The Sustained Two-Shot

0:01 Here's a common situation.

0:03 You're standing on location about to film a dialogue scene

0:06 between two actors and you've planned it for standard coverage.

0:10 A master.

0:11 An over-the-shoulder.

0:13 And two singles.

0:15 But then you’re told: the sun’s going down.

0:18 Your plan is out the window and you only have time to get one shot.

0:23 What do you do?

0:25 You might consider the two shot.

0:28 That's any shot with two people.

0:30 Traditionally this was from the waist up

0:31 so you could see their faces and postures.

0:33 More specifically, there was the sustained two-shot,

0:35 as David Bordwell called it.

0:37 That’s where you held this angle for most of the scene.

0:39 –Look Hildy, I only acted like any husband

0:41 who didn’t want to see his home broken up.

0:43 –What home?

0:43 –What home?

0:44 –Don’t you remember the home I promised you?

0:46 –Sure I do.

0:47 In the 30s and 40s, this was the bread and butter way to shoot dialogue.

0:50 However, it’s less common today, and for good reasons.

0:53 First, technology changed.

0:55 Film was expensive, so it encouraged filmmakers

0:58 to rehearse more and conserve their takes.

0:59 When we were shooting film,

1:02 and it was like the moment was somehow more important.

1:06 You didn’t have an endless supply of raw stock.

1:09 So everybody focused on the take.

1:12 –Walter, and then they’re gonna kill me.

1:14 –Dude...

1:16 –That’s...

1:18 –That’s just the stress talking, man.

1:20 Digital is cheaper.

1:21 So now, people don’t really pick one angle and shoot it.

1:24 They cover a scene from as many angles as possible.

1:26 And actors know this, so they plan their performances accordingly.

1:28 –Me gonna save the tears for the close-up –That’s right.

1:31 –You can cheat the edit –They never use

1:34 the wide shot The second change was acting styles.

1:37 Older Hollywood acting has a lot more gesturing and moving around,

1:40 –blames it on the girlfriend for spilling it all

1:42 –And that ain’t far from wrong either –Oh dear,

1:44 it’s enough to make you lose your faith in marriage.

1:46 –Whose faith in marriage?

1:48 ...which works in a two-shot to keep your eyes interested.

1:50 These days, actors are much more naturalistic,

1:53 and these subtle gestures don’t read as well in a wider frame.

1:56 –Stop running away from me like some fool of a moody schoolchild

2:01 –But you didn’t say anything to me Which brings us to editorial.

2:05 A sustained two shot offers us no way to speed up the scene or slow it down.

2:08 And since we're usually trying to tighten things, these shots can be very risky.

2:12 –In my rather foolish obsession shooting things in masters& two-shots...

2:16 I actually painted myself into some pretty ugly

2:18 corners in the second act of the film.

2:20 So there’s a lot of essential information,

2:22 but there’s no way to cut to it any quicker What

2:24 we’re really talking about is how film grammar evolves over time.

2:28 And what was once the standard can now feel theatrical and old-fashioned.

2:31 –Oh it’s all your fault, you’ve ruined everything.

2:33 –It’s all my fault?

2:34 Oh I’ve had enough.

2:34 I quit.

2:34 –You can’t quit.

2:35 Call them back.

2:36 But the sustained two-shot still has its value.

2:39 So what does it have to offer filmmakers today?

2:42 The first advantage is efficiency.

2:44 You’re not grabbing 12 angles, you’re only focused on one.

2:47 Not only that, you can run through pages of dialogue in a single camera set-up.

2:50 –...dialogue with that pompous bastard –He’s a big

2:52 fan of yours –Take his two short planks, Dom.

2:54 A moron.

2:55 Can you believe they made him governor though?

2:57 It’s a bloody insult to humanity.

2:58 –Mother of Jesus, where do you get your energy from?

3:01 The second is variation.

3:02 If you’re shooting lots of scenes with standard coverage,

3:04 cutting to a two-shot helps break up the flow and create visual interest.

3:09 –But I did bloody tell you But the biggest advantage is chemistry.

3:13 –You put a live round in that gun?

3:15 –Well yeah there was like an eight percent chance...

3:17 –Eight percent?

3:18 Eight?

3:18 –Yeah –Who taught you math?

3:20 The sustained two-shot is the composition that best

3:22 allows two performers to play off each other.

3:24 And try as you might, you cannot replicate this feeling with editing.

3:28 –There’s a lot of dialogue and there’s two

3:30 really good actors that could do it all together.

3:32 Anytime you can do it without having to cut

3:34 it together… –They can’t get that if they’re up

3:37 here listening to your gospel and then the well

3:38 can’t produce and blow gold all over the place.

3:40 –I wish I had more time with Joe Gunda.

3:42 –More could have been done.

3:44 –And then the well can produce and blow gold all over the place.

3:48 –It’s so much better.

3:50 Believe it or not, it’s an easier day’s work.

3:53 In other words, this is an actor’s shot.

3:56 So if you want to do this, here are some things to keep in mind.

4:00 The single most important question is –What’s this about George?

4:04 What is this scene about?

4:06 Is it about two people working together?

4:08 Or breaking apart?

4:10 Do they see eye or eye?

4:12 Maybe it’s just a joke.

4:13 (mechanical sound effect) If you can answer that question,

4:16 that will help you decide– how should we compose these two actors?

4:20 Some filmmakers prefer naturalistic blocking,

4:22 where people stand how they do in real life.

4:25 On the flip side, there’s stylized blocking, which is unrealistic but evocative.

4:29 (untranslated Swedish) Next,

4:33 decide the relationship between the camera and the performers.

4:36 Is the camera a dispassionate observer from a distance?

4:39 Or is it an active participant in the scene?

4:42 Should we be looking up at our actors, making them seem larger than life?

4:45 Or down on them, to make them smaller?

4:48 After that, we get into the many nuances of movement.

4:51 We could have one person stand up,

4:53 perhaps to signify a change in power dynamics.

4:55 We could keep the performers still and let

4:57 the background move to maintain visual interest.

5:00 Or maybe we just want a good old fashioned walk-and-talk.

5:03 –Well my work is done here But remember, this is a shot about the performances.

5:07 So don't get in the way.

5:09 Keep it simple.

5:11 –a young director who is beginning to realize

5:13 he doesn’t have to necessarily shoot standard

5:17 coverage –that you can just point the camera

5:19 and let the scene play out –you know, just let the actors do what they do,

5:23 tell the story So you have a two-person dialogue scene but the sun's

5:29 going down and you only have time to get one shot.

5:34 What do you do?