ABSTRACT
The close-up is a cinematic shot of a detail, often related to a previous, wider shot (referred to as a “cut-in”). Although the term is used for shots of objects as well, it primarily refers to a part of the human anatomy in general, and the face in particular. Although used already in the very first films made, the device was seemingly less favored during the early years of cinema until it was “rediscovered” (allegedly by D.W. Griffith) in the latter part of the 1900s, after which it rapidly became a dominant stylistic cliché.
