• “The dialogue is how your viewers gain insight of your characters.” (CIMATICJ 2016)
• 180-degree rule explained: “In filmmaking, the 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters, and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character is always frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. The camera passing over the axis is called jumping the line or crossing the line; breaking the 180-degree rule by shooting on all sides is known as shooting in the round.
• Normally, filming a dialogue is supposed to start with a Master shot/Wide shot because it can construct the scene, such as the position of the actors, their relationships, and the environment. Besides, it can be prepared as a backup scene. We can cut back to the wide shot after random shot if we can not use some shots. The disadvantage is that we can not set the light so close to the actors because of the huge size of the shot. Same as the microphone.

• If we want to show the close relationship between two actors, we can let them in the same frame, such as using over the shoulder shot. For other situation, we also can use mid-shot and closer up. There is one main idea that is suitable for all the shots, which is keeping same distance, same lenses and same aperture.
• 30 Degree Rule: different angles of the same subject need to vary at least 30 degrees
• Use cutaway shot to film details.
• Using various shots can make the scene more interesting.
• A moving camera has more abilities to catch audiences attention than a stable shot. If it is hard to move the camera, it is a good way to let actors move.

Reference:

CINEMATICJ 2016, HOW TO SHOOT A DIALOGUE SCENE, Youtube, Portugal, viewed 5 September 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDjr0vaCTx8>.

Noam Kroll 2015, Tips For Keeping A Long Dialogue Scene Visually Interesting, The Beat, viewed 5 September 2018, <https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/tips-keeping-long-dialogue-scene-visually-interesting/>.