At what point do you decide to reveal a twist in a screenplay?

[Ryan Elder]

Yes that's what I mean. The filmmakers I have worked with will not change the shot based on changes like that and still have the same CU for example run for the entire scene.

[Brian Drysdale]

It's a bit soap opera, but you can do that, it really depends on the scene and the nature of the production. There's no rule about what you do, a wide shot be used as well, the camera can crane, everything can freeze in stillness, it depends on the dramatics of the scene. .

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay. What I meant was is that it's soap opera-ish when filmmakers do not change up the shots when the emotions change and they go for those same master and CUs for the entire scene. I don't feel I can do that like they do, when it comes to my own shot choices...

[Brian Drysdale]

Soap operas usually do change the shots because they're so on the nose.

[Josh Bass]

I do it too but in my defense all I've ever done are comedies and they can be a little intentionally cheesy/cornball and it works.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh well soap operas do do a lot of obvious cutting but what I mean is, but I feel like they are using the same types of shots over and over, where as I like to change it up, unlike filmmakers I worked with before. Soap operas and sitcom cut on emotion but they use the same types of shots over and over, rather than more original shots based on the situation if that makes sense.

[Brian Drysdale]

Soap operas have extremely tight shooting schedules, so they have to work fast. However, they usually have multi camera set ups and the larger budget ones have experienced camera operators, so they can do pretty complex stuff at key emotional moments. They also have actors who are generally very good and can work fast.

The Queen Vic: Best Moments | EastEnders - YouTube

Lower budget ones will have greater limitations, with less experienced directors and writers and even tighter schedules. .

The films you seem to be working on have all of that, plus shooting single camera with inexperienced cast and crews

[Paul R Johnson]

Instinct seems to be lacking here. Am I the only one who decides things on the fly, when they happen unexpectedly. I mean the lightbulb that goes on and says - ah, pull out a bit and let that sign into the frame, or go in a bit to capture 'that look', or go up with that thoughtful expression, or drop down and look up for the evil response - all that kind of stuff. You look at the scene, you look at the monitor and change things there and then. No planning - it's just obvious. In live work you get quite good at watching the frame and predicting events, and get ready for them - and if they happen, you aren't surprised and capture them. Intuition, second sight, I don't know how, but somehow you just know. Of course sometimes it doesn't work, but that's fine.

[Brian Drysdale]

That does happen. even on dramas. Everything is usually planned, but it tends to be a case of being covered in case we can't come up with something better on the day. Camera operators will make suggestions, which do get picked up and get added or the actors do something and it gets added.

I've worked on dramas and the coverage was being made up as we went along.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay. I did a shoot like that a couple of times, where script changes where made on a tight schedule and didn't have time to redo the storyboards, so we just made the shots up as we went along. It went okay, I felt, but I look back and feel it could have been planned better, so I always like to plan if I can of course.

I guess I don't like the multicamera set up, that I have worked with on other people's shoots before, because the cameras are all on one side of the room, pointed in a certain way towards everything, where as the single camera set up, I can put the camera wherever I want.

On soap operas and sitcoms, all the angles are very diagonal looking, which is good for some shots, but all of them are. This gives the movie a very limited feel for me, and do not want all my shots looking diagonal, if that makes sense. I'd rather just put the camera where I want for any emotional beat in the script.

[Brian Drysdale]

Soaps are about speed, some of the old 1960s TV dramas shot with video cameras in multi camera studios have more cinematic camera work than your films.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay. Well, what was I saying was is that I find myself not being able to use the same styles as the people I have worked with, and wanted to do my own, even though, I have less experience with it, compared to working with them, if that's best. But then again, with a multicamera set up, it captures continuity better when cutting, so there is that...

[Brian Drysdale]

You don't need to use the same style as the people you know. However, it does need to be consistent with the story your trying to tell.

[Paul R Johnson]

I don't think I have ever copied the style of any director or movie creator. I always tend to find style you develop yourself, using established guidelines far more creative. It's the same with music. I work closely with a concert pianist - and in our separate projects we bounce the completed thing off each other, and this morning he mentioned one of my pieces that is doing quite well and he said, after that diminished chord, why did you pick the second inversion of G Major and not just move the B down to Bb? I had to really think - and then said I dod it because I liked the effect. He said I'd never have even tried that, but it works doesn't it? If you do something and it works - it's good.

I really cannot imagine studying a moviemaker's output and trying to copy shots - surely each one is chosen because it's right in that context? Change the context and the shot might fail?

[Ryan Elder]

Oh well I just meant it was said before to learn from other directors on sets, but when I am on set, I tend to go very different than they do so far, is just what I was saying.