When filming a Movie how are the shots filmed, please read on?

Question

Do you film the whole shot in on non stop sequence with two or more cameras for different angels and then edit or do you film each small piece,cut and change camera positions. Example you have two actors facing each other and they each have a script. After the first actor says their pasrt do you cut and reposition the camera on the other actor and film? Do you do this back and forth?
Or do you have one camera on one actor and another camera on the other actor both filming at the same time and then do the cuts in editing?
Please giver your expert advise as I am learning movie making and I am not in film school yet, however I am trying to grasp the concept. Thank You for your detailed answers and help- Blessings

Answer 1

Both ways work. Depends on your budget.

Sitcoms are filmed before a live audience with 3 or more cameras. They do two shootings, afternoon and evening, after a week of rehersals. Then they do "pick up" shots after the last shooting to correct for any flubs or missed action.

Except for "action" shots, filmed TV and movies are single camera. Action shots are multiple cameras because when you blow up Los Angeles you can't go back and do it a second time.

Here they decide where they are going to shoot everything and then start with a Master shot, then do the closer shots, the close ups, another angle, asides and reaction shots.

Sometimes they shoot way out of sequence. You have two big actors with schedule problems and you shoot the diner scene twice, two weeks apart. No master shot possible. The camera looks directly at one actor and the director or someone else feeds them the other lines. Then two weeks later you shoot the other actor on the other side of the table. They never see each other for real and all the "acting" is truly "acting!"

Shots are grouped for budgeting reasons. The finals "cuts" are made by the 1st AD and Production Manager who take the script and break it into scenes, shots, days, actors, props and equipment. As the producer cuts the budget these two people have to consolodate and decide what scene get shortened, cut and what actors lose lines (who are then given to another actor).

One week an actor has lines on 12 pages from the 110 page script, by the end of the week they are cut to 9 pages and another actor has gotten their lines because they can't afford to bring this actor back for another week or another two days. This saves the production $2,200 to $4,500 as a "one liner" gets $500 a day base, but the days are usually 12-14 hours so after 8 they get overtime and a 12 hour day becomes over $1,200 to a day player.

$3,000 translates in a 4 hours of simple second unit work. $3,000 transles into almost a week of film and processing on a feature.

A good 1st AD and PM can scrape a whole day of simple second unit work by cutting actors and scenes to bare minimum.

It's about priorities. The director wants to take two cars out into the desert for a reason and six one liners get their pages shifted over a 30 day shoot so the director can send out an AD, camera crew, truck, two cars and two stunt players, which amounts to about $15,000.

Cutting six people down by 2 days each saves you $18,000.

The winner is the lucky actor they have to use because it's convienent and that person goes from having 3 pages to having 10 pages and getting 30 seconds of screen time to getting 3 minutes of screen time.

AND they didn't have to renegociate a credit, so that person can still be listed last in both front and ending credits.

Another poor actor who once thought they had 5 pages get's reduced to a single line, off camera in the distance and one day on the set instead of a week. Thier pay goes from $4,000 for a week with overtime to $500 base pay and they are released before the noon meal.

Answer 2

It depend on the director.

Different scenes call for a greater number of cameras because it is too expensive to film it more than once. Explosions.

Then there is the problem of whether this is a set scene or a location scene. Set Scenes allow you to use cameras on ralils with lifts. Location scenes may force you to use more conventional free standing cameras.

Next comes light, which if natural limits the number of takes you can have so every shot matters.

In the old days, you would expect two, because of the expense of the cameras.

When I Love Lucy came out it became three and they were on most of the time.

Then came Monday Night Football and that involved six cameras.

Movies have learned form television and vice versa.

Of course there are those directos that will look for a perfect shot.

Stanley Kubrick went out of his way in Barry Lyndon to build a camera that could shoot his film in the aspect he wanted. There were only three cameras and only one worked at a time, they were so fragile.

So once again, your answer is it varies according to your director and probably your budget.

Answer 3

Earl D has really said it all.

Considering your question, you should check out the movie "The Player" it's a great film! The opening establishing shot is an amazing 6+ minute continual shot with dialog and multiple locations on the same set. It's awesome to watch and to think that absolutely no cuts were made.

Answer 4

Every second a person sees at a movie theatre took on average 2 hours of filming.

It all depends on what type of film it is, your budget, if you are on location, who your actors are, etc. etc.

When you are in Film School, they will teach you a few ways of shooting films. It is up to you to decide what you like.

Answer 5

They have one camera only and they take a take on facing of both the actor dialoging

Answer 6

They use multiple cameras and multipule shots.

Don't you ever watch making of documentaries?