Editing Annie Hall (section)

==Style and technique==
Technically, the film marked an advance for the director. He selected [[Gordon Willis]] as his [[cinematographer]]—for Allen "a very important teacher" and a "technical wizard," saying, "I really count ''Annie Hall'' as the first step toward maturity in some way in making films."<ref name="Björkman77">{{harvnb|Björkman|1995|p=77}}</ref> At the time, it was considered an "odd pairing" by many, Keaton among them. The director was known for his comedies and farces, while Willis was known as "the prince of darkness" for work on dramatic films like ''[[The Godfather]]''.<ref name="PBSdocumentary">{{cite video |people=Weide, Robert B. (Director) |year=2011 |title=Woody Allen: A Documentary |medium=Television |publisher=[[PBS]]}}</ref> Despite this, the two became friends during filming and continued the collaboration on several later films, including ''[[Zelig]]'', which earned Willis his first Academy Award nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]].<ref name="PBSdocumentary"/>

Willis described the production for the film as "relatively easy."<ref name="PBSdocumentary"/> He shot in varying styles; "hot golden light for [[California]], grey overcast for Manhattan and a forties Hollywood glossy for&nbsp;... dream sequences," most of which were cut.<ref name="baxter248">{{harvnb|Baxter |1999|p=2487}}</ref> It was his suggestion which led Allen to film the dual therapy scenes in one set divided by a wall instead of the usual [[Split screen (filmmaking)|split screen]] method.<ref name="PBSdocumentary"/> He tried long takes, with some shots, unabridged, lasting an entire scene, which, for Ebert, add to the dramatic power of the film: "Few viewers probably notice how much of ''Annie Hall'' consists of people talking, simply talking. They walk and talk, sit and talk, go to shrinks, go to lunch, make love and talk, talk to the camera, or launch into inspired monologues like Annie's free-association as she describes her family to Alvy. This speech by Diane Keaton is as close to perfect as such a speech can likely be&nbsp;... all done in one take of brilliant brinksmanship." He cites a study that calculated the [[average shot length]] of ''Annie Hall'' to be 14.5 seconds, while other films made in 1977 had an average shot length of 4–7 seconds.<ref name="ebert"/> [[Peter Cowie]] suggests that "Allen breaks up his extended shots with more orthodox cutting back and forth in conversation pieces so that the forward momentum of the film is sustained."<ref>{{harvnb|Cowie|1996|p=47}}</ref> Bernd Herzogenrath notes the innovation in the use of the split-screen during the dinner scene to powerfully exaggerate the contrast between the Jewish and the gentile family.<ref name="Herzogenrath"/>

Although the film is not essentially experimental, at several points it undermines the narrative reality.<ref>{{cite book|first=Peter J.|last=Bailey|title=The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|date=September 29, 2010|page=35|isbn=978-0813139241|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5rGWBIW_FgC&pg=PA35}}</ref> James Bernardoni notes Allen's way of opening the film by facing the camera, which immediately intrudes upon audience involvement in the film.<ref name="Bernardoni01"/> In one scene, Allen's character, in line to see a movie with Annie, listens to a man behind him deliver misinformed pontifications on the significance of Fellini's and Marshall McLuhan's work. Allen pulls McLuhan himself from just off-camera to correct the man's errors personally.<ref name="ebert"/> Later in the film, when we see Annie and Alvy in their first extended talk, "mental subtitles" convey to the audience the characters' nervous inner doubts.<ref name="ebert"/> An animated scene—with artwork based on the [[comic strip]] ''[[Inside Woody Allen]]''—depicts Alvy and Annie in the guise of the Wicked Queen from ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White]]''.<ref name="ebert"/> Although Allen uses each of these techniques only once, the "[[fourth wall]]" is broken several other times when characters address the camera directly. In one, Alvy stops several passers-by to ask questions about love, and in another, he shrugs off writing a happy ending to his relationship with Annie in his autobiographical first play as forgivable "wish-fulfillment." Allen chose to have Alvy break the [[fourth wall]], he explained, "because I felt many of the people in the audience had the same feelings and the same problems. I wanted to talk to them directly and confront them."<ref name="Björkman77"/>