below is parodied in Madagascar with Marty the Zebra, complete with "Stayin' Alive" in the background.
- In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games:
- This is how Sunset Shimmer, running to the school, is introduced. It's also the movie's first shot.
- When Human Twilight is properly introduced in Crystal Prep uniform, it's with a pan up from her feet.
- The Spongebob Squarepants Movie: BIGGER BOOT!
- Of course, these being very small sea creatures encountering a normal-sized scuba-diver, this trope is a pretty reasonable usage.
- Toy Story: This is how Buzz Lightyear is actually introduced.
- Turning Red:
- The audience's first look at Mei's red panda form is two huge furry red feet crushing Mei's bunny slippers.
- Mei's aunties get introduced with a view of their footwear before shots of their jewelry are seen.
- White Snake (2019):
- Our first look at the Little Daiost three-headed crane mount is of its feet stomping as it enters snake catcher villages.
- The General has a slow pan up from his feet up when we see him for the first time.
Films — Live-Action
- Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss is introduced feet first in high heels as she exits a helicopter. Her shoes contrast with the row of combat boots belonging to the marines who exit before her.
- Amélie: The mystery man is at first seen only by his feet, with distinctive red shoes. Later it is revealed that this is the bald man who keeps mysteriously reappearing in Nino's album of discarded passport photos, and for a simple reason: he is the photo booth repair man, discarding his test photos.
- In The Ascent (1977), Portnov the evil collaborator is introduced this way, when Sotnikov the patriotic Russian soldier is thrown into the interrogation room and at Portnov's feet.
- In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, we first see Vanessa Kensington via a slow pan up her entire body.
- In Avatar, it emphasizes Jake's joy (he's a paraplegic) in being able to move his toes and feel the dirt between them after linking with his Avatar. On a more subtle level, the first shots of the bare feet on Jake's Avatar are also used to show off the unprecedented level of detail in the wrinkles of the fully CGI models. And Quaritch is introduced boots first.
- In Avengers: Infinity War, the viewers first see Ebony Maw's feet as he steps over corpses of dead Asgardians and Sakaaran gladiators. The camera then moves up to reveal his body, and finally, his face.
- Done with Kristy in the film adaptation of The Babysitters Club. Justified because during her introductory scene, she was getting dressed. Her feet were the only part of her that could be shown without being way too risqué for a kid's movie.
- The martial arts film The Bare-footed Kid introduces it's eponymous main character walking through the streets... his bare foot filling up the entire screen being the first audiences see of him. It's an emphasis of his status as being Barefoot Poverty.
- Blade (1998): A vampire's victim crawls away in search of a safe place to hide and comes face-to-toe with a pair of boots. The camera pans up to give the audience its first view of Blade as an adult.
- In Boot Camp, Dr. Hail is introduced by a lengthy shot of his sandal-clad feet and walking stick slowly approaching the newly arrived teens.
- Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman: The Machine Gun Woman enters the story with a shot of her Combat Stilettos striding through the town square, sending pigeons scattering.
- The Burning: The prostitute is shown from Cropsy's POV as he stares at her legs as she stands in a doorway. The camera then follows her feet as she leads him back to her apartment, with her face not being seen till she starts to ascend the stairs.
- Coming to America: During King Jaffe's grand entrance with his motorcade in Queens, he's shown feet first stepping on the rose petals his servant girls throw down wherever he goes.
- Constantine (2005): When Lucifer manifests on Earth, the camera first shows his feet, bare and dripping hot tar, hanging in midair before he deigns to touch the ground.
- Used for a Big Little Man gag in Elf when legendary writer Miles Finch (played by Peter Dinklage) enters the room, revealed only by his feet and the awed expressions of onlookers. We only see his height when Miles pushes away a chair so he can stand at the conference table that everyone else is sitting at.
- Done to truly awe-inspiring effect in Godzilla (2014), when in the midst of the chaotic airport scene, the camera pans from the male M.U.T.O. past a line of exploding planes before a truly enormous scaly foot slams down into frame, instantly shocking everyone in the airport into silence. It also serves to emphasize Godzilla's size by showing how big his foot alone is compared to the massive M.U.T.O.
- In Hobo With a Shotgun, Drake is introduced stepping out of his limo as Logan is begging the hobo for help. The first things seen are his perfectly polished black shoes and his immaculate white trousers: which mark him as an anomaly on the grime-ridden streets of Scum Town.
