something, and then when that person was finished, they cut back again, etc. It extended to single words. “Have you been downtown yet?” Cut. “No.” Cut. “When are you going downtown?” Cut. “Tomorrow.” Cut. “Have you seen your son?” Cut. “No, he didn’t come home last night.” Cut. “What time does he usually come home?” Cut. “Two o’clock.” At the time, when it first came out, this technique created a sensation for its apparently hard-boiled, police-blotter realism. The “Dragnet” system is a simple way to edit, but it is a shallow simplicity that doesn’t reflect the grammar of complex exchanges
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