The Invisible Cut Read online

  FRAME GRAB #2

  He turns.

  BALSAM

  (OS)

  …we’d like to get started.

  FONDA

  Oh, I’m sorry.

  Camera pans over with Fonda as he sits down among the jurors.

  CUT TO:

  Master shot from right end of table.

  BALSAM

  Is everyone here?

  BINNS

  (gesturing over shoulder to bathroom door)

  The old man is inside.

  BALSAM

  Oh, would you knock on the door for him?

  BINNS

  Uh, yeah.

  Binns barely starts to get up.

  FRAME GRAB #3

  CUT TO:

  Reverse master shot from right corner, head of table.

  FRAME GRAB #4

  Binns opens the bathroom door and Sweeney appears, as camera moves in slightly and pans to right, settling in at the middle of the table.

  BALSAM

  Say, we’d like to get started.

  SWEENEY

  Oh, forgive me, gentlemen. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.

  He sits down.

  BALSAM

  Okay, gentlemen, if I can have your attention.

  CUT TO:

  Close shot of Balsam.

  BALSAM

  (cont’d)

  You fellows can handle this thing any way you want.… I’m not gonna make any rules. We can discuss it first, then vote on it. That’s of course, that’s one way and, uh…

  FRAME GRAB #5

  CUT TO:

  Master shot from center, head of table.

  FRAME GRAB #6

  BALSAM

  (OS)

  Well, we can vote on it right now.

  MARSHALL

  I think it’s customary to take a preliminary vote.

  WARDEN

  Yeah, let’s vote. Maybe then we’ll all…

  CUT BACK TO:

  Close shot of Balsam.

  FRAME GRAB #7

  WARDEN

  (OS)

  …get outta here.

  BALSAM

  Uh huh…Okay… I think that we… ’course you all know that we have a first degree murder here and if we vote the accused guilty.…

  CUT BACK TO:

  Master shot through center of table.

  BALSAM

  (OS)

  …we’ve got to send him to the chair. That’s mandatory.

  MARSHALL

  I think we know that.

  BEGLEY

  Yeah… Let’s see who’s where.

  BALSAM

  (OS)

  Okay, anyone doesn’t want to vote?

  CUT BACK TO:

  Close shot of Balsam.

  BALSAM

  Okay, just remember that this has to be twelve to nothing either way. That’s the law…

  CUT TO:

  Master shot from left corner, end of table.

  BALSAM

  Okay, we ready? All those voting guilty please raise your hands. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven… (pauses) eight, nine, ten, eleven.

  FRAME GRAB #8

  CUT TO:

  Reverse master from left corner, head of table.

  FRAME GRAB #9

  BALSAM

  Okay, that’s eleven guilty. Those voting not guilty?

  Fonda raises his hand.

  BALSAM

  (cont’d)

  One, right. Eleven guilty. One not guilty. Well, now we know where we are.

  CUT TO:

  Medium shot from right corner, end of table shooting past Binns and Warden, to Sweeney and Begley.

  BEGLEY

  (laughing derisively)

  Boy, oh boy. There’s always one.

  WARDEN

  So what do we do now?

  FONDA

  I guess we talk.

  BEGLEY

  Boy…

  FRAME GRAB #10

  CUT TO:

  Medium long shot from left corner and end of table past Fonda to Fielder, Cobb, Marshall, Klugman, and Binns.

  FRAME GRAB #11

  BEGLEY

  (OS)

  …oh boy.

  COBB

  Do you really think he’s innocent?

  CUT TO:

  Close shot of Fonda.

  FONDA

  (a beat)

  I don’t know.

  COBB

  (OS)

  I mean you…

  FRAME GRAB #12

  CUT TO:

  Close shot of Cobb.

  FRAME GRAB #13

  COBB

  …sat in court with the rest of us. You heard what we did. The kid’s a dangerous…

  CUT BACK TO:

  Close shot of Fonda.

  COBB

  (OS)

  …killer. You can see it.

  FONDA

  He’s eighteen years old.

  CUT BACK TO:

  Close shot of Cobb.

  COBB

  Well, that’s old enough. He stabbed his own father. Fourteen inches into the chest.

  CUT BACK TO:

  Close shot of Fonda.

