Mike Frank comment: > to wit: in my introduction to cinema classes i > often show the opening of TOUCH OF EVIL without previous > comment and ask the students to tell me what they > notice . . . even after i run the clip two or three times > most of the students have not noticed the fact that it is all > a single take . . . their viewing protocols focus exclusively > on the actions and characters protrayed and in effect they > MAKE the cinematography all but invisible I think that this is generally true unless the film has announced itself as a technical tour-de-force. So, one goes to ROPE or TIME CODE to see how the trick is done. And, concentrating on the long "takes" (actually spliced together from separate reels), the viewer may notice when the camera passes behind a couch or back to allow the reel changes to be made and miss the two actual cuts that do occur in the film. If announced in advance, "Watch the continuous opening shot of TOUCH OF EVIL," students are then likely to notice (especially if they're going to be tested on it!). Most films, though, however foregrounded their technique are discussed by filmgoers and popular press reviewers in terms of the reconstructed story/fabula rather than the surface plot/syuzhet. Don Larsson ----------------------------------------------------------- Donald F. Larsson English Department, AH 230 Minnesota State University Mankato, MN 56001 ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu