Is there a golden rule in movie making?

[John Harmonic]

For stuff like using big crowds in movies and shows, is the golden rule for people to never look directly into the camera? How do they deal with big crowds. Do they say stuff to anyone who may be walking past to not look directly into the camera as a golden rule? Or do they get actors to form a large crowd.

Movies like Bourne 2016 it got me wondering how they controlled the environment with lots of people in it cause there were people violently protesting as well as all over the place, and point is there were LOTS of people so they had to somehow control the environment somehow so people are doing what the movie maker wants them to do.

Great work by movie makers by the way to pull of such things. Also another question do all actors get paid or can you hire actors to volunteer?

[John Cuthber]

2 hours ago, John Harmonic said:

For stuff like using big crowds in movies and shows, is the golden rule for people to never look directly into the camera?

No.

 

[Phi for All]

The golden rule in acting is to never break character. The camera doesn't exist in the character's world (unless it's supposed to), so why would they look at it (unless they're supposed to)?

Actors have unions, including the Screen Extras Guild. Extras don't speak, and are usually part of the background crowd in a given environment. A movie crew uses extras, and would never trust a live crowd to give them what they need. The more people in a given scene, the more problems with continuity (making sure various "takes" are consistent for editing). Also, the producers would have to gain permission from every member of a live crowd of non-extras to use their image in the movie. When a movie crew uses real city streets, they get permits to close off a few blocks, and everyone in the scene is acting.

You can attract actors to a non-paying production. Union actors may not be allowed to work pro bono. 

[John Cuthber]

11 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

Also, the producers would have to gain permission from every member of a live crowd of non-extras to use their image in the movie.

Nope.

People in the backgrounds of some shots in public places are just the people who were there.

[Phi for All]

Just now, John Cuthber said:

Nope.

People in the backgrounds of some shots in public places are just the people who were there.

I'm sure you're right in many cases.

[swansont]

1 hour ago, Phi for All said:

The golden rule in acting is to never break character. The camera doesn't exist in the character's world (unless it's supposed to), so why would they look at it (unless they're supposed to)?

Actors have unions, including the Screen Extras Guild. Extras don't speak, and are usually part of the background crowd in a given environment. A movie crew uses extras, and would never trust a live crowd to give them what they need. The more people in a given scene, the more problems with continuity (making sure various "takes" are consistent for editing). Also, the producers would have to gain permission from every member of a live crowd of non-extras to use their image in the movie. When a movie crew uses real city streets, they get permits to close off a few blocks, and everyone in the scene is acting.

You can attract actors to a non-paying production. Union actors may not be allowed to work pro bono. 

I had a friend at Columbia in the early 80s when they filmed some early scenes of Ghostbusters there. He told me that everyone on camera on the campus were actors - no students - there are so many in NYC that the guild would not allow amateur, unpaid extras.

[Phi for All]

1 minute ago, swansont said:

I had a friend at Columbia in the early 80s when they filmed Ghostbusters there. He told me that everyone on camera on the campus were actors - no students - there are so many in NYC that the guild would not allow amateur, unpaid extras.

Right about that time I was an extra in a John Elway commercial. He'd just started playing for the Broncos and didn't own any car dealerships yet, but was plugging for a local Jeep dealer. The crew took over a big part of City Park, and everyone was an actor in all the shots. There were at least 20 of us, and everyone had a routine they were supposed to do, and they had to do it exactly the same way every time. We had to do a physical rewind every time the director wanted another take.

Back then, SAG and SEG were pretty strict if you were in LA or NYC, but in Denver the rules were a bit more loosely enforced (I don't think they paid us to scale, some kind of manipulation of the Taft-Hartley Act). Still, producers wanted everyone with a face to sign off on being in the shoot. Nobody wants to risk having someone object and stall production, or involve lawyers. It may be different these days, though. 

[John Harmonic]

Thanks for the information all. Interesting stuff, I watch a lot of movies and shows so it's always good to a little behind the scenes feel for it all.

[DrP]

41 minutes ago, John Harmonic said:

I watch a lot of movies and shows so it's always good to a little behind the scenes feel for it all.

Special features on most films on dvd nowadays have either a 'making of' documentary, interviews with the actors/director and other things. I sometimes re watch a film I really like and take an artistic interest in with the commentary on. I like watching a classic film with the director or the lead actor discussing the film, the script, the other actors and the filming as it is running.

 

 

[arc]

I love the older films where it appears they had some of the local citizens as extras. The Blob from 1958 had the theater scene where almost every person young and old who ran out of the building to escape the monster were grinning and laughing. It looks as unconvincing now as it did when I was 8 years old.

This clip below appears they may have slightly sped up the film to help hide the smiles and/or add some needed tension. It's in Spanish BTW.