I was watching Whale Rider yesterday and noticed a scene where the two characters are standing in the hallway. We see a full length shot for a second then we see an over-the-shoulder shot with both characters in it and for the rest of the scene, we see one character at a time (the one who's speaking.

How do you actually film the whole scene. Hope it makes sense.

It's a standard practice called 'Coverage'.

It's roots go back to the silent era, and the rhythm of Long(aka Master)/Medium/Over the shoulder/Reverse evolved shortly after sound was introduced.

You typically shoot the entire scene from each of the camera setups to give yourself continuity for each shot. If an actor is off camera for one of the setups, someone else often reads their lines to the actor on camera. Likewise, a double often serves as the back of someone's head.

There are many benefits to creating coverage like this. It gives the editor more choices, allowing them to play to the strengths of the material & performances. It also gives you lots of extra dialog takes that can be used to improve the on screen performances of the actors by cheating the best line delivery to the best picture.

Hope that helps.

That explains why a typical 12 page a day shoot requires lots of set ups. I kind of get it now. Thanks much for explaining it to me so clearly.

By the way... how did you like "Whale Rider"?

(Just happens to be filmed in the greatest country on the planet) :D