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There are ten million film makers in America today. Most
of them are amateurs, but the number who migrate to professional
ranks grows constantly as television enlarges its
demands for motion pictures of all kinds.
Whether he shoots for fun or profit—for a family circle or
a television station—the experienced film maker knows that
getting correct focus and exposure are only the first steps in
using a movie camera.
He wants to tell a movie story. He will not do so if he
shoots all over the place in a series of correctly exposed but
pictorially unrelated scenes. To tell a movie story, he must
put together a wide variety of shots so as to achieve a smooth,
meaningful, visual flow. In short, he must understand his
medium as well as his camera; he must know pictorial continuity.
Pictorial continuity is the indispensable framework of every
soundly constructed motion picture, whether it is a Hollywood
epic, TV film, newsreel. documentary, cartoon or home
movie.
Without it. any movie, no matter how elaborately or expensively
made, is amateurish; but with it, the raw beginner
can achieve a professional touch.
It is the answer to how to shoot a movie story.
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