Incidentally, Scene 49
shows very clearly the distinction between the bust and the close-up.
This is a very close view of the boy's hands, but it cannot be called
a bust because of the fact that it is an action scene. The close-up
compares with the bust in much the same way that any painting with
supposedly human, moving figures compares with those pictures which
come under the "still life" classification.
This illustration of the use of the bust and the close-up is taken
from an actual script, prepared by one of the Vitagraph Company's
staff writers. It will be noticed that the "description" of the scene
following the bust scene is "44--Back to wide-angle of room," instead
of "44--Back to 42," which it would have been had this Vitagraph
writer followed the same rules of technique as were used by the writer
of the script from which the example on page 159 was taken. The
Vitagraph writer follows the same rule in writing the description of
close-up scenes, also. Either form is correct, and it is optional
which you use. There are certain technical terms as well as methods of
writing for which there are no hard and fast rules, and this accounts
for the fact that some writers will say "leader" when others use the
term "sub-title," and so on.[18]
[Footnote 18: Compare the Vitagraph-made working scenario in Chapter
XX with the one-reel scenario reproduced in Chapter V.
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