Shot Reverse Shot

The shot reverse shot a very common shot used all the time in movies, particularly during the dialogue between two characters. It helps make it clear to the audience who is actually speaking. It is done by having two camera positions, A + B, one filming over person X's shoulder and the over person Y's (OTS shots). The cameras don't have to be looking over the person's shoulders, as long as the camera is facing the opposites person it works (i.e. a POV shot would also work).

Here is an example in the Hunger Games (2012)

As you can see it makes it much easier to tell who's speaking if the audience is looking directly at them. In this example, the camera cuts between Peta and Katniss (starts 0:17). The shot can be used to denote certain things; if the cuts are quick it builds tempo and connotes anger between the characters speaking, whereas slower cuts slow down the tempo and create a calm manner.

I teamed up with Matt Bray and Harry Stoakes  and we filmed our own example of a shot-reverse-shot. We also had ago editing the short clip using Premiere Pro (which I'll write about in a later blog). Matt (German guy) and Harry (American guy) acted and I filmed...

Here is the clip:

If my description of the shot-reverse-shot wasn't clear enough with these examples here is an image:

Image from AOTG

This technique will be very useful when filming ourselves as it is a very common and effective technique used in most films, especially throughout a conversation.