Page "History of film" Paragraph 99

However, American film-makers did get closer to the actors on the average by shooting the whole scene with the camera closer than previously.

The Vitagraph company led the way here, by using what they called " the nine-foot line " from 1910 onwards.

This meant that the actors played a scene up to a line marked on the ground nine feet from the camera lens, which meant that they were shown cut off at the waist in the image.

Some, but not all, American film-makers followed their example, calling it the " American foreground ", while European film-makers stayed with the " French foreground " established by the Pathé about 1907, which only cut the actors off at the shins.

This corresponded to the actors playing up to a line put down 4 metres in front of the camera lens.