Another question about shooting a movie!

[director666]

I was wondring something,and Im sorry if this sounds stupid,but Im wondering about how to cut films! Should I film one long continuous take at with 3/4 of the actors bodies in, and then shoot the close ups after the main shot? or any other idea how to do it, I need some help!!!!!!!!!

[Chance1234]

I normally shoot a master shot then do my CU / Cut aways. I know some people dont use a master but in early days better to over shoot.

all depends on though what shots you are going after and things like conintuity that defer the way you shoot your film , get a shot list worked out and take it from there

[eddie]

Well thats up to you.
There are standard ways to do things. One is to do what I think is called a long shot.
Where you film everyone at a distance doing what they do in a scene.
Then you do the whole scene again, but this time in sections. Filming closeups as people give their lines, or reactions to lines.
Then you can cut the closeups into the long shot when you edit.
In the early days most films were long shots, one after the other it can look very theatrical, nowadays directors tend to do lots of closeups, which throws the audience around a bit more, tends to be more exciting.
For lowbudget stuff Ive found that closeups are easier to handle, since unwanted things dont pop up in the background, or you make a very small set (scenery), and move it around as you wish, without having to find a warehouse and dress it all.

So much for my dry analysis of the process.

[director666]

cheers chaps! thats alot of help! I think Im gonna do a sweeping master shot then do the close-ups and reaction shots ater that, thats what I wanted to do but i didnt know what everyone else did,
once again thanks for the advice

[marti-c]

When editing these shots make sure you dont go from a long shot to another long that is similar. Also if you are on a mid 2 shot for instance dont cut to another mid 2 shot. These dont cut together very well and give whats called a jump cut. By all means get the long shot but just make it an establishing shot and then get closer. Most new filmmakers tend to be afraid to get close and also remember the time compression thing.....do we really need to see the guy walk the whole 20 seconds down a path. show him for 2 seconds and then cut to him walking into the door etc.

[Them1tch]

Also never cross the line.

if you have two people facing each other you should only shoot them from the same side...er thats sounds crap.
ok you have two people facing each other, actor 1 and actor 2, draw an imaginary line in between them. if you shoot a shot of actor 1 talking to 2 from the left of actor two, then if you cut to a shot of 2 talking to 1 then you should do this shot from the same side of the line as previously. otherwise they will look like they are looking away from each other....confused? me too.

paul

[pmweb]

Hey,
I live in an area where there is absolutly nothing to make a movie around so close ups work real good. But when you watch a movie it looks bad to transition to a close up so I always shoot the first couple lines of a conversation at a distance, do the middle lines close and the last lines at a distance.

Paul Mendoza