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The Average Long Take

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The Long Take

Part of the book series: Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television ((CRFT))

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Abstract

The films of Otto Preminger are marked by average shot lengths (ASLs) that are two or even three times greater than the normal range for films of the classical period. These high ASLs are partly because, instead of following the dominant style’s wide-shot/medium-shot/close-up progression, Preminger’s scenes are composed with only one or two carefully placed cuts, or what Brian Henderson calls “intrasequence cuts”—“the crucial cut between related long takes.” This chapter explores Preminger’s use of the intra-sequence cut by offering an analysis of a scene from the director’s 1945 film Fallen Angel.

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Works Cited

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Correspondence to Christian Keathley .

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Keathley, C. (2017). The Average Long Take. In: Gibbs, J., Pye, D. (eds) The Long Take. Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58573-8_4

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