How do Directors film a conversation?
Conversations are vital to understanding a movies plot without dialogue the movie wouldn't get too far, something talking to another thing can build up suspense and portray the feelings of characters which also helps the viewer understand who the character is and how he/she thinks. The majority of a movie is based upon communication between characters and what better way of filming it than having a conversation.
What are the rules for a conversation?
A conversation generally uses the 180' rule which means that the camera is on one side of a imaginary line drawn between the characters, this is used to get both characters perspectives.
the conversations/interrogations all use the 180' rule
to some extent, Gollum for example is speaking to him self in the scene
it follows the 180' rule by having a line in front of him and each time someone else speaks it flicks to a different angle on the same line.
The Joker interrogation scene has the line in between Gordon and The Joker, effectively cutting through their heads, in this time the camera is always on one side of their heads until Batman appears causing the camera angles to change to suit the rest of the interrogation. which is another 180' rule but on the other side of the line, this gives it two different perspectives as two different people are interrogating the Joker. (in this case it can cause a good cop bad cop kind of situation, Batman is the bad cop and Gordon is the good cop)
Tips for creating a conversation?
Always include two people/perspectives
if the character is growing slowly insane or is in some kind of unstable mindset you could break the 180' rule to suit this, breaking it can show that the conversation is no longer involving two perspectives and can show that the character is seeing weird things.
Breaking the 180' rule
This scene in the apparently scary horror film the Shining is about the growing decent into insanity. The main character in this scene is slowly losing his mind, the start of the scene shows the camera on the invisible line in front of his face. It then cuts to a shot of the bartender who is actually a Ghost, this portrays the fact that this character is going insane the abandoned hotel now having a fairly creepy bartender. the 180 rule is broken here to show that it isn't real none of the things he sees is real in anyway and the conversation he is having is with himself not a real thing. The effect of this is that it gives a creepy vibe as it shows a ghost yet it closely focuses upon the insanity the character is going through. It is like he is talking to himself, we know this bartender isn't actually there but in his mind he is.
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