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull reintroduces the title character by having his boots walk into shot then panning up to the iconic shadow as he replaces his hat. Obviously included just for the trailer, but damn it works.
- Virgil Tibbs is introduced this way in In the Heat of the Night.
- Intouchables: When the camera pans over the men waiting for the job interview, it goes for their shoes. All highly polished, combined with ironed trousers... and then it reaches a pair of worn trainers, after which Driss is shown in an establishing shot. With this simple trick the audience knows how much he doesn't fit in there.
- Jem and the Holograms (2015): When Erica Raymond is first introduced in the film, her heels are shown walking up the sidewalk and kicking a skateboard.
- In Jojo Rabbit Jojo's mother Rosie is first introduced walking up in very distinctive shoes to his hospital bed from his perspective while he's laying down . Her shoes remain a very important recurring motif, culminating in them being all you can see when Jojo finds her hanged as traitor in the town square.
- The shiny-shoed assassin in Jumpin' Jack Flash, though that was to conceal his identity from the audience.
- Subverted at the start of Jurassic World, when two wicked claws slam down like Giant Feet of Stomping. What terrible creature do they belong to? An ordinary bird.
- In Kiss Me Deadly, Soberin is introduced with a shot of his highly-polished wingtip shoes; until his final scene, all the audience sees of him are his lower legs and feet.
- In The Last Jedi, after Rose and Finn are thrown into one of the casino's prison cells, they end up sitting next to the sleeping feet of DJ, the very person that they were looking for.
- Played for laughs in Legion with an old lady and her walker.
- Lolita:
- Used for creepy effect in the 1997 movie for the introduction of pedophile Quilty. Dolores is on her hands and knees, petting his dog. The camera does a slow pan up from Quilty's shoes to his face... which is still hidden from the audience behind part of the chair. Instead we only hear Quilty's voice as he talks to Dolores, and he continues to be a shadowy figure for much of the movie.
- The Title Sequence of the Stanley Kubrick adaptation has a closeup of Humbert's hands painting Lolita's toenails.
- One of several shots used to introduce Mad Max, who's shown either from a distance, from behind, via a close-up of his hands fiddling with his engine, or his boots calmly striding around his Pursuit Special in deliberate contrast to the violent Car Chase his police colleagues are engaged in.
- The Matrix. The first time Smith is introduced, when he gets out of the garbage truck after trying to crush Trinity, is this.
- Neo's entrance to the building where Morpheus is being held prisoner.
- Serleena's introduction in Men in Black II as she shapeshifts into a human disguise starts by focusing on her high heel shoes, then slowly panning up her legs and lingerie clad body, before she gets jumped by a mugger who she promptly eats.
- For the first three minutes of 14-minute film Meshes of the Afternoon, all we see of the unnamed protagonist is her feet as she walks up a concrete driveway and then into her home.
- Mystery Men. When The Spleen enters the cafe, the camera focuses first on his shoes, which then pivot and he walks forward as the camera pans up to his face, as seen here
.
- Parodied in The Naked Gun 33 1/3, where the camera just keeps going up the legs...and up the legs...and up the legs. It passes the knees twice.
- Nothing but Trouble: The deputy sheriff is introduced shoes first as he gets out of his police cruiser.
- Used for the Big Damn Heroes moment in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. James Bond is trapped in an ice-skating rink while SPECTRE mooks search through the crowd. Bond is in despair, expecting to be captured again; he sits at a table with his collar up and his head down, hoping to blend in with the other tourists. Suddenly one of the ice skaters comes to a halt right in front of him. Bond looks up from the ice skates past well formed legs to...a smiling Tracy di Vincenzo, whom he last saw in Portugal and who has an ice-modified fast car to get him out of there. Diana Rigg (the actress playing Tracy) couldn't ice skate, so a stunt double was used until the camera panned upwards to reveal the real actress.
- Hannibal Chau from Pacific Rim. The first time he properly appears, the shot starts on his gold-plated shoes and pans up to his face.
- The remake of The Parent Trap uses this with Annie, so that it takes viewers some time to realise she looks like Hallie.
- In Parker, the first shot of Parker is of his feet emerging from his car. The camera slowly moves up his body as he takes a case out of the boot, before finally revealing his face. And that he is dressed as a priest.
