Five words.

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”
― Gary Provost

This was written by my brother Gary. It was just one of the brilliant comments he made about writing from just one of his books. Sadly he died at fifty, 18 years ago. It occurred to me that this same sentence can be applied to so many movies today. Directors today—hacks that so many are—seem to make almost all their scenes short and off the same length. This is true of films and television. For some reason these directors feel the will lose your attention if the visual doesn't change every few seconds, so they are constantly changing the image, changing the angle, using a difference technique. But every scene is, in essence, five words, no more, no less. And soon you are bored and exhausted. I miss Gary. I would love to hear is critiques of today's movies.