Shooting dialogue with novice actors - Medium shots

[Bill Clar]

My apologies if this thread exists, I searched high and low with no success.

I'm shooting a dialogue scene between two actors and I'll be using various angles (master, cu, medium, etc). The "actors" are not really actors, they're friends of mine. They have little to no experience and it's impossible for them to remember all their lines. Thus, I can't film the entire scene from start to finish at each angle.

For the medium shots and CUs, I'm filming each separately. This is easier for the "actors" in that they don't have to remember as many lines. The problem I run into is continuity. Their body position is always off by some noticeable degree (hand movement, torso alignment, etc).

I'm toying with the idea of using cue cards for the actor on screen, and having the offscreen actor read their lines so that I can get reaction shots. Is this....bad? It's not really acting and it may affect their performance, but it would save me time.

I would only do this for the mediums and maybe a few closeups.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Get real actors.

And yes, having the 2nd actor go over their lines is a great idea; but why offscreen ? Have them stay on their marks regardless of the coverage you are getting ...

This is important for eyeline matching.

 

[Bill Clar]

Thanks J.R.!

I'm afraid if I cast real actors they'd either shoot me or walk off the set. :zombie_smiley: Maybe when I get a little more experience I'll feel comfortable casting auditions.

I'm unsure what "offscreen" means in the filmmaking industry. Basically, I want the other actor out of frame, but on their mark, reading their lines.

 

[Tom Marshall]

Thanks J.R.!

I'm afraid if I cast real actors they'd either shoot me or walk off the set. :zombie_smiley: Maybe when I get a little more experience I'll feel comfortable casting auditions.

Not necessarily. If you've got a decent script and care about having a good finished product, you'd be surprised...

 

[FBAS]

I'm afraid if I cast real actors they'd either shoot me or walk off the set. :zombie_smiley: Maybe when I get a little more experience I'll feel comfortable casting auditions.

Try young actors who don't have much camera experience yet - they are usually very interested in getting more camera experience.
In the last short I DP'ed (it was relatively guerilla with a very small crew) we had two really good actors from the local theatre. They had both done some stuff on camera before (the lead actress had even played the lead in a 13 part show for kids on national tv), but they were really keen on getting more camera experience. At first I was frightened because our guerilla-style approach seemed a little un-professional, but the actors didn't care at all, they loved hanging out with us and you could see they had even more fun than the director and me (well, that was because we had to work more...)