You see, I am now speaking as a producer as well as a
writer. The value of the close-up almost always is governed in
practice by floor conditions. I mean by this several things. For one
thing, if the cast is not the ideal cast you have had in mind when
writing the play the character you have set down for a close-up may
not be able to express what it is essential to express in that
particular close-up. The producer must then find some other means of
punctuating the situation. For another thing, no producer is likely to
build a set and handle his people in it in exactly the way you have
conceived. For that matter, no two producers are likely to handle the
set and the characters in the same way. It follows that very often the
producer can secure a natural close-up in the course of the action
where you have called for a special close-up 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.
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