FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130  
131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   >>   >|  
scene. And on the other hand the producer may find that he needs a special close-up scene at a point where your conception of the movements of the characters has not made it appear necessary. Anyhow, the close-up is an interpretation. If, as I hold, the producer is an interpreter, would it not be better to leave this matter of close-ups to him, and write your scene straight, with emphasis on the points that should be brought out most strongly? I don't say that this surmise is right; I merely am wondering. In any event, we do not want to see the close-up overdone. We don't want too much of the Griffith staccato. It leads to what a certain friend of mine once called Tom Lawson's method of muck-raking--'The method of universal emphasis.'" It is interesting to note in the first paragraph of the quotation from Mr. Merwin's letter that he advocates giving, in most pictures, "the first few hundred feet" to a proper introduction of the characters and to laying the foundation, as it were, for the story proper. This is in marked contrast to the method of a few years ago, when one-reel pictures were the rule, and when very little footage could be spared for such introductory scenes. Today, with very much longer pictures, there is no excuse for any writer's ever feeling himself cramped for room in which to make clear everything that the spectator ought to know in connection with his characters and his plot. Finally, in connection with the _story_, as written by you, and the _picture_, as put on by the director, we again quote Mr. Sargent: "If you _need_ a close-up, write it in, numbering it as a separate scene. If you do not need a close-up, don't write one in, even though you see innumerable close-ups used. Let the director make these as his fancy or judgment may dictate. He can see just where and how the use of the close-up can help the _pictorial_ quality of the picture. You are apt to concern yourself only with the narrative value of the close-up, employing it only where it is necessary in order to get the _story_ over clearly. You cannot possibly imagine the scene exactly as it will be set up or played, therefore you cannot tell where and how _pictorial_ close-ups or other effects will be useful. Leave that to the director and he will handle the numbering according to his special system. Number _your own_ close-ups, because they are separate scenes even though they are in reality a part of other scenes." What this crit
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130  
131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
method
 

director

 

characters

 
pictures
 
scenes
 
pictorial
 

connection

 

separate

 

picture

 

numbering


proper
 
producer
 

emphasis

 

special

 

Finally

 

written

 

handle

 

Number

 

system

 

cramped


feeling
 

writer

 

spectator

 
reality
 

quality

 
concern
 
narrative
 

employing

 

dictate

 

judgment


played

 

effects

 
Sargent
 
excuse
 

imagine

 
possibly
 

innumerable

 

hundred

 

surmise

 

strongly


points

 

brought

 
wondering
 

Griffith

 
staccato
 
overdone
 

straight

 

conception

 
movements
 

matter