How To Shoot a Scene with One Camera - Tutorial 

+Carlos Murillo glad to hear that :) thank you and good luck with your short film!

SAME!!!!!

Me too

Not always also it depends on actors how fast they remember dialogues and perform it flawlessly

Mee tooo 🥰🥰🥰

+Bus Lan thanks :) yes you are 100% right, it is a ton of work that not a lot of people understand the process and work involved and yes continuity is definitely one of the biggest issues

No problem, I'm glad it helped :)

Thank you :)

Glad it helped :) Thank you very much for watching!

No problem :) I am glad it helped you. Yep, filmmaking is a lot of work haha

I never knew that, thank you so much for the suggestion. I will definitely keep that in mind if I ever do a whiteboard video again :)

Thanks for the good feedback :) I do try to explain things so they are easy to understand so i’m glad it helped!

+MovieMaker309 thank you, good to hear and good luck with your film :)

If possible use the one audio clip (this only works if the audio syncs well to the video) if not use crossfades between one clip to another to make a smooth transition between the two. Also, it helps to have an atmos track which is basically a 'silent' part of the audio from where you filmed, have this track run the whole length of your scene so that when you cut from one audio clip to another there is no harsh cut as there will still be some sound from the atmos track there. Does that all make sense? Lol i hope it does

+Michael Ronin Yeah makes sense ive tried it. But the audio cut always overpowered the silent track, I bought a better mic so indoors can get better but outdoorss?! Yikes idk the next solution besides another camera

So have you also tried to crossfade the audio tracks? This will make it a smooth transition between both and won't be a rough 'cut'. What software are you using to edit?

+Michael Ronin Plus What if it picks up a sound that is noticeable and its half way through it like a car going by, then it would only have half the sound of the car making the audio clip seem obviously cut? Sorry hard questions but im on a small budget

+Michael Ronin My equipment right now is Canon eos 7D. Rode shotgun mic, Zoom h1, Xlr cable for zoom h1, Standard voice microphone (singing) ,

I’m glad it’s helpful :) enjoy shooting your film!

Thank you! You would just have to follow them with the mic and camera. When shooting different angles of this, try and have the actor move the same way they did in the first shot so it's easy to edit together later otherwise they could be in totally different places from shot to shot haha

Michael Ronin Ok thanks. So following your video, I will have to sync the actions of the second person to the full audio recorded on the first person? Generally how long does filming a 1 minute dialogue scene with one camera take ?

@@AdaptedStudios You could just choose whichever audio sounds the best or syncs the best, it can get a bit confusing in post to find all of the best audio and making sure it syncs up perfectly. The time to shoot a 1 minute scene would depend on how many other angles you shoot and how many mistakes were made haha but I would say on average I could probably shoot a simple two person 1min dialogue scene with one camera in about 20-30 mins maybe

Michael Ronin Right that makes sense, however even a slight mistake in the actor’s second performance (lets say he says an extra word by mistake) can severely mess up the syncing in post? I’m slowly grasping this concept but can you clarify something for me if you don’t mind? So whilst filming the entire scene of the first actor, am I not allowed to change the camera angle during it?

@@AdaptedStudios yep, if they say something different it can be hard if you needed to use audio from another shot/take for whatever reason. It is best if you kept the same angle and did the whole scene once and then go to another angle and repeat, if you mean the camera moving while the scene is being played out that's completely fine (like a following shot, circling shot, etc)

Thank you! I'm glad it was helpful :)

Thanks Armando, it makes me happy that it was helpful :) thanks heaps, I appreciate the good feedback

+Marcos Ponce de Leon hahaha :)

Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad the video was helpful :) Don’t worry about only having one camera, it’s how it’s done most of the time even in Hollywood lol :) good luck with your film!

Hey :) thanks for the sub! What I would normally do is even though you are filming the one actor at the time, I'd still tilt the boom to whoever is talking but obviously prioritise the actor on camera. You don't have to do this but it's very helpful if you end up in post and need better audio somewhere. I hope that helps :)

@@MichaelRoninTV It does indeed help. I am completely new to the audio syncing and editing so any tips help. Thanks much!

