Film school:Narrative Dialog Editing:Story of Penny and Eggbert:The Dailies

An example for the course on Narrative Film Editing

The dailies

I selected three camera setups. I think that is all I need.








The story of Penny and Eggbert
Intro: Penny & Egg Introduction
Page #1: The story and script
Page #2: The camera setups
Pop Quiz: Penny & Egg Pop Quiz #1
Page #3: The dailies
Page #4: The rough edit
Page #5: "L-Cuts"
Page #6: Creating "L-Cuts #1"
Page #7: Creating "L-Cuts" #2
Pop Quiz: Penny & Egg Pop Quiz #2
Page #8: Planning the film score
Page #9: How to insert narrative music
Homework #1: Create the film score
Homework #2: Editing the scene


Note: Penny and Eggbert are 3D Poser models created by 3D Universe. For this lesson, these characters were posed and rendered with the free DAZ Studio.


My selection

To film this scene, I selected three camera setups. For a short scene, there is no need for more.

My three camera setups
Setup #1

Wide angle
Setup #2

Penny OTS
Setup #3

Eggbert OTS


I think that these three camera setups will give me good converage for a short scene.

Look below for more info on each of the three camera setups.





Camera setup #1 - Wide-angle two shot

Penny and Eggbert - Master shot

This wide shot is a typical establishing shot showing both actors. It also shows both actor's mouths so I must be extremely careful when doing "L-Cuts" (which requires me to roll the picture edits without rolling the audio) or add narrative music (which requires gaps in the dialog.) You will see why later.
Notice that all the dialog for this scene (both Penny and Eggbert) is recorded softly since a boom microphone will not be able to be close to either of the actors. Also the single microphone must be tilted back and forth while over the heads of the actors so that the microphone will point at the person who is speaking.



Camera setup #2 - Over-the-shoulder shot

The shot of Penny

Here is a shot of Penny over the shoulder of Eggbert. This shot is for the entire story, not just part of the story.
I filmed Eggbert so I could not see his mouth. Therefore, I will have no problem creating "L-Cuts" or adding narrative music which requirs extra gaps between the dialog.
Notice that the dialog for Penny is much louder than the dialog for Eggbert. That is because there is only one microphone and one microphone is pointed at Penny for the entire scene. And because the camera is much closer in this shot than the master shot, the microphone can be much closer to the actor who is talking.



Camera setup #3 - Over-the-shoulder shot

The shot of Eggbert

Here is a shot of Eggbert over the shoulder of Penny. I filmed Penny so I could not see her mouth. Therefore, I can easily create "L-Cuts" or add narrative music which requirs extra gaps inserted between the dialog.
Notice that the dialog for Eggbert is much louder than the dialog for Penny for this camera setup. That is because the microphone is pointed at Eggbert for the entire scene. The camera is much closer to Eggbert so the microphone can be closer too.


Trim and assemble the rough edit

The next page

Next, I must trim the clips so they can be edited together. If you think about it, the selection is already made for you.
1. The establishing shot will be Eggbert's first dialog. The remained will be trimmed away.
2. Penny's dialog. This is the over-the-shoulder shot of Penny when she says her dialog. All the rest of this clip will be trimmed away.
3. Eggbert's final dialog. This is the over-the-shoulder shot of Eggbert when he says his dialog. All the rest of this clip will be trimmed away.
When these three clips are trimmed and assembled together, this will be the rough edit of the scene.
Click here to go to the next page.

If you have any questions

Your instructor for filmmaking classes is Robert Elliott.
If you have any question, click here to email me.