- In The Pianist, the first shot of Captain Hosenfeld is of his boots.
- Done for both Davy Jones and Blackbeard in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Jones is also heralded by his ominous, mismatched footsteps; Blackbeard is seen as a menacing silhouette against the smoky interior of his cabin before he is fully revealed.
- The first appearance of Cora Smith (Lana Turner) in the 1946 film version of The Postman Always Rings Twice.
- Pulp Fiction: Mía Wallace is introduced by a long tracking shot of her bare feet (a clear sign this movie was made by Quentin Tarantino).
- Done with jingling spurs in The Quick and the Dead for the introduction of the villain. When he duels the Lady at the end of the movie, her reappearance when revealed as Not Quite Dead also has the jingling spurs.
- The rival baseball team is introduced this way in The Sandlot. The trope was used as a method to contrast their snazzy uniforms against the casual and eclectic outfits and shoes the sandlot team wore.
- The title character in the incredibly surreal Mexican B-movie Santa Claus (1959) is introduced to a forlorn child with this shot.
- Saturday Night Fever: The first thing we see are Tony Manero's feet as he struts down the street.
- The NEB soldier approaching the Alliance base at the start of Screamers. He doesn't keep his feet for long.
- Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th: The masked psycho killer is first seen walking into frame wearing a very distinctive pair of boots. This is a set-up to a later gag because multiple unrelated characters are also wearing this type of boot.
- In The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case, the first shot of the Big Bad Jonathan Small is his wooden leg—making its distinctive clopping sound—striding along the prison corridor towards Major Sholto's office.
- In A Simple Favor, Emily (Blake Lively) makes a deliberately emphatic first entrance, emerging from a Porsche in killer heels; there's a particular emphasis on her feet because her face is initially screened by an umbrella. The movie's trailer exploits the hell out of this moment, which comes about as close to a Leg Focus scene as is possible when the character is wearing a pant suit. The trope is played with a little, though, in that it takes place in a rainstorm and the character is a mother picking her kid up from school; the audience is reminded that this is (for now) a comedy set in suburbia, albeit one with, well, Blake Lively in killer heels.
- Cyd Charisse gets this in Singin' in the Rain when Gene Kelly drops his hat and she picks it up with her foot, showing off her lovely physique in the process. In her case, the trope could well be alternatively named "Legs First Introduction".
- Some Like It Hot uses this to introduce gangster boss "Spats" Columbo, focusing on his nice shoes as he steps out of a limousine.
- Spy Hard used a similar gag, panning from the feet and up the legs... before a similarly-dressed woman comes in front of the giant statue.
- Done cleverly in Strangers on a Train. The protagonist and antagonist are both introduced by showing their feet as they make their way to the titular train, walking in opposite directions, the first of many instances of the theme of duality the movie uses.
- In Suburban Commando, the first thing we see of Shep Ramsey is his boots as he is shooting down Suitor's men.
- Done with the desert camp survival participants at the beginning of Suits on the Loose.
- In Sunset, Wyatt Earp first appears with his boots climbing down the steps at the rear of the train, far away from the hoopla happening at the other end.
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day:
- The movie begins with a close-up of a Terminator stepping on and crushing a human skull.
- When the Terminator steps out of the bar wearing its newly acquired leather jacket and boots, the camera starts on its boots, then pans up as "Bad to the Bone" begins playing. This makes the Terminator more badass.
- After the T-1000 kills off the police officer who appears when it has just time-traveled, this is used to establish that it has (apparently) donned the cop's uniform.
- Sarah Connor's nightmare sequence begins with her combat boots striding across the grass.
- The killer in the 1984 Clint Eastwood movie Tightrope is first shown via his trainers as he stalks a woman. She's aware someone is following her, but runs into a uniformed police officer who escorts her home safely. The camera then tracks down to show the 'police officer' is wearing the killer's trainers.
- Parodied in Top Secret! when Nick breaks back into Flurgendorf prison and finds himself crawling towards a pair of guard boots... which pan up to reveal that nobody is wearing them.
- Used in The Usual Suspects to hide the identity of Keyser Söze. This is cleverly used as Book Ends for The Reveal, as Verbal Kint's limp slowly changes to a confident stride as he walks away from the police station.
