Walk and talk

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"Walk and Talk" - sometimes referred to as "pedeconferencing" - is a distinctive technique used in both television and film. In a typical Walk and Talk sequence, a walking character will be joined by another character, and the two will have a conversation en route to their next destinations (which may or may not be the same). Variations on the format include interruptions from other characters, and Walk and Talk relay races, in which one of the original characters leaves the conversation, while the remaining character continues the conversation and walking with a new character.

From a technical perspective, the Walk and Talk is a variation on the tracking shot, and like it, is usually filmed with a Steadicam. At times, multiple cameras are used to provide tighter shots of particular camera, a technique more common in television than cinema.

The technique is frequently used as a means of emphasising how busy the characters engaged in the conversation are - there is so much to do and so little time to do it in that even travelling time must be utilised to serve additional functions. It also serves the purposes of smoothing transitions from one location to another, and adding visual interest to what might otherwise be static "talking heads" sequences. All three Law & Order series have used the technique to this purpose occasionally, and it had been used as a prominant story-enhancer in numerous episodes of The West Wing.

The Walk and Talk is also often used as a way of combining exposition with a visual introduction to major areas (and their locations in relation to one another) that will be used in a production. Examples of this can be seen in both film (the opening conversation between Mal and Simon in Serenity) and television (the similar conversation between Sinclair and Lyta in the pilot episode of Babylon 5, The Gathering).

Thomas Schlamme used the technique in Sports Night when working with Aaron Sorkin and adapted it from the typical wide-angle shot of that time to a a closer tight-angle shot, usually only encompassing the subject's upper torsos. This technique was used heavily in the NBC show The West Wing by Schlamme, and remains a favourite of West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, who has continued its use his more recent show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In both shows, Sorkin has at times mocked his own use of the technique in character dialogue. One example of this can be found in the West Wing first season episode Five Votes Down, where Josh and Sam pedeconference meanderingly around the office before Sam asks, "Where are you going?"; each man then claims to have been following the other. They split up after Josh quietly says, "Don't tell anyone this happened." On the West Wing special episode Isaac and Ishmael, an episode shot over only two weeks and presented before the official season 3 premiere just weeks after the events of September 11, Sorkin remarked that the episode included 'zero walking', unlike any other The West Wing episode .

The show House also uses this technique, including one scene where the title character leads a colleague out of his office, through the corridors of the hospital... and back to his office again.

30 Rock on NBC also frequently uses the "Walk and Talk." One episode included one in which Tina Fey and Scott Adsit meander during a discussion and then ask where the other is going, only to find that each was following the other; they depart to Adsit saying, "Nice walk and talk." This was most likely a reference to sister program Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip which has a similar setting and uses the technique very often.