Tony Zhou of Every Frame a Painting (previously at Neatorama) has been missing in action for years (doing real work), and we've missed his insightful look at the details of filmmaking. We are glad to see he is back, in what he calls a limited edition of his series on filmmaking, with a look at a classic type of scene called the sustained two-shot.
The sustained two-shot was common back in the days when film was more expensive than an actor's time. Now, actors don't have to perform minutes of dialogue perfectly all the way through a scene, because filmmakers use multiple camera angles and have the opportunity to edit several takes together to get the scene. But that's only the beginning of how filmmaking has changed over time, and why the sustained two-shot isn't seen much anymore. One simple film technique carries a rich history, and Zhou makes it way more interesting than you would imagine.
