Are you about to shoot a film/short with a conversation in information technology and not quite sure how to go about it? In this article I volition cover some basics on how to make your dialogue scenes work.

Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in Michael Mann's "Estrus"

Although dialogue scenes are among the most common types of scene, they can exist the hardest ones to shoot, especially if you are low on equipment and personnel. This of grade applies to all aspects of filmmaking, but shooting a conversation with 1 camera instead of two makes things far more than complicated. Don't let yourself be discouraged – it's not impossible. Here'southward how you practise information technology:

Heath Ledger and Christian Bale in "The Dark Knight"

Shoot the dialogue several times

Since yous just accept a unmarried camera at your disposal, you will demand to shoot the same dialogue multiple times. Let's say there's a conversation between two people in your script. At first y'all should do a master shot of both actors to institute the situation they are in, and as a general shot that you lot can cut dorsum to. Then you lot motility on to over-the-shoulder shots or portrait shots of the actors. Keep in mind, both actors must perform their lines every take, even the one who is not in the shot. Your smash operator should point the microphone towards the actor who is currently speaking. Furthermore, yous can do close-ups of the actors' faces to emphasize a sure emotion or reaction.

180-degree-dominion

Draw an imaginary line from i actor to the other. This line will be your centrality. All your takes should be shot from one side of said axis, otherwise, it would be disorienting for the audience. Of course, the axis can be crossed if you're going for disorientation on purpose. But recall:

Know the rules well, and then you can break them effectively.

Philip Rock and Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" – An instance of the 180-degree rule beingness broken

xxx-degree-rule

When shooting over-the-shoulder shots, you should tilt your camera by at least thirty°, because the cuts in between the two perspectives will become leap cuts. While jump cuts can be a very effective stylistic device (Dogma Films thrive on bound cuts), always call up the dominion almost breaking rules.

Iggy Pop and Tom Waits in Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes"

Preserve continuity

It is of utmost importance that your actors stick to their lines since you lot'll exist matching one audio recording with a couple of different takes in editing. The aforementioned goes for your actors' movements. Make sure to block your actors beforehand ("blocking" = determining i or more than actors' position(s)), so they know at exactly which point of the dialogue to motility. Use the aforementioned lighting and the same lens throughout the dialogue. Since y'all'll be cut back and forth between different takes in post, y'all wouldn't want every single accept to be completely different. Shooting only a short chat can take a whole day, because equally a director, you'll have to be pedantic. No mistakes immune!

David Ogrodnik and Agata Trzebuchowska in Pawel Pawlikowski'due south "Ida"

Communicate the subtext

What are the characters in your dialogue actually proverb? Is a character lying or trying to hibernate something? You lot could low-cal but half of this character's confront. Is one character in control over the state of affairs, while the other one is intimidated? You could shoot the start one from below, to make him look bigger to the viewer, and the other i from above, to make him await smaller. What'due south on their mind? How do they experience? Endless questions and endless possibilities. Sentinel and analyze the dialogue scenes from your favorite movies and create your ain fashion of telling your audience what is going on besides the spoken lines.