This is probably a stupid question but I need to ask!

A

Abinc

Well-known member
Okay, this is probably the stupidest question, but I've tried googling it and I can`t seem to find the answer.
Basically my question is, 'How do you film a scene in which person A is talking to person B and while A is talking, his audio "continues" but the angle of the camera switches to person B's face (maybe to show B's reaction) and then back to person A?'
Is this achieved through the use of multiple cameras? Or do you film the scene several times from different angles (and if so, how would you edit this later on to flow smoothly)?
 
It's not the stupidest question...

What you're talking about is basic editing, cutting to a 'reaction shot'
This is done either by using multiple cameras or doing multiple setups with a single camera. Point is, its done in the edit - not in shooting.

You simply cut in the video of the reaction shot while leaving the audio of the original shot untouched. As far as how you would edit it to flow smoothly....well, that's the editors job.

You may want to check out two great books on editing:

Film Editing by Edward Dmytryk

In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch

The first concentrates on technique, while the second is a bit more about the theory behind editing.
Great starting points, in my opinion.
 
Another way to understand the question: You must use an external microphone aimed to A all the time, this frees the camera to turn away without affecting the sound from person A. This way a shot you described (cam on A, turning to B and back to A with continuous sound quality) is achived without any editing.

All better quality videos are done with external microphones, not the one on camera.

With better editing programs there can be dozens and dozens of audio and video tracks on the top of each other. The sound you hear does not need to have anything to do with the video showing at the same time. In an editor you would just run a video and audio of A speaking, and replace a part of the video with B nodding his head or something while the A audio runs behind all the time.

Welcome to the wonderfull world of Video Editing...
 
Thanks for the responses so far, very much appreciated. I`ve done basic editing for a while now (not much professional), so I`m moving into a more professional stance. For some reason, I just wasn`t able to wrap my head around how this was achieved, but the whole multi-video and audio tracks makes perfect sense. Thank you!
 
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