No-budget production depends on the quality of the reporting approach.
The mistake many filmmakers make is focusing solely on reporting from a creative perspective and neglecting to understand its deeper purpose as a practical tool.
In its most basic form, coverage exists simply to give you editing options. Even just one angle coverage (rather than a master shot of the entire scene) can open up dozens of different ways to shape your edit.
It goes without saying that reporting can (and should) be considered from an artistic perspective as well. But as I said above, most of us already approach it from this perspective. We also often need to consider the tactical implications of our choices. Both on set and in post.
With that in mind, I recommend 5 reporting methods for no-budget productions. We explore these and more in my article No-budget cinematography blueprint.
One-r
Before we discuss more complex coverage styles, we should touch on single coverage. Also known as one-rs. Also known as not using coverage at all.
While I usually recommend doing at least some coverage of every scene you shoot, there is a time and place for everything. Sometimes, capturing a scene with a long lens is just what it needs.
This can be a particularly effective approach when your scene is very short (under the page). Short scenes are naturally more dynamic and don’t need to rely too heavily on standard coverage to keep things moving.
Longer scenes also work well as one-shots, but require more blocking and rehearsal time to get right.
If you’re working on a longer scene, framing your single shot as a mid-shot or close-up will give you more ability to make jump cuts in post-production. Trying to do this with a wide-angle lens often doesn’t work visually.
Main control+section view
I personally don’t like the standard “film school” dialogue scene coverage, which is usually one wide shot and two close-ups. It’s boring from a creative perspective, but it does provide a lot of utility – which is why it’s so widely used.
That said, I think a more interesting approach would be to simply shoot one master shot and then do a series of very purposeful cutaways of the environment.
Cutaways can be used to help you enter/exit a scene, splice footage together without jump cuts, and create a more unique tone.
You should still treat your main shot like it’s all yours – because you don’t want to use the cutaway as a crutch. But once you’re on the job, you’ll have a lot of options at your disposal.
cross coverage
For dialogue scenes that need to be shot quickly, cross coverage is often a good choice.
This is where you cover character A and character B with close-ups, but don’t shoot the master. This is a great option when you’re pressed for time on set and shooting simple dialogue scenes without much action.
That said, scenes longer than 2 pages may start to drag without the extra angle. So be sure to add some camera movement, handholding, or changing occlusions to keep it interesting.
floating coverage
An alternative to the cross overlay method is the floating overlay. Very similar actually, but the camera isn’t locked to any single character.
So instead of shooting 3 shots for character A and 3 shots for character B, you shoot 6 “floating” shots for both of them.
Imagine two characters sitting across from each other at the dinner table. The camera starts with character A and moves to character B when she finishes speaking her lines.
This approach can create some very interesting visual effects in post-production. It’s less predictable than standard crossover coverage, though, and you have to be open to using what’s in your edit. That said, it’s one of the fastest coverage methods on this list.
scene segmentation
This is my personal favorite way to cover scenes these days.
Let’s imagine a 4-page scene in which 2 characters are talking in a living room. At the end of each page, one of the characters stands up and walks to another part of the room.
The standard coverage of the scene is a wide shot with close-ups at every mark of the room. But this would be very time consuming as it would require several 4 minute master shots, plus 8 cover shots (2 close-ups for each marker).
A simpler approach is what I call “scene segmentation”. In this case, the scene needs to be broken down into 1-page chunks. Each block is then overlaid with an “r,” ending when the actors leave their mark.
Doing this reduces coverage to only 4 shots (instead of 12) and relies more on blocking and performance than editing.
Definitely a worthwhile option for longer scenes when you have limited shooting time…
These topics are in Blueprint for No-Budget Filmmakingyou can view here.
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