How to shoot conversations with one camera
Can anyone in this artistic forum give any insight as to how they shoot two people talking. i've seen examples on this forum and others where the camera jumps back and forth between the faces of each person talking and yet the scene was shot with one camera. do you do the scene multiple times and then edit in post. Would'nt that screw up the dialog. thanks!
You do it exactly the same way that it's done professionally:
1. Shoot the "master," a continuous shot of the conversation that is framed wide enough so the composition includes both people.
2. Shoot the "pickups," close-ups of each person talking.
3. Edit in post to make it look natural, to cut between the master and the pickups as necessary.
When shooting the pickups, the other side of the conversation is provided by the other actor.
hmmm I'm nitpicking now I know but isn't a "pickup" something you shoot after the main production to get those shots that's needed but wasn't shot? I'm thinking its name is more "closeup"... be it over-the-shoulder closeups or anything else...
but in anyway... BE SURE TO GET THOSE MASTERS!
another good thing to do is to shoot "cutaways" or as someone called them, "cat-in-the-windows"... just things that's in the scenes that you can use for pacing or cover up bad edits. Like a dog lying asleep or a cat in the window or clocks ticking or anything. A version of that could be "pillow shots" where you shoot something that doesn't do much of anything more than setting a mood. Just rain pouring outside, an empty street or something just to correct some pacing in a dialog.
But as PTravel said... FIRST you shoot the masters... THEN you shoot your closeups... because if anything mamamama's up timewise or machinery-wise... you'll always have a master... It's much harder to get a scene good if you only had the time to shoot one of them (in a normal dialog situation that is).
Your nitpicking (or nitpickup-ingOriginally Posted by jmalmsten
) is correct. I've also heard them called "reverses." When I was acting professionally, the director would usually say, "Okay, that's good for the master -- let's get the pickups." As a lowly actor, I'd just do what I was told.
I agree . . . cutaways are absolutely critical and not just for conversation scenes. I always think of them as "b-roll," though, technically, that might not be the correct term. I do travel videography and find these shots essential for maintaining continuity, keeping "perceived time" accurate, handling violations of the 180 degree rule, etc.but in anyway... BE SURE TO GET THOSE MASTERS!
another good thing to do is to shoot "cutaways" or as someone called them, "cat-in-the-windows"... just things that's in the scenes that you can use for pacing or cover up bad edits. Like a dog lying asleep or a cat in the window or clocks ticking or anything. A version of that could be "pillow shots" where you shoot something that doesn't do much of anything more than setting a mood. Just rain pouring outside, an empty street or something just to correct some pacing in a dialog.
I also find it's easier to edit. Usually, the audio for the master will be the most consistent. It's easier to cut in the reverses and, if necessary, use reaction shots of the person who isn't speaking, then to try to manipulate the audio track so it matches with changes in volume, timbre or ambient noise (everyone records a minute or two of ambient sound to help match audio, right?).But as PTravel said... FIRST you shoot the masters... THEN you shoot your closeups... because if anything mamamama's up timewise or machinery-wise... you'll always have a master... It's much harder to get a scene good if you only had the time to shoot one of them (in a normal dialog situation that is).
Thank you very much every one that was very helpful and informative.
I know most professional productions use three cameras not one and i figured since the hv20 has come down in price maybe it might be easier to do this kind of thing multicam. I'm getting alot of actors coming in for demo reels to shoot scenes and they are asking for soap opera like shots.
Seems like that is alot of work in editing, especially if you want the dialog to come out really smooth.
i edit professionally in pro tools and digital performer and every thing is done via tempo and measure and it can still be a pain. i'll try the one camera pickup thing on my next client.
Thanks!
Actually, no. Most live audience sitcoms and soaps are shot in what is called three (or four) camera iso, in which all cameras are taping/filming at once. Most films and episodic television shows are shot with a single camera, though more cameras may be used for a particularly large and complicated scene, e.g. one involving special effects, huge crowds of extras, etc.
You'll probably find that it's not easier. Live audience sitcoms are lit brightly and flat. For soaps, they don't care too much about the lighting and the sets are very small. When you shoot one camera, you can compose each shot and adjust the lighting as needed. When you shoot iso, you're very dependent on the camera people AND, of course, you have a bank of monitors in front of you so you know exactly what is going on with each camera. You also have an intercom system that lets you talk to each camera operator. And you have to light very carefully to make sure that everything looks balanced.and i figured since the hv20 has come down in price maybe it might be easier to do this kind of thing multicam.
Editing iso is no different than editing single-camera work, accept that there is usually a live-switched master for iso, which cuts down on the editing work. That's not an option for you unless you plan to buy an HDV switcher (assuming there is such a thing), monitors and an intercom system.
