One plus three

The ‘round table’ or ‘square dance’ interview is probably the hardest for new directors to tackle. The difficulty is ‘the line’ keeps moving, depending on who is talking to whom.

The line

As you can see, there are six ‘lines’. This, for the benefit of those unencumbered with natural understanding of shooting interviews, should be enough to put off all but the hardiest. In theory we should only use the cameras on the same side of a line.

Typical shooting pattern

Suppose the presenter talks to guest ‘A’. Camera 2 gets a single of the presenter or 2-shot favouring him. Camera 4 offers the same shots of guest ‘A’. Even though it is technically ‘crossing the line’, camera 1 offers listening shots of either guest ‘B’ or guest ‘C’, whichever is most likely to disagree with guest ‘A’.

The presenter next turns to guest ‘C’. Now camera 3 is the single shot of the presenter, camera 1 provides the single of the guest he is addressing, while camera 4 gives listening shots.

If Guest ‘A’ now starts talking directly to guest ‘C’ you have a choice. With two cameras on each side of the line, you can either shoot with cameras 1 and 4, or 2 and 3. The choice will depend on where the conversation was before this direct across-the-table confrontation began. If the presenter was talking to guest ‘C’, then you would use 2 and 3 (to keep guest ‘C’ still looking to the right-hand side of frame), but if guest ‘C’ had been talking to guest ‘B’ then it would be better to use cameras 1 and 4 (having just come off cameras 4 and 2).

Tricks

There is a neutral shot using a vertically mounted camera directly above the table, giving a view very similar to that in the diagram. Dead handy, you can cut to it at any time.

The cameras will have to move left and right to get clean singles and sensible OTS shots. Remember, we don’t have to see the person speaking instantaneously – the audience can hear everything being said. Get to a wide shot first, work out the correct camera and then get to the close-up shot.

Wide shots

Usually you will have two cameras offering singles, one a listening shot, and the other is spare. Always make this camera offer a wide shot. If you are in trouble, cut to this, and work out the correct camera to use. Sitting on a wide shot for a while works just fine.

One plus three, square seating