We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
A reading of the dialogue alone conveys simply that a sick old man is telling a rather distressing story when his doctor stops him, advising that he should not get too excited. The sequence, as shot and edited, however, presents a rather more complex situation.
The line, " You've talked enough ..." is spoken " off " ; the daughter has been talking to her father for some time and although we saw the doctor enter, we have not seen him in the room since. When his voice is suddenly heard (over shot 1) it comes as rather a surprise and produces an air of mystery around the man. The spectator becomes subconsciously aware that the doctor has been in the room all this time without saying a word ; suddenly, when the father is getting to the point of his story, the doctor mysteriously stops him. So while there is nothing strange about the doctor's words — the daughter suspects nothing — the spectator is given a foreboding hint by the way the cuts are timed.
If shot 2 had not been used at all, and the cut from 1 to 3 had been made on the doctor's first words, the whole action would have been perfectly straightforward — just a doctor looking after his patient. If the whole line (" You've talked enough, Mr. Carrington ! ") had been given with 3, the surprise effect would have been lost because the spectator would have been aware of the doctor's presence before hearing his words. Indeed, throughout the whole scene, the lines of dialogue are in themselves quite ordinary — the daughter hears them all without astonishment ; it is the way the scene is edited that gives it its air of mystery. (This is precisely what is wanted : the doctor and father later turn out to be impostors.)
It would be absurd to suggest that the whole of this effect is conveyed by the timing of the cuts alone ; clearly, the lighting adds an air of mystery and the actors play a most important role — the doctor's tone of voice, for instance, suddenly becomes more kindly over shot 3. The point is that the shots could have been made into a colourless narrative sequence with none of the mysterious overtones. By introducing the shot of the doctor after he has started his line, the spectator is, so to speak, one jump ahead of the story as seen by the daughter, and the upward tilt of the camera momentarily strengthens the sinister suspicion. After that, the scene continues in an ordinary matter-of-fact way. The suspicion has been planted and that is enough, for of course the doctor's behaviour must remain plausible.
This is a simple example, quoted to illustrate the importance of precise timing of action and reaction shots, and to show how the elementary device of overlaying a piece of dialogue can make a
88