@@wearybard866 No problem at all :) I'm glad it was helpful

+Vehaan Thakur yes that would work but as long as the previous dialogue audio syncs up properly with the extra video (if you can see their mouths and if they are talking) does that make sense? Lol

You're welcome!

Well you could plug a mic directly into the camera if you wanted to but the best way to go about it would be to get yourself an external sound recorder (Tascam, etc) and a boom mic if possible. That way it doesn't matter where your camera is, you record the audio externally and sync it up later in post. If you are on a strict budget then you could just plug a microphone directly into your camera and do it that way although the results are not as good. I hope that helps :)

Yeh so this is really going to come down to how good the choreography is between the actors.. if they can reenact the scene perfectly over and over, you can just film the whole thing from one angle and then keep changing angles/shots and repeating the scene. Even if they don't do it perfectly, you will still be able to do quick cuts so it will look like it is all continuing nicely :)

+Michael Ronin Okay. Thank you very much.

+Micahct Emcee no problem :)

The best option would probably be to buy some sort of microphone that you can use with your phone. Most phones have pretty bad audio recording but I guess you could still just use the phone by itself. Rode make a great microphone for phones, I believe it's called the SmartLav. I hope that helps :)

Thank you very much man❤👍 I appreciate it❤ keep uploading👍👍👍

Hey :) Yes, exactly right :)

+Michael Ronin Okay. Thanks. I'm just getting into cinematography.... and it was totally helpful. And is there any tip you can give to me, to help me? A scheme to follow maybe?

Taking all of those shots can be very time consuming but it helps if later when you are editing and you wish you had another shot and it's not there lol. Sometimes I visualize the whole scene in my head and get only the shots that I want plus another couple for safety, it does save time but it can be risky. Also by doing all of the shots of the one person first, you can keep all of your lighting, microphones, etc all in the same area and then just move it all to do the next person. Get a few wide shots of both/all the actors also, this helps if you have no good usable shots and you need something to flick to quickly. One of the best tips I could probably give is to make sure that the actors and other things in the scene are consistent in every shot/take, that way if you cut to another angle/shot the actor will be doing a similar movement, etc. If there is any props in the scene, make sure they stay in the same place through every take. There is nothing worse than things moving or disappearing in different takes, lol.. especially things like drinks, etc.. Every time you start the take again, make sure drinks are filled back up to where they were and things are in the same place as before including the actors hair, clothing, etc.. Sorry for the long reply but being consistent is extremely helpful for when you are editing :) I hope that helps

+Michael Ronin Thanks. It totally helps. I appreciate.

+dana miller thanks for the feedback and for watching :)

+Cris darko it really just depends on where the characters are standing. It might be hard to hide the other camera if it is in the shot

Michael Ronin i see, but how do i film, im trying to record my selve idk if you could sync cameras and record character after character.? Like you did but with TWO or more cameras.? If so how do i do it.? Im also trying to do it live.? But idk..

+Cris darko you would just have to set everything up and then start recording and then you can just enter you scene. Is that what you mean? I don't think I completely understand what you mean.

Michael Ronin oh i meant two different camera..then switch from chracters to character, like you said there.

+Cris darko oh yeh thats easy just as long as like i said before, the second camera isn't in the shot of the first camera :)

+TanishC no problem :) glad it helped

+NRC no problem :) glad it helped!

It's absolutely crazy isn't it?

Haha i’m not 100% sure. Usually i’d just call it a scene

You can do what is called a 'J cut' and this basically means you start the audio on the first video clip (to do this you trim back the second video clip and the first sound clip and then move them together so the cut is shaped like a 'J'). I hope that makes sense, I might actually do a tutorial on this shortly. The best way I have found when switching audio clips from shot to shot is to crossfade between them, there is a audio transition in premiere for this that I use and it's called 'constant power' or you can even use 'exponential fade'.. Basically this just fades them together nicely. Most of the time though when you are filming you will record some 'room noise' or 'atmosphere noise' and you add that in to your scene and make it play the whole way through, this helps when there is cuts in your dialogue audio and things like that. I hope this helps and all makes sense, it's kind of hard to put into worded text lol :)

Would there be another general effect that would do this that's not exclusively in adobe premier. I am using Hitfilm 4 Express. It had this audio fade transition effect. Do you think that could possibly get the job done?

