Good way to film a Conversation?

[Vamp]

Lets say I have two characters at a table sitting opposite each other, is this a good way to film their conversation?

1. Have the camera pointing past A's shoulder and focuses on B, just so you can see a bit of the back of A's head and his shoulder.

2. Film the conversation focusing just on B, but both A and B recite the full conversation. This is shot 1

3. Film the conversation again, this time focusing on A with the camera behind B in the same way as with the first shot. This is shot 2

4. Cut between them when editing. The fact that you have the characters speaking the conversation even though the camera isn't focusing on them allows you to see their body reactions when the one character speaks to them. You can also take the sound from Shot 2 and put it in Shot 1 so you have as back shot of A and can see accurate movements of his head but you still have the continuity and tone of sound from Shot 2's audio...

Is this a good way to film something like that?

[El Brenty]

Yep!

[Epsilon]

Go for it.

[wildabeast009]

Sounds good. Always be sure to keep the viewer intrested in the conversation by changing the angles. It sounds like you did a good job of that.

[tallman_house_pictures]

The best way would be to have 2 came, put 2 over the shoulder shots of both. Then, record the conversation with a boom mic attacked to a good sound recorder. Make sure you have a clapperboard to get the timing.

Also, u can have a long shot showing both characters' sides.

When u edit, lay down the audio on an audio track, and the 2 videos on 2 video tracks. Get the timing right by using the clapper board's sound. Then pick what shots u take out or leave in.
Although, u have to have 2 cams and a boom for this.

The other way would be idead for ppl who only have a cam.

[Theshapecool]

sounds good to me, conversations can drag the audience into looking at the cinema ceiling or maybe reading the popcorn bucket copywrite details (I know I have a few times) so you gotto go with the most exiting way, simple cut to A cut back to B is no good. What your planning seems fine. If its a heated conversation, hand held cam on a warner shot (if thats how you spell it) works extremly well, and many times I have found this angle/style really gets me biting my nails. Incase your unsure, a Warner shot is diologue with no cuts, handheld swooshing to A then to B or maybe C,D and E depending on your scene. This is one of the few shots that can look totally professional even if your not the best camera man, much like myself.

[foxwood]

shoot it that way but add in a wide shot of the two talking a bit of coverage of some other stuff and maybe a close up of each, just be sure not to break 180.

[2nd_Recon]

Do not, I repeat DO NOT EVER break the Mythic Rule of 180!

As long as you don't, all these suggestions are completley valid.

[crb]

The real question is what is the scene. I mean is it suspenseful, is it just two people talking like a love story, whatever. It matters on what the scene is about. Like take for instance a scene I shot in the forest. It was two people in front of a campfire. Because the scene was set to be slightly eerie, we shot some downward shots that were side shots of both charecters, then a couple over the shoulder and then a couple head shots. But that downward shot added to the feel of the scene.

[Spike_P_2]

i have horrible luck with that. i tried it for my undercover short i did, and it sucks when it comex to sound.

[Gyro]

Took the time to scan in a few pages from "The Book of Movie Photography" It's old, but it's good. So hopefully some of this can help.