Quote Of The Day By Orson Welles: 'a Long Playing Full Shot Is What Always Separates The Men From The Boys...'

Janus Films

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Orson Welles was a man of many opinions. Strong opinions. Harsh opinions. Opinions that could occasionally border on slander. But even if he was running down a filmmaker or actor you admired, you had to admit the man could turn a phrase like Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker turned a double play.

Welles was an incredibly willing interview subject and a regular on the television talk show circuit. His gift for s***-talking was unrivaled, but he also had a passion for sharing his vast knowledge of theatrical, radio, and cinematic craftsmanship. There was no one who cared more or who could do more, and the latter talent caused him much trouble and heartbreak throughout his career.

Welles was born to Richard Head Welles and Beatrice Ives Welles on May 6, 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Though his father had acquired a degree of wealth by inventing a bicycle lamp, he developed alcoholism, which caused Beatrice to leave him. Beatrice was a skilled concert pianist and encouraged young Orson to study music. She died at the age of nine, which left Orson in the care of his alcoholic father.

Welles found direction at an independent school in Woodstock, Illinois, where he developed an interest in radio and theater. He was a lightning fast study and wound up in New York City before the age of 20, rattling off one triumph after another (like "Voodoo Macbeth" and his panic-inducing radio drama of "War of the Worlds").

Welles forever changed cinema when he directed, co-wrote, and starred in 1941's "Citizen Kane." He broke long-established technical rules and invented a few. Welles' career had more downs than ups, but he remained sharp and dished out a piece of wisdom that every aspiring filmmaker would do well to heed.

Slashfilm

This quote comes from Peter Bogdanovich's indispensable interview book, "This Is Orson Welles." The discussions were conducted over many years, but the book itself was published in 1992. Welles held forth on everything and everyone; he spoke of his peers and addressed the young up-and-comers (some of whom he didn't care for).

This quote turns up about midway through the book and is prompted by Welles musing over the work of French comedic filmmaker Jacques Tati. According to Welles, "[...] I think, if we want to be really accurate, comedy is a medium full shot. The true long shot is tragedy again. You know, there are performers — Jacques Tati, for instance — who are only good in a full figure. Move in on Tati, and he literally disappears."

A moment later, Bogdanovich asked Welles about his final long shot in "Chimes at Midnight," and Welles replied, "Most of my close-ups are made because I'm forced to. It's always better to avoid them when you can." This led him to our quote of the day.

Obviously, close-ups have their place (imagine Sergio Leone's classic Westerns without those sweaty, extreme close-ups), but I prefer to see a director pack the frame with characters and meticulously choreographed blocking. Let us discover things in the frame (maybe on a second viewing).

RKO Radio Pictures

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to filmmaking. Some great directors favor a more kinetic style that eschews long takes. Tony Scott was a master, but he came from the quick-cutting school of commercials. Some derided this as style over substance, but Scott was serving the script and (usually) telling a well-plotted tale. He might not stay on a shot for long, but I guarantee that the camera was always in the right place.

Orson Welles' style evolved over the years (as evidenced by the very edited "F for Fake" and "The Other Side of the Wind"), but in "Citizen Kane," he pulled off one of the most influential long playing full shots with the scene where young Charles Foster Kane (Buddy Swan) is taken from his home. The camera glides throughout the house, alights at the kitchen table, then takes flight again and exits the house into the snow where the happily sledding Charles' life will change forever.

The advent of digital cameras has allowed directors to be bolder with long-playing shots, but this freedom has engendered a kind of look-at-me sloppiness from folks. I hate to get fogeyish, but I miss the film age where you could only shoot for 10 minutes, and you had to get it right in a certain amount of time because, if you blew the take, you had to throw the film out. Have you ever seen Brian De Palma (actually, legendary steadicam operator Larry McConkey) follow Bruce Willis, as a deeply inebriated journalist, wobbling through the bowels of the World Trade Center in 1990's "Bonfire of the Vanities?" The movie may be a misfire, but that opening sequence is perfection and separates De Palma from just about everyone.

British Lion Film Corporation

Like I said, Orson Welles was one of the most quotable people in entertainment history. Here are some great ones, but, really, do yourself a favor and read "This Is Orson Welles" as well:

• "Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn"
• "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations."
• "I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money."
• "Fellini is essentially a small-town boy who's never really come to Rome. He's still dreaming about it. And we should all be very grateful for those dreams. In a way, he's still standing outside looking in through the gates. The force of 'La Dolce Vita' comes from its provincial innocence. It's so totally invented."
• "There's a certain icy calculation in a lot of Hitch's work that puts me off. He says he doesn't like actors, and sometimes, it looks like he doesn't like people."
• "That's my profoundest conviction in this whole business of moviemaking: the camera is not so much a lie-detector as a Geiger counter of mental energy. It registers something that's only vaguely, suppositionally detectable to the naked eye, registers it clear and strong: thought. Every time an actor thinks, it goes right on the screen."
• "Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch."
• "We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone."