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 ...
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