I was working on a short film this weekend, and we shot an “intimate scene.” Basically, the actress was nude. As is common practice, we kicked out everyone who didn’t absolutely have to be in the room.
This was all well and good, but it reminded me of a terrible AD on one of my first gigs. It was a straight-to-DVD slasher movie, so of course there had to be a sex scene.
Technically, it was post-coital; the actor and the actress were lying in bed, under one of those L-shaped Hollywood blankets. You know, where her chest is covered but his is not?
(I’m not really sure the producers understood the marketing purpose of titillating scenes in straight-to-DVD.)
But still, the actors were making out and it was kinda awkward, so they kicked everyone out of the room. Which was totally okay. It was a big house, and there was plenty of space for the rest of the crew to stand by in the kitchen. (It was the middle of the night, and freezing cold.)
Then the AD sees me talking with one of the grips. “You need to go outside.”
“What do you need?”
“Nothing, you just can’t be in here while we’re filming the sex scene.”
“In the other room?”
“Yeah.”
“But I can’t see anything. And they can’t see me. What’s the problem?”
“Just go outside.”
So, I open the door, and the director immediately yells, “Shut the fucking door! It’s freezing outside!”
I slipped out and shut it. With nothing to do, I just walked around to keep warm. I came to the big picture window in the living room, where video village was set up.
The monitor was turned towards the window.
Yes, I could actually see more after the AD kicked me out.
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My friend told me a funny story. He was a set dresser on a bathroom scene. The was a girl in the bath tub with bubbles covering her breasts. The on set dresser was busy doing something else, so the A.D. grabbed my friend and put him in charge of keeping the bubbles covering the girls tits.
Sounds like a great job.
lol, how funny. I hate when ppl are rude, but you were asking a lot of questions 😉 You just wanted to see didn’t you?
Intimate sets are rarely about covering things up than they are about getting the mood of a room right.
I was assisting a “B” list celebrity on an “A” list movie and she always wanted me on set… then when the partially nude scene came, the AD cleared the set, including me… then he stuck his head out and waved me back in… she requested it and since she was the one partially stripping down who was he to say “no”. Anyway, the scene ended and I was there with her robe and everything was fine and dandy…. until, at the end of the day, I knock on her trailer, she thinks it’s the wardrobe girl, she says “come in”, I do and she freaks as she’s standing there in her jeans and bra… needless to say, I saw her without a bra about two hours before… sometimes, you just can’t win.
I just find it odd that these women are willing to get naked on camera to be seen by countless people/strangers/perverts, as long as those people are not the ones who light her, shoot her, put makeup on her, record her dialogue, track her continuity, and feed her.
reminds me of a little story. . .
i was 2nding a gig a few weeks ago, and there was a nude scene. Per the actresses request, we sent everyone out of the room except the director (male) first (male) and dp (female). It was a pretty intimidating scene and she didn’t want anyone around.
I was locking everything up, and I notice one of the male producers hanging around video village.
He had not been at video village the whole day (called in at 11, it was about 430), he had mostly been hanging around craft service chatting with people.
When I approached him, this is how our dialogue went down:
“Hey, Bill*, sorry to sa-”
“I’m the producer. It’s my job to know what’s going on. I’m staying here.”
“Yes, ok, just wanted to let you know that per Tara’s* request, she would like the set cleared.”
“And per my request, get outside and lock it up. Do you not understand that I’m the producer, it’s my job to see everything. I’m doing my job.”
To which i shrugged and walked away. Because as long as he stayed at video village, I didn’t care. They unplugged the feed.
But still, I felt that he acted very unprofessional. And creepy. Yuck.
Such is one of the joys of being a female in the industry.
*names changed!
I can NEVER get nude in public, hell I’m too humiliated to let my boyfriend see my naked body in private.
These actreses are either brave or really desperate.