i think with most people its just a matter of not being able to afford that many cameras.

I have a huge preference for one camera. When dialogue is improvised, lines are stepped on, things like that, more are good to have. I have also coordinated a team of camera people for live events and the like, since I can't tell people there to do it again quite so well. Anyway, the first post made sticking to a single camera sound kind of like a limitation, which I completely disagree with.

I used to shoot like:

Turn the camera on one person

They say one line

Turn camera off

Show other person

They say their line

Turn camera off



Then I did the act out three different times at three different angles. I like that better. It doesn't end up making the movie look like crap.

I have two camera's at home, though one is a nice XL-1 and the other is a crappy consumer mini camera that is terrible at pulling in light. I would love to use to cameras for the dialogue to be more organic but the quality is so different it can't be done. What I do - a method that needs to change - is set my camera at an angle to what looks good, record and feed off the line to my "actor" and shoot. Which, is very wrong. I usually have a hard time pulling out the right reading of the line since its out of context. Though last time I shot we had a table read first so everyone can get acquainted to the script. Also, I find having two people on camera at once helps. What I don't do is have the actor read their lines off-screen and play the rest of the scene out. Stuff like that is gonna be overhauled in the future.

Whether you're shooting the scene consecutively or not, you should have the off-screen actor around so the filmed actor can play off him or her.

Different scenes have different requirements.

You can even film an entire scene with just one actor, using the other's voice off-screen. I did this in my recent 16mm film for a certain effect. Some actors are very good at subtle facial expressions.

One Cam -
Keeps the image continuity-wise, relatively the same.

I aspire to shoot for 2 actors, one of screen, one on screen, dialogue play. Bada Bing, done, go to actor 2.

But in my latestest effort, Nuke '63 with Hutch Michaelson, in which I starred and juggled every hat, and we were under tight deadlines - we had to shoot it so that every actor did huge chunks of their dialogue without playing off each other. And even did the zoom in thing between dialogue as to make it seem like there were more shots - props to Robert R. from Austin, Texas. We composed the shots from a pseudo-first person pov view but in between, so we only had to worry about eye line which wasn't hard. Plus doing the one-person says their chunk of dialogue makes it seem like you're not treading over familiar territory.

Personally, I dig long sweeping steadicam tracking shots where new compositions are formed every time, shots which technically reach out to you. Hard to pull off well. I also like the eyes, focusing on them and seeing what our character is looking at, tracking in when they do stuff, etc.

do you guys like to use storyboard or do you decide on the day of the shooting (what shots you are going to use)?
Cheers

when the actor is infront of you acting, there is no time to tlell them where to go, thatll only limit what happens. I made the mistake of setting up some chairs once and they ended up sitting. There's nothing more boring than seeing people sit. Dont let them sit. People are ment to move.

Storyboards save time !!

When I shoot I like thinking of the end result and how it can be the best. When you shoot and edit you can make the decisions of what you need and what you don't. I have done storyboarding and yes it does save time in shooting, but there is alot of time that needs to go into it, as well. So you have to decide if a 10 minute video is worth the 5 hours of storyboard prep. With that said, always thinking of shots is a must. I keep "storyboards" in my head.
As for shooting style I like handheld. Even though there is a tripod always on set I like the motion of handheld. It works out to be a static shot with some nice organic feel to it. Handheld is an art though. A great deal of patience and steadiness needs to be achieved, that and willing to contorque your body in weird ways to get the shot.
Also its dv! You can shoot to your hearts content and only spend a few bucks on the tapes. Dialogue is the hardest to come up with, without it sounding ridiculous. Pitch your lines around with other people to see what they think and leave room for improve. If the actor does not feel comfortable with it then the audience will see that. Again it is dv, and though it may add time to loading shoot from different angles and that way you have plenty to work with the not enough. Every person has a style and thats what defines how the final product comes out. Never be afraid to try new things though.