Another efficient shooting option is to shoot overlapping moving masters rather than the more traditional three-point or five-point coverage.

These are often fluid, moving shots that cover large chunks of a scene which are designed to intercut easily.

If done right, the ‘overlapping moving masters’ technique gives you two angles for coverage that intercut easily and allow you to shoot through lots of dialogue very quickly.

This is how I directed “Glimpse”, a contained thriller, with several 10-page days in the shooting schedule. They work best for long conversation scenes.

Just light the room broadly, point the camera at one of your actors, and start the scene.

As the actor moves, the camera follows. Interesting blocking can make this more dynamic. Shoot for as long as you can, ideally for a page or more.

When the actor flubs a line or when the camera does something unpleasant, just cut the shot, go back a quarter page, and start again from there.

Repeat this until you’ve shot through the entire scene.

Make sure each ‘chunk’ of the scene is at least a half-page long.

Then relight for the reverse angle, and do the same thing with the reverse shot.

This technique gives you tremendous momentum with as minimal a loss of production quality as possible. Keep in mind that this is a stylistic choice so it needs to be carefully assessed whether this technique will match the rest of your film.