- The opening shot of Jess Franco's ''Venus In Furs begins on Wanda's shoes, then pans up her stockinged legs.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit: The first thing we see of Jessica Rabbit is one of her legs peeking through a curtain. Followed by one of her breasts.
- Wild Tales opens with a shot of María Marull's high heels and wheeled case she struts towards the check-in desk at the airport.
- Yukio and Viper from The Wolverine have these with their "badass in boots" look, as well as a Leg Focus intro when Viper gets out of her car at the funeral.
- X-Men: The Last Stand: The feet that step out of the limousine belong to Charles Xavier. It's a surprise because he's always been seen in a wheelchair. A subtitle appears: "Ten Years Ago".
Literature
- In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Madame Maxime is introduced foot first - specifically, a foot in a high-heeled shoe the size of a boat. This introduces both her glamour and her half-giant stature.
- A plot point in the Hercule Poirot novel, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. Poirot first meets Miss Salisbury-Seale while the latter was coming out of a taxi and takes a particular notice of her shiny, buckled shoe. The state of this shoe is what helps Poirot realise who the murderer is.
- Our first introduction to Claire in Whale Music is her bare feet, under the covers while she sleeps on Desmond's couch.
Live-Action TV
- In an episode of 1000 Ways to Die "Dead Before They Know It", the first death story opens up with the bare soles of Shelly as she is lying down in a tanning bed.
- Angel.
- Subverted in the Cold Open of "Release" from the usual badass version — the shoes of an exhausted Wesley and a severely battered Faith slowly step into frame, then drops of blood from Faith's wounds drip onto the floor.
- Used for a Bait-and-Switch in "War Zone". We're meant to think the sword-wielding Badass Longcoat is Angel, but it's our introduction to series regular Charles Gunn.
Gunn: "You expecting somebody else?"
- In "Disharmony", a vampire sneaks into Cordelia's bedroom with bloodlust on her mind. As it's ditzy vampire Harmony, the first thing we see is her pink fuzzy slippers.
- Almost a standard camera shot in The Bachelor and its related shows. Whenever a woman arrives at a location, there's a better-than-even chance of either a pan up from the ground or one of her high-heeled feet emerging from a limousine.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Entirely justified with the demon Sweet in "Once More With Feeling" as he wears a great pair of dancing shoes which he puts to immediate use.
- After Xander has cast a love spell that's gone haywire, causing every girl in Sunnydale High to fall for him, we see his feet as he strides down the school hall, Walking in Rhythm to the Average White Band's funky "Got the Love" — as the camera pans up, we see he's in a deer-in-the-headlights state of panic as girls eye him lustfully and the boys Death Glare.
- Spike's badass introduction on the series, as he steps out of his Cool Car. Subverted when the scene is repeated in a later episode...except the first thing we see is a bottle falling out of the car.
- Played for Laughs when the Scoobies think that Spike has returned, and we immediately cut to a striding pair of black combat boots, black leather duster and black shirt...worn by geek Big Bad Wannabe Andrew.
- Done for a Rule of Threes in "The Wish". Cordelia exits her hotrod convertible giving everyone a long look at her long legs in a leather man-eater outfit. After her wish creates an Alternate Universe, Vampire Willow makes her introduction high-heeled boots first, then up to her own leather catsuit and Undeathly Pallor. The third is a Rescue Introduction to our Darker and Edgier Wishverse Buffy, from her entirely unfashionable combat boots and cargo pants to the grey tank top and Rugged Scar across her lip.
- In episode 2.23, "MIA/NYC Nonstop", of CSI: Miami, which served as the back door pilot of CSI: NY, uses this trope to introduce our new hero. An NYPD cruiser arrives a murder scene in The Bowery. The passenger door opens and the shot pans up from a man's right foot as he exits the vehicle, and it fixes on the back of his head as he walks toward the building. We only see the face of Det. Mac Taylor, head of the NY Crime Lab, when he turns to address a fellow officer.
- The Day of the Triffids (2009). Torrence steals and wears a distinctive Saville Row suit early in the series, so just his familiar slacks are shown striding into view for the final act after the protagonists think they've long seen the last of him.
- The opening credits for Dinosaurs work this way, creating an impression of huge dinosaur stomping the forest... before zooming on the face. "Honey, I'm home!"
- In The Flash (2014) Live Action series the first time we see Barry Allen in his Flash outfit is as a slow pan up from his feet.
