How Do Directors Film A Conversation?

Directors film a conversation by using rules such as the 180 degree rule. The 180 degree rule is where you only film one side of the characters. This is used to film a conversation because it simply makes it easy to establish the scene, such as who is sitting where. This allows the audience to connect with the characters on a personal level. In the technique you only need to use 3 camera angles; an over the shoulder of one character, and over the shoulder of the other character, and a "master shot" which establishes the scene and where the characters are sitting, these three camera angles are the only used because it gives the audience a sense of familiarity with the characters. However it may include a 4th camera which could have a "quirky" shot (e.g from above) to give a new perspective on the conversation. The rule also works with other common tips to shoot a conversation such as continuity editing, because it makes it easier to use continuity editing as you can fit the clips together smoothly from the same side every time.

Directors also use continuity editing when filming a conversation because it makes the scene seem smooth without any jumps. Simply because if the conversation had jumps in it, it wouldn't look very professional. This also makes it clear for the audience to see what is going on when people are moving objects, such as a cup of tea. This tends to be used with a shot-reverse-shot technique because it can cut between the person, and what they are moving, whilst keeping it realistic/smooth. For example in the Coffee and Cigarettes clip when Iggy Pop chinks cups with Tom Waits the continuity editing is smooth and makes it easy for the audience to keep track with whats happening when the camera angles change, making them seem like they haven't missed anything and therefore don't get confused.

 Finally directors use head room and nose room/lead room as another technique when filming a conversation. This is where the character has space to look into (nose room) and space above there heads, so it isn't cut off and is fully viewable. This technique can show how much power a character has: for example if a person has lots of nose room in a close up they seem powerful and controlling, because they have a lot of room to look into. However if they have little nose room, then they seem confined into a smaller space and seem claustrophobic, thus making them seem weaker. This can be seen in the Breaking Bad clip, where Walter has a lot of nose room throughout the whole the scene, whereas at certain point in the scene, Gus has little nose room, thus showing his weakness and Walters dominance.