How is a scene like this done?

blinkodo

Two people talking, in this scene in a car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzPqNXiIn7w&feature=player_detailpage#t=140

The camera switches from side to side. Are there two cameras? Or just one? Is the dialogue done in segments or filmed by two cameras at the same time?

Sad Professor

I can't watch the scene properly at the moment, but potentially it could have been shot using either a single or multi-camera setup. Single camera setups are often preferable for lighting and performance reasons but are obviously more time consuming to shoot. Since it's a tv show with a very tight shooting schedule of 10 days or less, it was definitely a multi-camera setup, though they may have done some of the tighter shots separately.

Here's an diagram of a multi-camera setup.

Sad Professor

Here's a good example of a single camera setup from Se7en:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS4EJGh9mIg

Also the early scene (which I can't find on YouTube) of Pitt and Freeman in the car with the rain hitting the windscreen. Both scenes looks great but were probably hell to shoot. Especially since the car is moving in both instances.

Knowing Fincher, it probably took them a week to shoot both of these scenes. Where as The Sopranos car scene was probably shot in a couple of hours.

landsleaving

blinkodo wrote: »

Two people talking, in this scene in a car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzPqNXiIn7w&feature=player_detailpage#t=140

The camera switches from side to side. Are there two cameras? Or just one? Is the dialogue done in segments or filmed by two cameras at the same time?

One camera most likely, window open on the camera side, then the scene run through on each side for coverage. Simple enough. If the car was moving, there are mounts to put a camera on a car door looking in the window, so it could be done in the same way, but a bit more difficult to pull off.