# How often should a writer use close-ups according to Sargent (1916, Ch. XXXVIII), and what does he say about their effect on scene length, footage and pacing?

- id: art_01M5MYX0GN2HRASP23F48GHEJD
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T01, T02 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-23T18:03:20.974Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5MYX0GN2HRASP23F48GHEJD

1916 practice: Sargent states no number or ratio. His rule is judgment, with fewer cut-backs for a less important scene and 'seemingly excessive' use permitted for the big moment if a greater effect results. His own printed illustrations are dense: in the 28-entry restaurant script 16 entries are close-ups (my count), which he labels 'an extreme example'; in the 10-entry club-speech script 7 are. On length, he says an unbroken scene of about 150 feet 'seems interminable', that the reconstruction adds scenes and 'perhaps a slight addition to the footage', and that a twelve-minute speech played straight is 'not worth the footage'. These footage figures are his estimates inside invented examples.

1916 practice: Sargent states no number or ratio. His rule is judgment, with fewer cut-backs for a less important scene and 'seemingly excessive' use permitted for the big moment if a greater effect results. His own printed illustrations are dense: in the 28-entry restaurant script 16 entries are close-ups (my count), which he labels 'an extreme example'; in the 10-entry club-speech script 7 are. On length, he says an unbroken scene of about 150 feet 'seems interminable', that the reconstruction adds scenes and 'perhaps a slight addition to the footage', and that a twelve-minute speech played straight is 'not worth the footage'. These footage figures are his estimates inside invented examples.

Curator qualifications: Close-up definition, jobs, numbering as separate scenes, cautions and the bounded 'no ratio' negative are verified as Sargent's text. The density figures in -04 are counts of his own printed examples.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://archive.org/stream/techniqueofphoto00sarg/techniqueofphoto00sarg_djvu.txt",
      "note": "sar.flat (a3cff7eb) ch. XXXVIII offsets per candidate"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] 1916 practice: Sargent states no number or ratio. His rule is judgment, with fewer cut-backs for a less important scene and 'seemingly excessive' use permitted for the big moment if a greater effect results. His own printed illustrations are dense: in the 28-entry restaurant script 16 entries are close-ups (my count), which he labels 'an extreme example'; in the 10-entry club-speech script 7 are. On length, he says an unbroken scene of about 150 feet 'seems interminable', that the reconstruction adds scenes and 'perhaps a slight addition to the footage', and that a twelve-minute speech played straight is 'not worth the footage'. These footage figures are his estimates inside invented examples. · locator: sar.flat (a3cff7eb) ch. XXXVIII offsets per candidate · source: https://archive.org/stream/techniqueofphoto00sarg/techniqueofphoto00sarg_djvu.txt

Rights:
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