Close-ups are rarely done with wide-angle lenses, because perspective causes objects closer to the lens to be unnaturally enlarged. If overused, they may leave viewers uncertain as to what they are seeing. Low-budget films may use close-ups to avoid the expense of set construction. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up".Ĭlose-up shots do not show the subject in the broad context of its surroundings. At the close of Sunset Boulevard (1959), the main character – a faded star under the delusion she is making a triumphant return to acting – declaims melodramatically, "All right, Mr. Leading characters will have multiple close-ups. Major characters are often given a close-up when they are introduced as a way of indicating their importance. Ĭlose-ups are used for distinguishing main characters. For a director to deliberately avoid close-ups may create in the audience an emotional distance from the subject matter. Close cuts to characters' faces are used far more often in television than in movies they are especially common in soap operas. They are often employed as cutaways from a more distant shot to show detail, such as characters' emotions, or some intricate activity with their hands. I am using what the eyes can see." Practical application Ĭlose-ups are used in many ways and for many reasons. Let's give them their money's worth." Griffith stood very close to them and said: "Can you see my feet?" When they said no, he replied: "That's what I'm doing. They came down and said: "The public doesn't pay for the head or the arms or the shoulders of the actor. The people in the front office got very upset. Lillian Gish remarked on Griffith's pioneering use of the close-up: For example, one of Griffith's short films, The Lonedale Operator (1911), makes significant use of a close-up of a wrench that a character pretends is a gun. Griffith, who pioneered screen cinematographic techniques and narrative format, is associated with popularizing the close up with the success of his films. In 1901, James Williamson, also working in Hove, made perhaps the most extreme close-up of all in The Big Swallow, when his character approaches the camera and appears to swallow it. One of the best claims is for George Albert Smith in Hove, who used medium close-ups in films as early as 1898 and by 1900 was incorporating extreme close-ups in films such as As Seen Through a Telescope and Grandma's Reading Glass. Film historians disagree as to which filmmaker first used a close-up. Most early filmmakers-such as Thomas Edison, Auguste and Louis Lumière and Georges Méliès-tended not to use close-ups and preferred to frame their subjects in long shots, similar to the stage.
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