- Get Smart. Our first look at 99 is a Male Gaze shot from Barbara Felton's feet up to her face.
- How I Met Your Mother has an in-universe example. Barney finally gets his hands on a picture of Ted's new girlfriend and deliberately decides to zoom in on her feet and scroll up, commenting on her various attributes along the way. He's in for a bit of a shock when he finds the face of his sister at the top.
- The first glimpse the audience gets of The Mother is a brief shot of her foot in the hundredth episode. Her first full appearance in the eighth season finale starts by showing her boots as she walks through a train station before cutting to her face as she buys her ticket. As the Mother's identity was the show's main Myth Arc the framing was a deliberate choice to highlight The Reveal of her identity.
- Iron Fist (2017). The introduction of our hero Danny Rand, showing he Prefers Going Barefoot even though he's walking through the middle of New York City. Rather than his badass nature (which comes later), this is to show his eccentricity and lack of social skills.
- Power Rangers Dino Charge: After Sledge decides to go for the Godzilla Threshold and orders his underlings to drag Heckyl out of his cell, only the man's feet are seen at first. Feet in dress shoes as he turns out to be the only Human Alien out of all Sledge's prisoners, outwardly resembling a normal twenty-something male steampunk cosplayer. His unassuming appearance was the key part of Sledge's then new plan to get the Energems.
- NCIS: the episode where Ellie Bishop goes undercover as a hooker introduces her like this.
- Nikita uses this a lot with Amanda—not uniformly, but enough to make it a visual trademark for her.
- Played for laughs in one episode of Police Squad! where an unknown assassin is shown this way during his attacks. When his identity is revealed, he turns out to be a woman wearing a men's shoes and suit trouser-legs reaching from knees down.
- Red Dwarf: In "Demons and Angels", the evil version of Rimmer is introduced walking down a stairway to menace Lister, revealing that he's dressed as a sexually sadistic dominatrix.
- Star Trek:
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: Towards the end of "Ménage à Troi", Wesley got one of these when he was field-promoted to full ensign and got to put on the Starfleet uniform.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In "The Way Of The Warrior", Worf received this treatment when he first boarded DS9.
- In Stranger Things, Eleven is introduced with a shot of her bare feet.
- On Supergirl (2015) When Veronica Sinclair or Roulette in introduced in her fight club, it shows her heels first then scrolls up her body to her face.
- Supernatural
- In a "Rashomon"-Style episode, Sam catches Dean chatting up a girl in a bar instead of working the case. In both cases we get a Male Gaze view from her legs on up: In Sam's version, she has silver high heels with fishnet stockings, a denim miniskirt, a short tank top showing a pierced belly button, blue eyeshadow, lip gloss, and bleached blonde curls. In Dean's version, she has black pumps, dark stockings, a sleek, black, cocktail dress, and a diamond necklace.
- In "The Bourne Again Identity", Dean stabs a demon who does a Staircase Tumble right up to the legs of Castiel, in the Reveal Shot that he's Back from the Dead.
- The first season of the 1989-90 Nickelodeon game show Think Fast always used this trope with then-host Michael Carrington as he came in, even though he was usually seen first in the Locker Room telling viewers, "Hey you! Think Fast!" as a practical joke took place.
- The Twilight Zone (1985): In "Dead Woman's Shoes", the first that the audience sees of Maddie Duncan is her feet as she walks to the thrift store where she works. She continually steps out of people's way as she does so. The camera pans to reveal her face when she arrives in the store.
- Burgundy Smith's first appearance in The Westerner is his well-polished boots exiting a saloon in "Brown". The camera follows his boots as he walks along the boardwalk till he stops, then pans up to show him opening a bottle of champagne.
- Wynonna Earp. The episode that started with Waverley in her cheerleader costume & matching cowboy boots (s02e03).
- Jacqueline's male disguise is introduced this way in the first episode of Young Blades.
Music Videos
- A barefoot, mostly-nude Gotye gets this in the music video for "Somebody That I Used to Know".
- Tom Petty's character is introduced this way in the Heartbreakers' post-apocalyptic music video for "You Got Lucky"
- The Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense begins with a close-up of David Byrne's feet as he walks onto the stage.
- The video for Tanz Mit Laibach loves this trope, and boots, and marching.
