Hitchcock on Coverage

Hitchcock rarely resorted to "camera coverage".

Coverage refers to the convention of starting a scene with a Master Shot... something like in a live theatre performance where the audience gets to view the entire scene once the curtain goes up.

But in filmmaking, we get to go closer. So, coverage will then shift to a Medium Shot, then cut to the Close-ups of the characters. That's the traditional way to get camera coverage.

But when Alfred Hitchcock was making his movies, he didn't always do that. Often, he'd do the exact opposite; toss convention to the wind by opening with the big head and then close with the Master Shot. For the time, it was unconventional. But it obviously worked, because his films are still studied and considered to be some of the best out there. A lot of today's filmmakers have adopted this style and made it another option when shooting a scene.

The lesson. In filmmaking, don't always go with the textbook way of doing things. Getting traditional camera coverage isn't necessarily bad. Maybe it works best for the film. But the filmmaker shouldn't be afraid to mix things up a bit.

[Photo by: Iguana Jo]