The Filmmaker's Eye

close up

The close up is a relative newcomer to the cinematic vocabulary; early silent films used only wide shots and no editing, replicating the experience of watching a staged play. The evolution of the language of cinema and the invention of editing eventually made the close up an essential element of the cinematic vocabulary. The most important feature of a close up is that it lets the audience see nuances of a character’s behavior and emotion (especially those that play across the face) that cannot be seen in wider shots. This simple principle has had profound effects on the way films are shot and edited, and in the development of acting for film. Cinematic performance styles quickly departed from the exaggeration expected in the theatre, ...