- In the music video for "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, the camera starts at Michael Jackson's glittery socks and pans up slowly from there. Given that this was near the highest point of his career, his appearance was clearly meant to be the video's Moment of Awesome, so the suspenseful introduction makes sense.
- South African singer Bok van Blerk uses this trope in his ballad Appel, Lemoene. in which two zef delivery drivers set the scene by leering at passing women from their bakkie, then seriously get up the nose of a greengrocer called Sally. Who gets the full feet-up treatment as she is seen to storm out, before coming back with a very big rifle. Never annoy an Afrikaaner meisie who can shoot straight. In the case of both the anonymous blonde woman in the street and of Sally the greengrocer, the first sight of them is their legs, and the camera moves upwards, with cutaways to the reaction from the two zefs.
Video Games
- In Brain Dead 13, when Lance stumbles into Vivi's Salon and gets up, the first thing he sees is her neon purple high-heeled shoes before the camera pans up from her legs to her chest, and finally to a close-up of Vivi herself, looking at her facial mirror.
- Outside the dream sequence intro, this is how Kid is introduced in Chrono Cross.
- Danger Girl introduces The Heavy, Major Maxim, as a massive boot crushing a skeleton in the opening cinematics. Before the scene pans out to reveal an excavation of an ancient Indian tomb in progress.
- Dead or Alive: Takes place in Zack's ending from the third game. He rides a private limousine through downtown Las Vegas. It arrives at a casino. When the door to the limo opens, there is immediately a closeup of one of Zack's brown leather shoes exiting the car. A wide shot shows Zack exiting the limo while wearing a white tuxedo. He then grooms himself before heading to a high rollers room.
- Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: Chapter 6-4, Writhing Shadow, starts off with a cutscene of a gigantic clawed foot slamming down in front of Laharl's group. It belongs to the Overlord of an Alternate Netherworld, whom has come to take over the Netherworld with Krichevskoy dead.
- Dissidia 012: Duodecim: Each of Yuna's matches begins with brief cutscene, where the camera focuses on her feet as she enters the frame, before revealing who she is. Her feet are even something of a meme, because they were how she was confirmed to be appearing in the game at all.
- Kingdom Hearts: The Riku Replica is introduced like this in Re:Reverse/Rebirth when the real Riku first meets him.
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Ilia's introductory cutscene begins with a close-up of her bare feet, then slowly pans up her body, stopping just shy of fully showing her face. Though you get to see her smile, before she leads Epona offscreen towards the Ordon Spring.
- Dekar in Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, when he meets with Idura.
- Middle-earth: Shadow of War: When Shelob takes human form for the first time on screen, it first shows a closeup of her bare feet before panning up.
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, many of the witnesses are introduced from the feet up when they take the witness stand, including Armie "Sarge" Buff, who's testifying through a helicopter drone (as well as when Armie appears in person), and Uendo Toneido, who is sitting on a large stack of Zabuton pillows.
- Sakura Wars (2019):
- The previously Put on a Bus Sumire Kanzaki's reintroduction begins with a close-up of her shoes walking down the Imperial Theater's steps. As it moves up her body, she closes her fan. Then, when it finally stops on her face, she introduces herself to Seijuro Kamiyama as the theater's general manager.
- In Hatsuho Shinonome's first appearance, the camera focuses on her geta as she walks towards the stage. Then, it pans up to her face as she teases Sakura Amamiya about getting herself some arm candy, only for Sakura to bluntly rebuke her.
- When Anastasia Palma first appears in chapter 2, the first thing we see is her shoes as she walks down the main entrance to greet the rest of the team.
- In Super Mario 64, all three Bowser fights begin with the camera focusing on Bowser's feet. Super Mario 64 DS tries to do the same, but fails since the new Bowser model is smaller and more hunched over, which leaves his face in the frame.
Web Animation
- In the pilot episode of Hazbin Hotel, two characters are introduced feet first.
- Angel Dust is shown getting out of the car of a John he sold his services to, letting the camera pan up his long frame.
- After a bomb goes off in Sir Pentious' airship, the one who threw the bomb steps into the frame with one boot. The camera follows up the boot to reveal Cherri Bomb.
- In "Music to My Ears", the first short preceding My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, Vinyl Scratch is introduced with a pan up from her feet. It notably brings attention to her new shoes, having switched the blue boots she wore in the first movie with tricolor sneakers.