  COBB

  (OS)

  They proved it a dozen different ways in court. Do you want me to list them for you?

  FONDA

  (shakes his head)

  No.

  CUT BACK TO:

  Medium long shot from right corner and end of table past Binns and Warden to Sweeney and Begley.

  BEGLEY

  Then what do you want?

  FONDA

  I just want to talk.

  WARDEN

  Well, what’s there to talk about? Eleven men in here think he’s guilty. No one had to think about it twice except you.

  BEGLEY

  I wanna ask you something. Do you believe his story?

  FONDA

  I don’t know if I believe it or not. Maybe I don’t.

  FRAME GRAB #14

  CUT TO:

  Medium two shot past Fonda to Warden.

  WARDEN

  (cont’d)

  So how come you voted not guilty?

  Fonda turns away from camera to face him.

  FONDA

  Well, there were eleven votes for guilty. It’s not easy to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first.

  WARDEN

  Well now who says it’s easy?

  FONDA

  No one.

  WARDEN

  What, just because I voted fast?

  I honestly think the guy is guilty. You couldn’t change my mind if you talked for a hundred years.

  FRAME GRAB #15

  CUT TO:

  Medium two shot of Warden to Fonda.

  FRAME GRAB #16

  FONDA

  I’m not trying to change your mind. It’s just that… we’re talking about somebody’s life here. We can’t decide it in five minutes. Supposing we’re wrong.

  DECONSTRUCTION

  Scene edited by Carl Lerner

  Note: There will be references below to four diagrams, which were used on pages 28-29 and 31-32 to illustrate correct camera coverage.

  The first establishing shot of the jury lasts over six-and-a-half minutes, finally settling in as some of them sit around the table (the “out” frame is frame grab #1). The first cut is to the protagonist, Fonda (the “in” frame is frame grab #2). He’s shown looking contemplatively out the window, his introspection and distance from the others already setting him apart.

  frame grab 1

  frame grab 2

  frame grab 3

  frame grab 4

  The first two master shots in this scene (Frame grabs #3 and #4) are shot from a high angle at opposite sides and ends of the table. These two completely reversed images show the most information and as many faces as possible. What cues the cut out of the shot (the “out” frame is Frame grab #3) is Binns, in the right near corner of screen, starting to stand up. In the beginnin
g of the next shot (Frame grab #4) Binns continues to get up and then opens the bathroom door for Sweeney. Because this crucial juror’s presence is needed for the deliberations to begin, the editor stays with this shot until Sweeney sits down. The editor cuts out right after Balsam asks for the jurors’ attention.

  The first close shot (Frame grab #5) sets up the importance of Balsam, the foreman. When he proposes voting right away, the editor cuts to his POV (Frame grab #6) down the center of the table. Frame grab #7, the “in” frame of the next shot, shows Balsam’s reaction when one of the jurors talks about just wanting “to get outta here.” It also functions as a bridge between the down-the-center-of-the-table shot in Frame grab #6 and the next master shot (Frame grab #8). If the shots shown in Frame grabs #6 and #8 were cut together, the transition would be visually awkward, because they’re only partial reversals of angles.

  frame grab 5

  frame grab 6

  frame grab 7

  frame grab 8

  This next pair of completely reversed high angle master shots (Frame grabs #8 and #9) now complete the camera coverage from all four corners of the table and further clarify all four juror positions, as seen in Diagram 1. See Diagram 1 (on page 28).

  The “out” frame of the shot (Frame grab #8) sets up a cheat on the audience, because it shows only Fonda’s back, and doesn’t give the audience a clear view of his arm; it’s not yet obvious that he’s the only one who hasn’t raised his hand to vote “guilty.” What cues the cut out of this shot is the foreman’s ending his count of only eleven votes and his turning to make eye contact with Fonda. The next shot (the “in” frame is Frame grab #9) lets the cat out of the bag, because Fonda is now facing the camera, and the audience sees he hasn’t raised his hand.

  frame grab 9

  The following shot (Frame grab #10) has to include Fonda and Begley, since Begley is the first juror to react negatively to Fonda’s vote, and the dialogue from Begley comes in tight, on the first frame, to increase the tension of the moment. The next juror to protest, Cobb, is included in the subsequent shot, Frame grab #11. This also foreshadows Begley and Cobb becoming the most irrationally resistant characters, with Cobb remaining the final holdout. Fonda and Binns are the only two actors who are in both shots, Frame grabs #9 and #10. As a result these two actors have to be consistently on the left and right side of the screen from shot to shot. If the camera had crossed the stage line —the imaginary line that cuts through Binns and Fonda — the directions would have been flipped, and the audience would be disoriented. And because everyone sitting among them is different in both shots, there is no other stage line that has to be protected, as shown in Diagram 2.

