A practical manual of screen playwriting : for theater and television films (1952)

102 A PRACTICAL MANUAL OF SCREEN PLAYWRITING The medium-close shot At times it may be necessary to show what is known as a "tight two-shot"— the heads and shoulders of two people. This would be done in a medium-close shot, which places the camera in a position between that of a medium shot and that of a close shot, enough to accommodate the two heads. This is another "must" shot for television scripts which, together with the closer shots, comprise a majority of the total shots in a TV script. The close shot The close shot is often confused with the close-up. In the former, the camera distance is such that the figure shown includes only everything from the shoulders up. However, it is still possible to include in the picture a few details, such as props or set dressing, which can be used either for pictorial, for compositional, or for thematic or story purposes. Thus, although the close shot has a tendency to slow up the forward movement and impede dramatic action, it carries with it other advantages that compensate for the loss. For the close shot can particularize. It can say to the audience, in effect, "Look here! See what's happening now. It's really important!" The close shot should be to the television script what the medium shot is to the theater feature-film screen play. It should be used again and again, but do not forget to re-establish, after a series of close shots, with a reorienting medium shot. Up to this point, the various shots discussed have been, to a certain degree, only slightly different from those obtained in a stage play. In fact, when motion pictures were first made, these shots were used exclusively, especially the medium shot. But when Griffith adopted and perfected the close shot and close-up, motion pictures took their first step out of their swaddling clothes. For it was with these cinematic devices that the screen writer and director became cinematic creators.