Shooting a scene at more than one angle?

Question

Hey,

I'm a novice at film making, and I'm having trouble getting this down. Lets say, for example, two people are having a conversation, and I want to shoot it at a few different angles. How do I edit all of them together to get a smooth looking result?

Do you need to have multiple cameras? (no, I don't think that's right D:)

Do you record one angle with one person saying all of the dialogue, and using that audio, just record the scene over and over again from different angles for the video part? But then wouldn't the video not sync with the audio?

I'm so stumped, and this is the most common thing done ever ever ever.

Thank you if you can answer ; 3;

If this is the wrong category please suggest the correct one :)

Answer 1

You record the same sequence several times in different ways, recording both audio and visual.  Then you piece them together the way that looks best.  You will be jumping from one audio track to another, so it is important that they sound similar (eg don't jump from using a radio mic to a boom, because the quality of the voice will be different).

In a lot of Hollywood films, they actually record the sound completely separately.  They make the cut and then get the actors to come in and revoice the scene to sync with the visuals.  In a few cases, they even get a different actor to do the voice.  

For television soap operas, sitcoms etc, they do actually shoot with multiple cameras, with one doing a midshot, say, and others on close ups of the actors, although most of the better quality dramas they shoot in a more filmic style.  The multicam thing is mostly to save time producing shows with a high turnover where you can't afford to keep refilming scenes.

Answer 2

You're half right.  Shoot with coverage in mind, and you'll be OK.

Shoot both angles of both people talking, and when you cut between them, using the existing audio track that accompanies the video footage.

You'll let different snippets of audio overlap other snippets of footage to help it blend and remove overlapping voices, but you can deal with that in the editing room later.

For now, it's important you shoot BOTH actors close up delivering all of their dialogue, as well as probably a MASTER (2 shot featuring both actors delivering the scene) to fall back on if you get stuck.  At the same time, cutaways are handy.  A closeup of their hands, the wine bottle on the table, other people around them, etc, so you can cut away if the edit is becoming jarring.  THAT is your coverage.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

with the audio, in professional movies is they film it first, then in post-produciton they dub the sound over again. the audio track is not acutally done till post production, and then they cut the audio to the film. this question i reckon jst underlines how hard it is for ammateur film makers and how much oyu really should appreciate the performance of professional actors who are able to do the same amazing qualoty performance again and again.

you could try however,

- wide shot of the whole scene taking place so that you have a full video and full audio,

- then get your midshots of each person of doing the whole thing.

- then again with the close ups

use your wide shot as your master and then cut in the mids n close ups in as you feel necessary.

for the audio you can either pick one track that you feel is particulary good of any of those takes, and you cut the scene to that audio track.

OR

you can cut the best bits of everything together and you underlay an environmental/atmospheric soundtrack (so you can hide the cuts between the diff quality of audio) - so essentailly you are using differnet (but ur best) audio bits of each takes

hope this helped

Answer 4

Okay, What you want to do is when your filming an angle, start with just filming the people for a few seconds before they say something, then a few second once they are done. then when you are editing just cut of the few seconds you don't need.

Simple really.