- RWBY:
- Cinder Fall technically has a shot beforehand, but her official introduction focuses on her glass heels and shadows her upper body and face, to establish her own fairytale motif of being inspired by Cinderella.
- In Volume 8, the Madame plays this straight, as we see a shot of her walking across a floor in heels before we see her full body shot. Given the emphasis placed on Cinder's high heels, this is our first indication that she is Cinder's abusive guardian, whose cruelty shaped her into the woman she is today and who was the inspiration for Cinder's own heels. It gets called back in "Ultimatum", where a near identical shot is used for Cinder, demonstrating how she's modeled herself after her abuser.
Webcomics
- Used a few times in Bad Moon Rising in the first story, first with Madison and Chloe's arrival at the bar, and then again with Persephone.
- Technically Feet First Re-introduction, but when we finally get to see Corporal Ross again when the crew reach Tombstone. We are greeted to a pair of boots with a bite mark on them, that they protected her from.
- In The Water Phoenix King, an interesting twist: the first glimpse we have of our unconventional hero is his bare foot as he lies sprawled on a bare wooden floor, in near-rags, not bothering to light the lamp as the sun goes down. It perfectly symbolizes his state of psychological deadness, at the bottom of Fortune's Wheel, right before everything changes and he rejoins the fray:
Gilgam: Moving furniture is a lot of work. Work is a lot of work. I'm happy to lie here.
Anthem: If you had any self-respect you'd be drunk. Lying on the floor while sober smacks of indolence.
Gilgam: Not indolence! A proper sense of the world's fundamental pointlessness! I have a philosophy. The philosophical are never indolent.
Western Animation
- Arcane. Our introduction to Powder after the Time Skip—now Cute and Psycho teenager Jinx—is her boots with the tips of her long blue Braids of Action brushing against them, as she steps out of the smoke.
- Spoofed in The Cleveland Show when Cleveland meets an old school friend of his who grew up to be really hot. His eyes travel up her body, but when he gets to her head the view suddenly and quickly goes over the top of it. We then see that Cleveland accidentally fell over backwards while checking her out.
- Throughout the first season of Code Lyoko, Yumi "entered the screen" this way. Admittedly, it was never meant to be a surprise.
- The DuckTales (2017) episode Louie's Eleven has Daisy Duck descending some staircases. The lower half of her body is the very first thing we get to see of her in the show.
- The opening theme to I ♡ Arlo has each of the main cast introduced doing something in their homes, while the camera is focused on their feet.
- Though one can see her in class, in Iron Man: Armored Adventures when Pepper Potts fully introduced herself to Tony, the camera focused on her feet first.
- Justice League: When Luthor and the Legion of Doom think they've resurrected Brainiac, the smoke clears to reveal the feet of... someone else. The camera pans up to reveal Darkseid, and before it can fully sink in what's happened, he starts to blow things up.
- In The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episode "Impeach Fuzz". When Miss Bellum is introduced in her new "uniform" by Fuzzy, she is introduced bare feet first.
- In Recess, Principal Prickley's replacement Dr Slicer steps out of his car in this fashion. On the day he takes over, he steps out again, but it is actually Prickley, taking his old job back because (ostensibly) the salary was too low.
- Total Drama: Of the campers making their grand entrance in "Not So Happy Campers - Part 1", Lindsay, Heather, and Eva are introduced feet first. Lindsay's and Heather's come back to back. They're the conventionally sexiest female campers, and while the sweet Lindsay's pan shot upwards is accompanied by a sultry jazz tune, the wicked Heather's flash shot is marked by a threatening aerophone and drum. The violent Eva also gets a flash shot and her intro tune starts with a bang that subsides in a threatening aerophone.
- Amalia in Wakfu is introduced feet first. Mainly because it is from Ruel's point of view, and his eyes are more focused on the golden foot cuff on her saddle.
Real Life
- Human babies are rarely born feet-first. While the foetus naturally positions itself to be born head-first most of the time, in about 3 to 5% of pregnancies it ends up "upside-down". Since it is considered a higher risk for the baby to be born this way, most such babies are delivered by caesarean section, or the mother can do abdominal exercises to attempt to rotate the foetus inside the womb. As such, feet-first births are very rare in the developed world, though they may occur in parts of the globe suffering extreme poverty, where access to healthcare is less reliable.
