Spice up your visual dictionary.
Even if you have a killer script, even if your lighting is bang-on, even if your actors are Oscar-winners: if your shots stay boring, so will your entire film.
The Single Developing Shot, originally made famous by Orson Welles and used in thousands of movies since, is a shot in which we get different sizes of shot, from wides to close-ups, in a single, uncut sequence.
This effect can be used to whisk the story along more briskly, building tension and bringing attention to particular aspects of a scene. The camera can stay stationary or move with characters / actions, but it must not cut.
Watch our video below to see examples and find out more about the Single Developing Shot:
.
Brett Welcher was a student at Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY, USA) where studied Public Relations at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He is interned at the Raindance Film Festival the summer or 2007 and thoroughly enjoyed his time working with professionals and learning about different aspects of the film industry. In the fall of 2007 Brett returned to the States where he will be finishing his last year in school.
Since then we have lost touch and found this excellent article in the archives. Brett – if you see this, get in touch! We miss you!
