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11 6 A PRACTICAL MANUAL OF SCREEN PLAYWRITING
way, the facts revealed to the audience are that Mason is not mad, but that the housekeeper has been plotting to make him think he is.
The camera could have flash-panned from the girl at the gate to the housekeeper at the doorway. But it would have frittered away the full suspense possibilities of the scene, which were completely realized by the pullback dolly. The cut-in was more advisable too, because a flash pan would have had to be shot a number of times before a satisfactory in-focus and centered take would be possible.
In those shots where it is especially apropos for what is shown in the close-up to be seen in relation to what is revealed in the pullback, the pullback dolly is obligatory. If, however, the relationship is not essential— if contrast, relativity, parallelism, or interrelated reactions are not vital considerations, and if the shock of revelation is the only requirement— then a simple pan can be used instead of the pullback dolly.
The pullback dolly is an excellent device for establishing and re-establishing "place"— that is, for orienting the audience to the exact location in which the action is occurring.
Although there may be any number of track lengths available for a pullback dolly, only a limited amount can be used. For at a certain point the camera, if it is pulled back far enough, will reveal the tracks on the floor. This has been overcome, though, when longer pullbacks were found necessary, by resorting to special "breakaway" tracks, which could be pulled away by ropes before appearing in camera view. It is obvious, however, that such preparation requires time and money and is inadvisable for budget theater or television films.
Transition dolly shot. One type of transition device uses a close-up of a subject at the tail end of a shot, which is dissolved into a similar subject to open the succeeding shot. For example, a final close-up could show a hand pounding a clay figure. This would be dissolved into a hand pounding bread dough. In order to establish the place and the surrounding details of the scene in which the dough is being pounded, it would be necessary for the camera to pull back from the close-up of the hands to a medium shot showing the person who is pounding the dough, together with certain establishing details of his surroundings. Thus the audience is made aware of complete identification of what is occurring.