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Someone alone

A character works, waits, or thinks in a room with nobody else.

Start your film to use it

With no dialogue, the shots must do the talking. Start wide to show the loneliness, then move in as the mood changes. Point-of-view shots and inserts show what the character is thinking about. Give yourself one very long static take; silence needs room.

Watch out. Resist moving the camera to fill the silence. Let the actor fill it.

WS Single · High angle · Static

Wide from above. Small figure, big room.

MS Single · Eye level · Static

Medium. What the character is doing.

CU Single · Eye level · Push in

Slow push in as something changes.

MS Point of view · Eye level · Static

POV: what the character looks at.

ECU Insert · High angle · Static

Inserts: hands, the object, the screen.

ECU Single · Eye level · Static

The eyes. Hold it.