Section 02
Staging & Cut
The mechanics: who stands where, how high the lens sits, when the cut lands, and what the soundtrack does to hold two shots together. Craft arguments, made from specific sequences.
In this section
- Pieces
- 4
- Looks at
- Blocking, camera position, continuity, sound.
- Everything
- The full register
Every piece in Staging & Cut
The whole register- 01 Blocking is argumentWho stands where, who has their back turned, who crosses to whom. Power in a scene is nearly always spatial before it is verbal. Read
- 02 Camera heightEye level is a decision, not a default. Short read
- 03 Continuity, and when to break itThe rules exist so the audience never thinks about space. Breaking them makes them think about space, which is occasionally the point. Read
- 04 Sound carries the cutMost cuts you do not notice are held together by audio that arrives early. Short read
The other sections
Close Reading
Single scenes, openings, whole films.
Women's Picture
Melodrama, domestic thrillers, maternal pictures.
Genre Machinery
Noir, westerns, musicals, horror.