In any dialogue situ atio n w here a c to rs m ove on b u t n o t fr o m th e ir sites, and there is no cam era m ovem ent, variety and com prehensive coverage relies purely o n a cutting pattern.
Approaching anil receding patterns
1 Both players en ter into cam era range, walk tow ards us, and
5 I f som e a c to r is tem p o rarily excluded in an interplay o f close
O ften the silent reaction o f a listening perfo rm er is m ore expressive th a n the face o f the p erfo rm er speaking to him . F o r exam ple, the
theatrical influence in film w ork is a practice still tran sm itted from a policem an w ho is adm onishing its driver. W e cover this dialogue from a full sh o t positio n (see Fig. 8.2). As the policem an h and s a
FIGURE B.1 The insert has the same visual axis as the master shot.
ticket to the driver, we cut to a close reverse sh o t in which we catch th a t delivery being m ade. T he reverse po sitio n in this ease affords us a better view o f th e proceedings. N ow we re tu rn to the full sh o t m aster shot to com plete the scene a n d w itness how the driv er pulls away and the policem an w atches him go.
T h e in sert serves not only to p in p o in t atte n tio n on a n object, b u t also to show in detail an em otional reaction as p o rtray ed on the face o f a player. T he ap p ro ach is sim ilar to the cases ju s t described.
Case B
A n insert can be used twice w ithin a m aster shot. F o r example, T w o persons talk in g as seen from a m aster shot th a t fram es them in full shot. Two inserts o f the sam e p erfo rm er are m ad e where he reacts silently to the w ords o f his p artn e r. As these m om ents come
FIGURE ».2 Tlie insert has a reverse erteie relationship with She master shot.
in the m aster shot, the reaction seen in full sh o t is su b stitu ted by the insert where th a t sam e reaction was filmed in close shot. The editing o rd e r w ould be sim ple:
M aster In se rt 1 - M aster
Insert 2 M aster
In such a situation b oth inserts corresponded to the sam e player, but b o th perform ers can be highlighted alternately, by show ing one o f them in the first insert, an d the o th er in the second.
This second insert need not alw ays be placed w ithin the m ain master shot. It can be used at the end o f it, to cap the sequence w ith the detail that the insert affords.
Case C
An insert shot is often used as hinge to unite tw o m aster shots.
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F o r exam ple: T hree officers are discussing a situ atio n in fro nt o f a m ilitary m ap. T he m ap is placed sideways to th e audience and cannot be clealrly seen. W hen one o f the players points to it, we cut to a close sh o t o f th e m ap and the h and o f the p erfo rm er roam ing over it. This sh o t could be from a righ t angle cam era position, an d is o u r insert.
But then, instead o f retu rn in g to the previous m aster shot, we cut to a second m aster shot th a t continu es the scene (Fig. 8.3).
This second m aster shot can be m ade from any one o f the points o f the triangle cam era disposition for coverage o f a g rou p, and this g roup can be fram ed in its entirety as before. O r the view may become selective and fram e only a section o f it.
FIGURE 8.3 A n Insert Is used to bridge two master shots.
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Case D
In the old days, an d in fact in q u ite recent times, especially in A m erica, static dialogued scenes were shot according to a stan dard p ro c e d u re :
On o th er occasions an insert is used to repair technical errors
Som etim es during the course o f a conversation the ch aracters refer to som ething off screen: a building, an anim al, a vehicle or,
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1
shot follow s its flight from left to right, to show how th e crow
In this cut-aw ay to a past event tw o different tim es co-exist
Number contrast
gro u p is re-established once m o re fro m a fu ll sho t, a n d a new
FIGURE 8.5 Four key master shots th a t can be used to obtain a dynamic visual presentation of a dialogued scene by contrasting distances on the reverse shots.
S hots 1— 3— 1— 3— 1— 3—2 - 4 — 2—4—2 - 4 —
This frequently used v ariatio n gives a flashy p resentatio n to a brisk dialogue.
Variation C.
H ere is an o th er widely used variatio n , applied to parallel ed itin g o f a tw o-player static dialogue. T he system im plies the use o f tw o cam era sites placed o n a com m on visual axis to cover one o f th e players, while only one cam era p o sitio n is given to the o th e r player. I f y ou pick tw o key cam era positions to cover a dialogue, and feel th a t the co n versation is to o long, you can move fo rw ard on the axis o f one o f the m aster takes to cover the second h a lf o f the conversation.
Fig. 8.6 illustrates tw o exam ples where tw o players are used as pivots in a g roup. I f the dialogue is a sh o rt one the editing o rd e r of the sequence could b e :
S hots 1— 2— 1— 2— 1— 2
Since the dialogue is longer, halfw ay th ro u g h it we m ove to a closer positio n on the sam e axis o f one o f the m aster shots (thus
em phasizing one o f the players). T h e editing o rd e r now becomes:
Shots 1 —2— 1 — 2— 1 —2—3— 2— 3—2
B oth exam ples illustrated have subtle differences in number c o n tra st when the closer shot on one o f the visual axes is introduced in th e sequence.
FIGURE8.5 Three baste master shots can be used to cover a large group where two central players serve as pivots. Observe the differences in number contrast that distinguish bcth examples.
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FIGURE 8.7 C rossing a triangular form ation to the other side of the line of interest.
A diversion, in this case a momentary crosswise change in the fine of direction is used to achieve the shifting of the triangular camera placement scheme.
T he solution is to do w ith o u t these bridging phrases altogether, and replace them by visual pauses, th u s o b tain in g a flow o f only peak m om ents o f dialogue o n the screen.
The visual pause resorted to is one th a t p o rtray s something relevant to. the scene w itho ut interfering w ith the con ten ts o f the peak m om ents. Let us look a t an exam ple: D avid L ean, at the beginning o f his film D o c to r Z hivago, m akes use o f th a t technique:
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' 1 The film begins with Y evgraf (Alec G uinness) looking through
Everyday scenes can be covered easily with this technique: passages are selected and edited together, om itting other fragm ents considered not reievant Jo the spirit of the scene. Thus, time compression is achieved.
Case A eliminated the hesitations, repetitions an d verbal pauses betw een the peaks o f dialogue, keeping o n the screen only the im p o rta n t
playing the police inspector, interrogates a suspect. T he inspector
Case E