It's been many, many, many years since I acted professionally. When I was doing it, self-produced material was never used on a demo reel -- the demo reel was supposed to show professional film and television work. And since when are demo reels in high-def? Is that something new? And are the soaps now being shot in HD? If they want something that looks like a soap opera, shouldn't you be shooting with a standard definition camera?I'm getting alot of actors coming in for demo reels to shoot scenes and they are asking for soap opera like shots.
What are your clients doing with these things? Though, as I said, it's been a long, long time since I was acting professionally, it's hard to believe that the business has changed so much that casting directors and directors would look at demo reels containing self-produced material.Seems like that is alot of work in editing, especially if you want the dialog to come out really smooth.
i edit professionally in pro tools and digital performer and every thing is done via tempo and measure and it can still be a pain. i'll try the one camera pickup thing on my next client.
Thanks!
I don't know what they do and i don't care i just give them as good a shot as i can and take the money.
I do not even know how their side of the business works. When people come into my recording studio i just produce good product, what they do with it is up to them. I have found that everything is changing very quickly. The way things were 10 years ago and in some cases 5 years ago just don't apply.
Thanks.
Okay, I was just curious.
why would using one camera mess up dialog? either you cut from a person speaking and then you just leave the audio until he's done, or you cut to a person speaking and then you can start the sound before. or you cut to another angle of the same person and then you just cut the audio as well. jump cutting in the middle of a sentence is a bit hard but rarely impossible.
/matt
Well, there are a couple of reasons.
First, the ambient noise can change. This is particularly a problem when you're shooting outdoors, where you have no control over ambient noise, but it can even a problem on a sound stage -- all it takes is some re-arrangement of set or crew and the background noise will change. This results in a very perceivable switching sound as the intensity, pitch and harmonics of the ambient noise shifts with each cut.
Second, conversations are rarely cut so that you always see the person who is speaking -- it's boring and feels too much like ping-pong. Usually there is overlap.
Third, unless you're working with bad and/or inexperienced actors, a conversation doesn't consist of people taking turns saying lines. A conversation is more like a duet -- sometimes there are solos, sometimes both people harmonize. People talk over each other, react vocally but non-verbally to what the other person is saying ("unhuh," "yeah," etc.), laugh, sigh, inhale, snort, etc. It's much harder to capture this unless you have a master shot that captures the whole performance.
but that's not the dialog? ;-) i'm not saying there aren't problems with editing single camera productions, i've made professional single camera shorts and features for seven years, as a director, 1st ad, as well as editor, it's just that people always seem to think that the dialog itself is a problem to edit, which it rarely is. often we shoot the reversal on a different day, maybe even a different location, and it still works performance wise.
yes, but that *solves* the problem much more often than it becomes one.Second, conversations are rarely cut so that you always see the person who is speaking -- it's boring and feels too much like ping-pong. Usually there is overlap.
finally something to agree on. :-) just to get the last word i must point out that this is a problem even in multi-camera situations, for other or similar reasons.Third, unless you're working with bad and/or inexperienced actors, a conversation doesn't consist of people taking turns saying lines.
/matt
I may have misunderstood the post to which I was responding. I wasn't advocating multi-camera shooting for dialogue -- quite the opposite. I was, however, advocating shooting a master first and then shooting the reverses.
no, i was just commenting on your comments. everything you say is correct, it's just that so many newbies think it's impossible to edit single camera, when in fact it's not. :-)
/matt
Isn't a lot of this kind of dialog recorded in post anyway (especially in exterior shots)? So you have the ambient recording overlaid with the dialog (re)recorded in the studio?
not really. i mean it happens, sometimes for most of or even all the dialog, but it's common to at least try to get good location sound, especially on indies and low budget films. the sound design principle is the same either way. you filter the location sound until it's clean and add a new ambiance track on top.
/matt
But where do you get your audio?
There is no way an actor speaks exactly like on the master and there will be major sync errors, right?
you get the audio from the "pickup" as well. last i checked audio could be cut just as easily as video. :-)
/matt
You get the audio from the pickup, or you edit carefully. That's why it's important to get a minute or so of ambient.
I tought the smoothest would be to leave the audio intact, now I see thats not possible.
So basically sound from the master is never used, just helps to edit into the pickups.
How do I use the ambient?
Do I just use pieces of it to put in between cuts where there might occur total silence otherwise.
Or do I use an overlaping ambient as long as the whole scene. Entire track devoted to ambient.
it's used for the master of course, and you typically overlap it beyond the edits until somebody speaks in the pickup.
/matt
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