Experimenting on Tuesday   

Time: 30mins

I’ve decided to experiment with shooting a simple dialogue scene between two characters featuring over-the-shoulder shots, cutaways and shallow depths of field. Quite a simple concept but I’d like to master how to shoot dialogue while keeping it interesting and maintaining the audience’s filmic spatial awareness. By following the 180 degree rule I will ensure the characters are looking in the right direction on-screen.  Because I couldn’t think of anything to write myself I have extracted a segment from an office scene from the TV series Mad Men. This scene is originally covered with MS and MCUs with only one characters ever being in the frame at once. I plan on adding some over-the-shoulder shots and some shot size variation to attempt to make the scene a bit more interesting. There’s 6 shots in total and thats without giving me any options in the editing suite. I should be able to get them done in 30 minutes if I shoot the three shots of each character together. Below is the script I copied from a scene from Mad Men and a youtube video of the scene
INT. STERLING’S OFFICE – DAY

 

Harry  sits down facing Roger

ROGER

Now.. I think you know that we like to think of this place as a family. And there are certain ways a family behaves.

HARRY

(Worried) What did she say? You have to hear my side of it.

ROGER

(Confused)  Your side of what?

HARRY

What– Nothing.

ROGER

You’re always up to something aren’t you Crane.

 

SHOTS:

Medium Full Shot Pan – Harry walks over to the seat and sits down facing the desk. Shot from behind the desk from the left Roger.

MS OTS – Roger behind the desk from the right of Harry

MS OTS – Harry over Rogers left shoulder

MS – Roger behind the desk

CU – Harry confused

MS OTS – Roger from Harry’s right shoulder.