And please do the J cut tutorial. In fact I will subscribe to see it when it comes out

+FlipFilms yeh I think that should work. There is also just sound editing software such as Adobe Audition or Audacity that could work as well :)

Are they free

Thanks man :) glad you liked it!

No problem, I'm glad it helped :)

No problem :) hahaha it is from a movie (they acted it out and changed a few things) but I can't remember exactly what movie it was :)

+Michael Pari no worries and thank you :)

No problem 😊

You would need editing software to do this. You would import all of your clips and then cut them up however you want :)

If they aren't in the frame it doesn't matter so much but it does help the actor in frame 'act' better in my opinion when the other actor (even out of frame) goes through their scene. I hope that makes sense

Thank you! :)

No problem, I hope it was helpful :)

You could do either, if the quality of your footage is good enough to zoom and crop then that's always a good idea. Sometimes you might just want a different angle for the closeup and in that case I'd shoot it again. Most of the times I would just shoot the closeup anyway, it helps to have more footage than you need when it comes to editing :)

@@MichaelRoninTV Alright :) Thank you

No problem

+bluenetmarketing how would a mirror work? If you only have one camera and you need to get different angles I don't think a mirror would work

+Michael Ronin Put the mirror where you would normally move the camera to in the second position and then aim (swivel) the camera at the mirror while aiming the mirror at the second person. All it would take is swiveling the camera to its left to point at the mirror, while the mirror would be pointed at the second actor. Both actors and the lighting and the camera could remain in place with just a simple mirror placement and camera swivel. Sorry, I don't know how else to describe it. It wouldn't always work, but in certain situations, it might save a lot of moving around of equipment. Call this the "mirror-camera-swivel" technique.

thank you :)

Give it a try, phones are capable of pretty good video as long as your lighting is decent and you're able to match your footage pretty well from the other camera. Give it a test and see what you can do :)

Michael Ronin will do, Thanks

My pleasure, thank you for the kind comment :)

Yes, moving the boom/mic to whoever is speaking is a good idea as you might end up needing to use that audio if it works out better than the audio from another take :)

Yes you could but you'd just have to make sure that the camera settings, angles, etc didn't change and that would be fine :)

@@MichaelRoninTV Thanks

@@MichaelRoninTV Do you have other solution for filming very long dialogue for making the actor easier to memorizing

Just shoot lots of different angles so that they can start a new bit of dialogue from the other angle, if that makes sense. So maybe have the camera on person 1 and get them to do their dialogue up until what they remember and then just keep rolling got them to remember the next line. When it comes to editing just cut away to another shot like of the other person or something like that to hide the part where they forgot.

@@MichaelRoninTV thanks, But, If there is a scene with close up and full shot but the position of the camera is the same. Just shoot it twice with one with close and the another with full shot or just do that at the editing?

Yep :) Basically the actors have to act out the whole scene multiple times and try to remember what they did in every single take. This is why a lot of movies have 'continuity' errors which means from one shot to the next you can see the actor in a different position or doing something else. If 2 people were having a conversation, I would usually shoot a wide shot of them both in the scene and then do another shot of just the one actor and once again another shot of the other actor.

+Isabella the Lumix GH4 :)

Thanks Gino, I'm glad it was helpful :) It's just not recommended in case you might need to use that certain audio for the other person speaking, if you can see their lips moving the audio might not sync up and things like that or you might just prefer the way they said something in that take. It's all just about trying to get as much material as possible but it's not mandatory :)

@@MichaelRoninTV Makes sense, thx again!

