For our preliminary task will be shooting a character walking to a room/ shooting a conversation.
We must study the key elements in order to create a well rounded scene that will be good enough to keep the audience interested.
Conversation
When filming characters conversing one must abide by certain rules.
180 degree rule
Is to film the action from one side of an imaginary line. The camera stays on one side of the axis throughout the entire sequence.
The viewer takes a mental picture and establishes where the character is situated within the composition. This technique allows the director to break away from the master shot without confusing the audience. If the director was to break this rule he would give off the impression that he has reversed the characters, this will make the viewer confused which result in him or her questioning the validity of the film.
The Shining, is an example were a director breaks the 180 degree rule.
Rule of thirds
This rule states that the composition of the mise en scene should be imagined as nine equal sections, equally spaced within lines separating each section.
The important elements within the composition should be placed at the areas where the lines cross. This is because the viewer eye is drawn to these areas.
Shot variety
Shooting the sequence from just one plain long shot would be boring, it would also keep the audience detached from the characters as they're not getting close enough to them.
By increasing the variety of shots the audience will be able to feel like they are inside the action, the director will also be able to toy with the audience emotions.
When talking about shot variety within a scene, we use the term coverage. This term is used as blanket when talking about a variety of shots, shot at different angles and heights within a scene.
[Example from 'Risky Business'', shows a basic use of shot variety]
This is the master shot. It shows the viewer all the action within the scene.
This is a subjective over the shoulder shot of the nurse. This shows the audience the nurses focus point.
When the nurse converses with the student, the director could cut to this shot.
This is another subjective shot, this is an over the shoulder shot of the main character. As you can see in this shot you can see a greater percentage of the characters head, this shows the audience that he has some great importance in the scene. The over the shoulder shot is a great to use in order to show the audience what the main character focusing on, because of this the director picked this shot to show the main character conversing with the nurse.
