48 hour film shot list?

[Victor Nguyen]

I was camera/production assistant on a 48 hour film contest 2 weeks ago. We were using a 5d and for sound we have h4 and ntg2. What my director did that I disagree with was that he shoot each scene continuously with its own sound, then switch angle and shoot the whole scene over again, Then switch angle and shoot the whole scene over one last time. Now the problem with that is going to be in post production. Our final movies have sound problem all over the place because the actor didn't gave pauses. If I was directing then I would have shot it exactly how I imagine the cut would take place in post. What do you guys think and how do you guys shoot?

[Brian Drysdale]

From an actor's performance viewpoint it's usually better to let a scene run, however, you normally avoid overlapping the dialogue with other actors during the filming. The sound recordist usually picks up on any overlaps and the director usually asks for another take, since it introduces cutting limitations.

A standard procedure is to shoot the wide shot, then move in for the closer angles. Depending on the nature of the scene, these other angles could last the entire scene. Coverage will depend on the dynamics of the scene and how the characters move around.

Normally actors will have some pauses, usually so they can breathe and for dramatic effect.

In post you usually break down each character's dialogue into separate audio tracks for editing and adjustment of levels etc. You can also put in sound over laps if required. In addition you have an atmos track, plus what ever other sound fx you need in other other tracks.

[Chris Medico]

The methodology you used to shoot the angles was fine (full takes). Not every one does it that way but it is perfectly fine. Even having overlapping dialog is not the end of the world (avoid if possible) if you shot the RIGHT angles.

When you have a close dialog scene you need to shoot a set of internal reverses that isolate each character. This gives you the option to have a reaction shot from the non speaking actor and frees you up to cut dialog from the speaking actor. You can also do it as external reverses if you shoot an over-the-shoulder so you don't see the speaking actors mouth. If all the shots show both actors so you can tell what they are saying visually you can screw yourself. Just because someone is speaking doesn't mean they should be seen talking. You need to present the most important visual information for the scene and that may not always be watching a person speak. That is never more true than when you are doing something like the 48HrFP.

Also shoot good cutaways of hands or other items if interest in the scene. Use anything interesting to cut a away from faces so you have options to shape the audio.

We had to cut a lot of dialog in one scene for our 48hr film last year. It was a HUGE benefit to shoot isolated shots so we could cut the dialog to say what we wanted it to say.

Our film wasn't great but good enough to win our city - Greensboro NC. We will take a swing at it again this weekend.

[Charles Papert]

Originally Posted by Victor Nguyen

If I was directing then I would have shot it exactly how I imagine the cut would take place in post.

You have to be extremely experienced and confident to be able to short your coverage to this extent and not find yourself painted into a corner when you edit. While it's important to have a sense of how you plan to edit a scene, it may turn out that there is a better way when you get into the edit, but you find yourself wishing you had x and y line from an actor in that one particular shot but you neglect to get it because you only shot part of the scene.

Not every shot requires running the entire scene all the way through, especially when under the gun as with 48-hour filmmaking, but the more options you give yourself, the more covered you are if things don't turn out as planned.

On a few of my 48-hr films long ago (it's been over 10 years now since I co-created a west coast version!) I pushed to do some long-take master shots that were not only elegant, but got through a good chunk of script that didn't require cutting, which is a time-saver!! However, it can take nearly as long to choreograph and rehearse the actors for these.

[Victor Nguyen]

huh, I always shot this way. I let it play out in my head like a movie exactly how I want it to look. But how would Hollywood do it?

[Charles Papert]

As noted above, by shooting most if not all of the scene through a number of different setups (master and various pieces of coverage).

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by Victor Nguyen

huh, I always shot this way. I let it play out in my head like a movie exactly how I want it to look. But how would Hollywood do it?

It's something you might do if you're shooting on film and you've a very tight shooting ratio, but it's not the usual method of covering a scene, even with film. Actors tend to perform better if given a chance to have a good run at their performance, especially if it involves dialogue. That's not to say that I haven't done it to some extent, but it's with action scenes rather than anything with dialogue, however, I'm not cutting it in the camera.

[Josh Bass]

If it's a stylistic choice (e.g. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) to have dialogue overlap on a regular basis, seems like no matter what the angle, you could always have multiple mics running simultaneously, one for each actor.