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Shooting a scene that involves dialogue professionally requires a great deal of skill, knowledge and planning. The following advice will explain how you can shoot and edit a scene for your films in a professional manner. Photography by Josh Janssen.

Before the Scene

Establishing Shots. At the beginning of your scene, you will need several establishing shots to show where the scene is going to occur. It is also necessary to use establishing shots between scenes to convey a change in location or the passing of time.

Master Shot. A master shot shows all of the actors in the frame at once. It is necessary to establish where your characters are. For example, the master shot might begin with one character sitting on a park bench and shows another character moving into frame to sit beside them.

Framing the Conversation

When framing a shot, it's very important to take the following into consideration:

	Rule of Thirds The Rule of Thirds is an aesthetically pleasing way to compose the frame. If you divide the frame into thirds, the points of interest should be positioned along these lines or at their intersections. Close-ups like this are a terrific way to shoot dialogue.
	Look Room When framing shots for a conversation, ensure that the characters have enough ‘look room’ which suggests to the audience that they are speaking to someone out of frame.
	Headroom Too much or too little space above the actor's head will make the shot look poorly framed. The example here and above all show appropriate uses of headroom.
	Over the Shoulder Shot If you don't want to frame a conversation using the tight close ups shown above, you can always use an over the shoulder shot, in which you can see the head and shoulders of the person the character is talking to in one side of the frame.
	Two Shot In addition to shooting every line in close up, get as much dialogue as you can in a two shot as well. This will give you greater variety when you're editing the scene.
	Eyeline Match When framing shots for a conversation, ensure that the characters are looking in the direction of the person they’re talking to. When the shots are cut together, it appears as if the characters are looking at each other.
	180 Degree Rule When filming a conversation, if you start filming the actors from one side, it's important to stay on that side. If you cross the imaginary 180 degree line, the characters will not appear to be looking in the right direction. This image is used under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0.

Shooting the Conversation

Being able to film dialogue successfully is very important when you’re making a film. Shooting dialogue out of sequence is very useful because you may not be able to have all actors on location at the same time. To do this, you need to set up the camera and shoot one half of the conversation. Once you've framed the actor up, press the record button and get them run through each of their lines. It's very important that they look in the direction of the person they're supposed to be speaking to for a few seconds before and after delivering their line. Using this approach, it's possible to stand off camera and feed lines to the actors which means they don't have to learn their lines perfectly before filming. When the actors has said all of their lines, remember to get some noddies, cut ins and cutaways. Turn the camera around and film the other half of the conversation.

Common Problems

Sloppy composition.  Framing the shots carefully is crucial. Before you press record, make sure the shot is composed using the rule of thirds and the actors have adequate headroom.

Inadequate lighting. Check that your character isn't backlit

Poor sound. It is a good idea to take a pair of headphones to the shoot so you can monitor the audio levels while you're recording. Before you start shooting and the actors arrive on the set, listen to the ambient noise through your headphones. Often there are sounds - like refrigerators or air conditioners - that your ears don't pick up but can ruin the quality of your audio. Perform a few tests with the actors. The sound of their voice should be clearly audible above any ambient noise. Poor audio quality is very difficult to fix in post-produciton. Using close ups like those shown above necessarily means you have to get the camera and the microphone close to the actors. 

Dirty lens. Check the lens for smudges and dust. Clean if necessary.

Distracting background. Make sure there isn't anything distracting in the background or any trees growing from the character's head.

Other Useful Techniques

Noddies. When you're shooting a conversation, it's a good idea to capture thirty seconds of the characters pretending that they're listening to the other person speak. If there are any problems with the footage of someone speaking, you can cutaway to the person who's listening, then back to the speaker.

Cut Ins. A cut in is something related to the action. When you're editing, it's good to have a cut in that you can use if there's a problem with other footage. In your scene a character might be holding a coffee mug. Film thirty seconds of this and, if you run into any trouble, you can always cut in to the coffee mug, then back to the action. 

Cutaways. A cutaway is something unrelated to the action. If you're filming a scene on a busy street, might capture thirty seconds of the 

Links

Videomaker: Framing Good Shots

Indie Filmmaking: Tips for Framing Your Shot

180 Degree Rule