Movie Directors And The Master Shot
Movie Directors And The Master Shot
An old school director of photography shared a filmmaking pearl of wisdom that stuck with me before ever shooting my first movie scene. They said no matter what kind of amazing camera shot I might want to experiment with as a movie director (I call it a “wonder shot”) always shoot a simple master shot. Avoid getting too fancy or cute with it.
He advised me to always film a take or two using a master shot in case your “wonder shot” does not work out. A master shot is used to cover most or all of a scene including actors. It can be as straightforward as locking the camera down on a tripod for a static shot. Or going hand held with the camera to follow the action. You will not get close up details of a scene, but a master shot guarantees you will have the entire scene covered for post-production.
Knowing you have a master shot gives you much more
