Shoot Short Shots? There are No Rules (p. 106)
An example from How to Shoot Video that Doesn't Suck (p. 106)
I spend a lot of time telling people to shoot short shots. That's because (a) our brains process information so fast that long shots are likely to be boring and (b) most people don't know how to do it.
I get a lot of mail that refers to "the rule of shooting short shots" To which I say "Rules? Where we're going we don't need…rules." (Geek points to the first to get that movie reference.)
Instead of focusing on "rules" that there are penalties for breaking, think in terms of skills that there are benefits to learning.
The more skills you have, the better you'll be. When you learn to drive, you drill the basics. Five car lengths distance between cars on the freeway. Hands at ten and two. Signal 200 yards before the turn. Fill the tank before you return Dad's car. But when we're on our own in real life, we don't slavishly follow what we learned. We relax into a driving style that gets the job done for us, while hopefully not forgetting those lifesaving tidbits. Like the gas thing.
Same with shooting video. Practice the short shots. Drill them. Understand them. Then go out and do what you want.
The better you are, the more you get it and internalize the basics, the more you can successfully screw with the form. Here's the 8 minute opening shot of grand master Robert Altman's great 1992 film The Player.
Hey! Are you following me on Twitter? I'm thinking perhaps you should. @SteveStockman
