Filming phone conversations??

[prophet]

how do you film them? i mean obviously the other actor isnt on the phone with the other actor. so how do you get everything to match up? you film the first side then with the 2nd actor view the footage and do the other side? or is the actor on the other side in the same room with the actor hes talking to or what>?

[kotte]

There are many different techniques. One commonly used is having the offscreen actor on set reading his/her lines.

[warmstepvision]

Yeah i a believe it is called the turnaround heh. Shoot one then shoot the second one. Don't stop in middle of one's lines to shoot another actor, that way you are taking too much risk loosing the correct focal length, lens height, dof and so on. By the book answering shots should always match up in all of the above, but let the story control your film, the book is only a book.  If you are trying to come up with this specific effect you need, maybe an extreme close up of the guy blowing out smoke out of his mouth while talking on the phone then you would of course move in punch in whatever you wish. Yeah i agree with the previous statement the second actor should definitely read the lines. If you are doing over the shoulder shots then let them fully go through and cut it at the end, do a turnaround and shoot the ots of a second person. Ride on.