Hey everyone, I posted a new blog entry attempting to address how much coverage is enough when shooting a scene.

Film Thoughts: Shooting A Scene: How Much Coverage Is Enough? (http://overstreet-filmmaking.blogspot.com/2009/07/shooting-scene-how-much-coverage-is.html)

Feel free to contribute, as I'm trying to start a dialogue between experienced filmmakers on the matter.

The big problem that we see over and over again in post is that new directors will do take after take of a master shot, in an effort to get a perfect take. That will leave them with no time for coverage and we'll wind up with a bare minimum of footage to cut the scenes. Limit your takes on each set up to somewhere between 3 and 6. You can do a lot more with three takes on an adequate number of set ups than you can with more takes of fewer set ups.

also, rehearse your actors repeatedly. They have should have run through each scene with each other a minimum of 20 times or so. If they step on to the set, know their lines inside and out, and have run through the scenes with the director and know what the beats are, you should be able to limit the number of takes quite easily and still have beautiful work.