Craft Section | What Directors Are Saying
"Robert Altman's cinema rests on the generous principle that the material is completed in the eye of the viewer. He uses long lenses, slow zooms and tiny microphones to ambush his performers — to catch them accidentally being natural... The zoom, in particular, prevents an actor from switching off. Whereas the common method of shooting alerts a performer to the moment when he or she is in close-up, Altman prefers to render the process less mechanical for both actor and audience. We may not always be certain of a scene's intended emphasis, and it's a safe bet that the performers on screen aren't either."
Ryan Gilbey
It Don't Worry Me: The Revolutionary American Films of the Seventies
By Ryan Gilbey
Faber and Faber, Inc.
