Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Jason Tumeric. The editing of a movie begins long before you shoot even the first frame. See filmmaking is a tedious process of shooting a scene multiple times from many different camera angles and often times you're only using one camera. So you have to determine as the director in pre-production how these shots will be edited together. In the editing room, the editor then assembles these shots together so the action in the scene appears to have occurred only once and was covered by multiple cameras positioned all around the set. Well, this can be tricky because the quality of your final edit depends heavily on just how well you shot the footage on set. So in this lesson, we're going to look at how to shoot good coverage for each scene in your project. When you're on set and you're planning how to cover each scene, you want to imagine every shot and how it's going to be cut together in the editing room. Because remember, the goal here is to create the illusion that the action on screen happened only once, but that there were multiple cameras shooting. So the trick to manufacturing this perceived continuity between the different shots is for your actors to perform the scene in its entirety from the beginning to the end and then try to cover as much of the scene as possible from each camera setup. The more rehearsed the actors are and the more comfortable they are with the flow of the scene, the more consistent their performance is going to be from one take to the next and the better the pacing and the better the flow of the scene will be when you edit it together.

Speaker 2: When I prepare a script and my shot list, I absolutely have in mind where probably every edit is going to be, a version of that. Is that the version I ultimately end up with? Not necessarily, but I have a way I know it will work. I know a lot of filmmakers are taught don't cut in your head. I think that's the silliest thing I've ever heard. Absolutely you should cut in your head. Now that is not to say that that's the only version that should be available to be cut together. Absolutely not. You should have your appropriate pieces of coverage. But to overshoot is to, in my opinion, not have a point of view.

Speaker 1: When we talk about shooting for the edit, you want to keep these two tips in mind. First, during pre-production, think about the relationship between each of the shots on your shot list and how they will ultimately cut together to best tell the story. Using storyboards or pre-visualizing the scene may help you dial in the visual pacing. Also, plan to maximize the coverage in every single camera setup so that you can give the editor as many options as possible in the editing room. Shoot as much of the scene as you possibly can from each and every camera setup. All right, let's begin by looking at the most basic coverage template, which is shooting a master shot and then moving in for close-ups of each actor. A master shot is the shot that includes all the action in the scene, so that even if this was the only shot that makes it into the movie, the audiences would see everything they need to see to understand what's happening in the scene, including every necessary movement, every line of dialogue, and every action. Although you may use this master shot only once in the scene, it provides an insurance policy of sorts, so you can always cut back to it if you need to. Well, once you shoot your master shot, you then move in for close-ups of each actor. Let's take a look at the example of a simple dialogue scene between a couple having dinner. We shot a master shot of the man and woman from the very beginning of the scene to the very end of the scene. Now, to make it a little bit more dynamic, we put the camera on a dolly and slowly dollied back and forth to add a little bit of movement and interest to the shot. Well, once we got done shooting the master, then we moved the camera into the first close-up of the man. Marker. It's all there. That's the easy part. There's some digging the trenches. This may all work out. They're all looking at you. Now, even though I knew I wanted to use the master shot to only open the scene, I still shot the entire scene covering the man's close-up. Well, once we shot three to four takes, we then flipped the camera around to shoot the reverse angle of the woman from the very beginning of the scene to the very end of the scene. Marker. I got it. And we're set. Camera's set. Set. It's our WAP connection. And action. This one's looking at you. Who is?

Speaker 3: I don't know.

Speaker 1: Whole room. Stop it.

Speaker 3: Who is? I don't know.

Speaker 1: Whole room. Stop it. Me. You lean back. By shooting this coverage, we gave the editor a choice of three shots to cut to at any given point in the scene, allowing him to control the pacing and even the performances. For example, the editor could choose to hold on the man looking adoringly at the woman. Or the editor could cut to the woman applying makeup so she appears dismissive of the man. Well, having this varied coverage frees the director to make the decisions in the editing bay and not necessarily on set.

Speaker 4: They're all looking at you.

Speaker 3: Who is?

Speaker 4: Everyone. You lean back. They lean forward. Stop it. Who is?

Speaker 1: Do you know that I'm still amazed after all these years that I'm the one who got to marry you?