  See Diagram 2 (on page 29).

  frame grab 10

  frame grab 11

  frame grab 12

  frame grab 13

  The editor cuts to the first close shot of Fonda (Frame grab #12), when he plants reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors and the audience. The editor also cuts to Fonda early enough so that he can take a beat before he answers, giving his dialogue further weight. The next close shot to Cobb (Frame grab #13) is motivated when he challenges Fonda. The editor cuts back and forth between these two jurors’ close-ups for the next three shots. This confrontation foreshadows the most explosive one between any two jurors and will determine the outcome of the verdict.

  The interaction shifts when Warden and Begley speak up, and the editor cuts to a group shot that includes them as well (the “out” frame is Frame grab #14). This is the same angle as the one shown in Frame grab #10, but now the stage line runs between Warden and Fonda, who are the only actors in the following two shots, shown in Frame grabs #15 and #16 and Diagram 3. As a result, they stay consistently on the left and right sides of the screen as the focus shifts from Warden, who is facing the camera while he defends his position (the “out” frame is Frame grabs #15), to an angle favoring Fonda. He now takes center stage, driving home the point that someone’s life is at stake (the “in” frame is Frame grab #16). See Diagram 3 (on page 31).

  frame grab 14

  frame grab 15

  frame grab 16

  SCENE TWO: THE SECOND VOTE

  The next sequence comes about half an hour later, a third of the way into the movie. Up to this point Fonda has continued to hold his ground, but despite his attempts to plant doubt in the jurors’ minds, he remains the only holdout. The other jurors now pressure him to come around and vote “guilty.”

  INT. JURY ROOM – DAY

  Medium close shot of Fonda looking out the window.

  BALSAM

  (OS)

  Well, what about it?

  Fonda turns to face them.

  COBB

  (OS)

  You’re the only one

  He moves away from the window to the table and camera follows him. He turns to the camera, in a close shot.

  FONDA

  I have a proposition to make to all of you. I want to call for another vote. I want you eleven men to vote by secret written ballot.

  FRAME GRAB #1

  CUT TO:

  Close shot of Klugman.

  FRAME GRAB #2

  FONDA

  (cont’d, OS)

  I’ll abstain.

  CUT BACK TO:

  Close shot of Fonda.

  FONDA

  If there are eleven votes for guilty I won’t stand alone. We’ll…

  CUT TO:

  Close shot of Fiedler.

  FRAME GRAB #3.

  FONDA

  (cont’d, OS)

  .…take in a guilty verdict to the judge right now.

  CUT BACK TO:

  Close shot of Fonda.

  FONDA

  But if anyone votes not guilty we stay here and talk it out. That’s it. If you want to try it, I’m ready.

  FRAME GRAB #4

  CUT TO:

  Master shot from left corner, end of table past Fonda’s back to other jurors.1

  WARDEN

  (claps)

  All right, let’s do it the hard way.

  BALSAM

  Yeah, that sounds fair. Everyone agree? Anyone doesn’t agree? …Okay, fine, let’s go. Pass these along there…

  FRAME GRAB #5

  CUT TO:

  Medium shot from head of table past Balsam’s back to Fonda, Sweeney, Begley, Voskovec, and Webber.

  FRAME GRAB #6

  Camera pans with Fonda as he walks away from table, past jurors, to water cooler at far corner of room. The moment he stops, camera moves in slowly until he’s in close-up. He turns to look back at table, and then again looks the other way.

  FRAME GRAB #7

  CUT TO:

  Medium close shot of table showing only hands holding ballots and paraphernalia on table.

  FRAME GRAB #8

  Camera pans from end to the head of the table as ballots are passed by jurors’ hands and wind up in a pile in front of Balsam. The camera holds, shooting past Balsam to his hands as he unfolds each ballot and announces what’s written on each of them.