Every Frame a Painting
The Ultimate Introduction to DSLR Filmmaking
Top 15 Mistakes Beginner Filmmakers Make
Canon T3i – External Buttons Tutorial
3 Mistakes All Beginner Editors Make
Dialog in a Screenplay Student Samples
Required Elements
- Research
- Read For the Sake of Conversation: On shot reverse shot
- Watch Joel & Ethan Coen – Shot | Reverse Shot
- Watch the other video tutorials
- Review Marking The Shooting Script (PDF)
- Screenplay
- Write a simple 5 part dialog interchange
- Each person should have about 5 lines of short dialog
- Keep each line short because the actor will need to ADR their lines
- Write a simple 5 part dialog interchange
- Storyboard
- Draw each shot from the camera’s point of view
- Include the specific position of the main character in the frame
- Use the rule of thirds or other cinematic guides
- Camera, Actor, and Light Blocking Map
- Create a map of the camera, actors, and lights placement
- Shot List
- List order the shots will be filmed
- Shoot each person’s lines together
- Example: shoot person #1’s lines all together with a slight pause between them to aid editing
- Lighting
- Watch Canon DSLR Video Tutorial – Portable Light Tips
- Find a place that has natural light
- The Commons works well, just sit close by a window and have the light fully cover the face
- Have the actor face the window and the camera have it’s back to the window
- Be sure to light each side of the face equally
- Use a reflector or bounce to reflect light back onto the face, if there is not enough light on one side
- Camera Position
- Have the camera about eye level
- Remember the 180 rule for shot reverse shot
- Review How to Shoot Dialogue Scenes from VideoMaker.com if you need a refresher
- Use a tripod or set the camera on a stable surface when recording
- Camera Settings
- Rewatch the Canon T3i best DSLR movie settings tutorial, to re-acquaint yourself with settings
- Set camera to manual settings
- Set the white balance
- Set the picture style for the lighting you want
- Set the shutterspeed to 40 or 50, lower left hand corner of the settings menu screen
- Set the lens aperture with the Av button and the finger dial
- Set the ISO to the needed setting to properly expose the shots, do not switch this from scene to scene, be consistent
- Lens Settings
- Select a wider angle prime lens or the 25mm setting on a zoom lens
- Select MF on the top of the lens
- Be sure to check your focus for every shot
- Set the focal length to about 25mm by turning the zoom
- Audio
- Watch Canon Video Tutorial Recording Audio with a DSLR
- Watch Canon DSLR Video Tutorial – Using a both Using Single and Double Sound Systems
- Use the camera’s built in microphone for production sound
- We don’t care about the quality of this sound because we are going to replace it with ADR sound in post production
- Collect ambient sound with an audio recorder for post-production
- Editing
- Plan the edits
- Are you going to just cut back and forth from dialogue lines or are you going to have another edit in between like a close up of an actor’s hands in between the shot / reverse shot sequence? Maybe a pause to build tension?
- How long will each edit be?
- Edit timing is what will make the flow between actors work
- Plan the edits