There is no true virtue to the chaos without making us care about it. It just becomes photography of chaos. Take, for example, the editing of modern musicals,  bloated with cuts that prevent us from enjoying the very thing it proposes to highlight: the dancing – or rather, a talented dancer. I’d rather see a two and a half minute uninterrupted shot of Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire dancing in Broadway Melody of 1940 than any number of recent musicals.

What I have found wonderful about the other extreme, that of the very long takes, is that this disconnect does not occur. What it does do is actually the opposite. It engages us, unconsciously, to make edits in our mind. If these “oners” are well designed and crafted the audience may not even notice it’s just one shot and will probably recollect, upon later questioning, that they were always engaged in the story and even swear they saw close ups and wide shots. 

When you have a great two-shot of Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur giving a wonderful performance, why cut? My instinct is not to cut unless something more interesting is happening elsewhere.

John’s reply: I first met Phil on a car commercial he was shooting. I was first asst. camera. We sat on a Titan crane waiting for magic hour light to do a beauty shot of several cars on the wet pavement below. I was too intimidated to say much but figured this would be my one chance to ask the inevitable question of any fledgling. “Mr. Lathrop, one day I hope to be a feature film cinematographer. Do you have any advice?” He locked off the wheels on the Worrall head, looked thoughtfully out to the horizon, and said simply, “Yeah, kid, just one thing. Sit down whenever you can.” —– best advice I ever got.