Average Shot Length, Beyond the Action Movie

Considering the development of cinematic action one finds that a major aspect of the cinematography of the action film is a use of shorter shots, and closer shots, intended to intensify the effect of fight scenes and the like.

Still, it struck me while watching a Hallmark film that was a simple made-for-TV production remote from any pretension to being an action film, or technically dazzling the viewer in any way, the shot length was pretty short--mainly because of the use of close shots. All that happened in the scene was two people talking--but the camera cut from one face to the other whenever each of the actors said their line, because rather than frame the two faces together in the same shot there was just close shot of one face all the way through the dialogue.

One can achieve certain effects that way--but one can also achieve certain effects with that shot of the two faces together as the conversation went on.

It seemed to me that rather than there being a compelling narrative or visual reason for preferring one cinematographic approach to the other the makers of the movie opted for the alternation between close shots of whoever spoke at the moment out of habit, habit formed in an era in which short, close shots had simply become standard.