No problem! :)

No problem, I'm glad it was helpful!!

+Justin Newell glad it helped :)

No problem, I'm glad it helped!

+Mike Caron no problem, thank you :)

You can start from where they made the mistake if you think you can cut to another angle otherwise it's best if they start again

Hey Patrick :) No problem, glad it helped. Thanks for watching!

haha thank you :)

Haha that's good to know, thank you

They would usually respond as it helps the actor on camera to know when to deliver their next line. A good audio recordist will move the microphone to each actor as they talk irregardless of which actor is on screen

@Michael Ronin Another question. What we are using those small microphones 🎤 on top of the shirts. Can the other individual still respond to the lines while the other one being filmed 🎥 ? Like how do you edit that? I'm so sorry I'm new to this I'm looking to shoot a short film Thank you for responding

@@Richesfam are both actors wearing microphones and are they both being recorded at the same time?

@Michael Ronin Yes both actors are wearing microphones. We are shooting a dialogue. Looks like we are gonna have shoot one person at the time after I watched this video. We are filming with one cellphone 📱. So I'm confused if one person talks and the other responds. Wouldn't that disturb with two audios when editing? I hope you understand my question

No problem :)

A good actor would have usually learned their lines to be able to do it all in one take but the good thing about shooting multiple shots is that you can change to another one to hide a cut where they may have forgotten their lines. This doesn't always work of course so it's always best if an actor can remember their whole scene

You can do that by adding an audio track of just the ambient noise in the room and then you can fade between the dialogue so that the change in sound isn't too drastic. If it's very loud/noticeable then it's probably best to find another location to film in

@@MichaelRoninTV Oh ok, so would you record a separate thing of audio and have two different audio tracks? Or just have one and fade between audio like you said? And another long question, sorry. If you don’t buy a boom microphone and you need to record audio from two different people, do you just wear a lavalier mic? If so, do you just give it to the other person when they’re speaking or will it pick up the voices fine? Or is it possible for two people to both wear lavalier mics and be recorded at the same time? if you look up “Steezy Kane Coronavirus Apocalypse” then you might understand why I’m asking this. I just really wonder how he makes such well put together short films with good audio. I also feel like it’ll be difficult to hide the part of the mic that attaches to your pants

Hey Joel :) that's exactly what this video explains. It is usually shot with one camera at a time and then swapped to the other actor to get the other side.

Michael Ronin thanks!! But I thought it was going to be different if you have Two cameras. I thought you were explaining if you only had one camera. If you have two cameras so you still record everything separately???

I see :) yes, if you have 2 cameras you still might have to use just the one if the other camera would be in the shot. Most over the shoulder scenes are probably shot with one camera because of this :)

I'm glad it helped :)

Yep, it happens all the time haha

+Vassilis Giannakopoulos that's when it gets a little bit tougher and you'll need to experiment. One way is to just use one of the audio clips from one of the shots but if it doesn't sync you might have to use clips from both shots and quickly cut between them. It can be hard because some voice from one character might overlay into the voice of another character on the one clip. If it's a really heated argument, most people watching won't notice if it doesn't sync 100%. It really depends on what shots/angles you are using and how well you can use the audio. I hope that helps :)

Michael Ronin Thanks.

+Vassilis Giannakopoulos no problem :)

+Michael Vettas no problem. The only reason is I don't believe they offer the same quality as a boom microphone (my opinion from my experience). They might also be seen on camera and worst case is they rub on clothing and make noise. I still think they are fantastic I just usually prefer a boom. For certain scenes I think a lav mic is great to maybe hide in something that would be in the shot (like a pot plant or something). Lav mics are great for really long shots though where they wouldn't be seen where a boom would be :) it's all just opinion at the end of the day lol

Michael Miles made you mad*

+Abdullah Mahmood no problem :)

Michael Ronin OMG you reply. Thank you sir....Really best videos on filming. 💖💕💓 best channel

+Abdullah Mahmood hahah yes I try to reply when I can. Thanks for the feedback, I really appeciate it!