Closeup

In film and television, a close-up tightly frames a person or object. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic A film frame, or just frame, is one of the many single photographic images in a motion picture. The most common close-ups are ones of actors' faces.

Close-ups are often used as cutaways from a more distant shot to show detail, such as characters' emotions, or some intricate activity by their hands. An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours Close cuts to characters' faces are used far more often in television than in movies; they are especially common in soap operas. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic A soap opera is an ongoing episodic work of Fiction, usually broadcast on Television or Radio. Television shows that do not use close-ups are often described as creating an immediate feeling of emotional distance from the characters.

Close-ups are also used for distinguishing main characters. Major characters are often given a close-up when they are introduced as a way of indicating their importance. Leading characters will have multiple close-ups. There is a long-standing stereotype of insecure actors desiring a close-up at every opportunity and counting the number of close-ups they received. A stereotype (from Greek: stereo + týpos = "solid impression" is a generalized perception of first impressions behaviors presumed by a group An example of this stereotype occurs when the character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, announces "All right, Mr. Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American Film noir classic Directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, it was named DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" as she is taken into police custody in the film's finale. Cecil Blount DeMille ( August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an Academy Award -winning American Film director

One disadvantage of close-ups is that they do not show the relative positions of people and things; overuse of close-ups can quickly confuse an audience.

The history of the close-up

An early close-up, from D. W. Griffith's The Lonedale Operator (1911).

The earliest filmmakers — such as Thomas Edison, Auguste and Louis Lumière and Georges Méliès — tended not to use close-ups and preferred to frame their subjects in long shots. Georges Méliès ( December 8, 1861 &ndash January 21, 1938) full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French Film historians disagree as to which filmmaker first used a close-up, but it's clear that D.W. Griffith was an early master of the technique. David Llewelyn Wark "D W" Griffith (January 22 1875 &ndash July 23 1948 was a premier pioneering Academy Award -winning American Film director. Previous filmmakers had used it, just not to the same effect or with the same understanding of its potential. For example, one of Griffith's short films, The Lonedale Operator (1911), makes significant use of a close-up of a wrench that a character had pretended was a gun. The Lonedale Operator is a 1911 short Drama film directed by D

Over the years, the close-up has framed actors' faces more and more tightly. For instance, in the 1960s, Sergio Leone pioneered a technique of using extreme close-ups (ECUs or XCUs) that show no more than the actors' eyes. Sergio Leone ( January 3, 1929 &ndash April 30, 1989) was an Italian Film director.

Close-ups in Photography

Close-ups in still image photography are common.

Reference

• Bordwell, David; Thompson, Kristin (2006). Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-331027-1.  

See also

• Long shot
• Mid shot
• Macro photography