Orson Welles, 29 years old, was directing his first film: Citizen Kane. His photographer was the great Gregg Toland. Orson proposed a shot, and Toland told him it could not be done. Orson asked “why?” “Because,” said Toland, “it won’t cut.”
Welles was the greatest stage director of his day, but this was his first run-in with the requirements of continuity. Toland taught Welles for an hour, covering the blackboard with many diagrams, arrows and stick figures. Welles didn’t understand and said he had to go home until he did. He closed down the set and came back three days later. “Alright,” he said, “I’ve figured it out. Thank you. Now we can continue.”
Hemingway said that he always regretted not having written about aviation. ...
Get Beyond Continuity now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