Speaker 4: You shower me with compliments then abandon me to call for the numbers.

Speaker 1: Not tonight. One great way of dramatically increasing the amount of coverage is by varying the shot size of each setup.

Speaker 4: You want to put your characters in such a position that you can get two or three shots looking in exactly the same direction, whether it's the master and then a straight punch in for a piece of coverage and then tighter again. I like, personally, when you have two cameras side by side like this, I like to put the closer shot on the outside as a three-quarter single on the person because I think there's too much enslavement in our business to the tight eyeline overs. I just find it really boring and I like to break it up a little bit. A lot of times also you can do the beginning of a scene and the ending of a scene if you're on the same angle and then jump in and do your coverage. It's a waste, though, to do the beginning all the way to the end if you know you're only going to use it for the beginning and the end, if that's all it's usable for, unless it's helpful for the actors to go through the whole scene. Otherwise, I would just say, let's do the beginning, okay, let's do the exit, okay, let's move in for coverage.

Speaker 3: In television, on Castle, it's all different, everybody's got a different thing, but I will try to get at least three sizes from one camera position. And yeah, we can lay boards or we can lay dance floor. Dance floor is now you're choreographing and you're choreographing that ballet between the actor and the camera and it has to look lyrical or whatever you want it to look. So there's time, which is fine if you want to take the time to do it.

Speaker 1: For example, in addition to shooting the wide master shot, we also pushed in on the lens and we shot a few takes in a tighter master, all without moving the camera. Then for each closeup, we shot each character in a medium over the shoulder, then we switched to a longer lens to get a clean closeup of each actor. So by pushing in on each setup, we just doubled the amount of coverage from three usable shots to six shots. And the best part is that the editor can now choose from any of these six shots to further vary the intensity of the scene. For example, the editor may choose to begin on the wide shot to establish the restaurant, then cut to a medium over the shoulder shot. Well, when the scene grows more intimate, the editor can then cut into tighter singles, pulling the audience even deeper into the story.

Speaker 3: Depends on the value of the moment. If somebody is saying, hey, you want to go grab a beer, no, I'm going to go home and read a book. I don't need a whole lot of versions and sizes on that. It's a quick throwaway. So if I get one size in here, a couple of takes, a couple of versions of it, that's enough for that. Because I don't want to spend too much time detailing out that moment when I have somebody else pouring their soul out in a scene. And I'm going to want three or four sizes on it. I'm going to want two or three takes within each side, because I'm going to want to really have every nuance that the actor comes up with on film.

Speaker 1: All right, everyone. That's all we have time for today. If you want to see the rest of this video tutorial, if you want to read the exclusive companion guide and download projects that you can use to practice these techniques at home, be sure to check out the full course at filmskills.com. Now if you really want to improve the quality of your productions, I'll take you much deeper into the entire filmmaking process in the paid course at Film Skills Unlimited, where I partnered with ARRI, Audio-Technica, Panavision, Matthew Studio Equipment, LEDGO, and KineFlow to produce an online training curriculum so complete that over 115 film schools, universities, and film commissions use my program. Plus, I sat down with over 70 Academy Award and Emmy-winning filmmakers who reveal the techniques they use to produce the biggest TV shows and movies ever made. You could join over 20,000 filmmakers and learn how to write better screenplays, become a more effective director on set, master advanced cinematography techniques, unlock the full capabilities of your camera and lens, improve your shots with Hollywood lighting techniques, learn how to record audio, design sets, edit, and much more. And as a special bonus, I've also negotiated special discounts on software and gear just for Film Skills members. And as a member, you also have exclusive access to hundreds of projects and exercises to practice and hone your skills. Plus, nearly 2,000 pages of my illustrated companion guides, personal mentoring, job shadows, and much more. So check out FilmSkills.com for more information. And by the way, you're also invited to join my free one-hour filmmaking course where I share my top 10 secrets to achieving a professional look that helped me grow a career shooting in over 35 countries for top studios and brands. So check out the link below to register for my free one-hour filmmaking course and learn how to become a better filmmaker at Film Skills, the online film school built by filmmakers for filmmakers.