Filming Sex
- Thread starter Kingda Ka
- Start date
I'll state a few obviouses.
Pre-shoot:
Get the actors to spend a good amount of time together before it.
Get comfortable with language; you don't want to not call something out just because someone's in nude and you're talking about their parts.
Do a clothes-on rehearsal. This was especially helpful for me when I had to direct one.
Show the actors any storyboards you can, so they understand how it's meant to look aesthetically and can feel comfortable with it.
Shoot:
Limit crew as much as possible.
Talk to the actors right before the shoot.
Try to be professional about it. If the clothed people act awkward, the naked people will be too.
Limit the amount of takes. The tricky thing for me was that past a certain point, being naked and humping someone became pretty old-hat and the actors weren't awkward about it. But doing it for an hour straight just started to make it tedious for them and that romantic je-ne-sais-quoi started to fade. Try to get the shot while that small amount of nervousness is still around.
Rules to being professional? Just be professional. It's not that hard to do.
Pre-shoot:
Get the actors to spend a good amount of time together before it.
Get comfortable with language; you don't want to not call something out just because someone's in nude and you're talking about their parts.
Do a clothes-on rehearsal. This was especially helpful for me when I had to direct one.
Show the actors any storyboards you can, so they understand how it's meant to look aesthetically and can feel comfortable with it.
Shoot:
Limit crew as much as possible.
Talk to the actors right before the shoot.
Try to be professional about it. If the clothed people act awkward, the naked people will be too.
Limit the amount of takes. The tricky thing for me was that past a certain point, being naked and humping someone became pretty old-hat and the actors weren't awkward about it. But doing it for an hour straight just started to make it tedious for them and that romantic je-ne-sais-quoi started to fade. Try to get the shot while that small amount of nervousness is still around.
Rules to being professional? Just be professional. It's not that hard to do.
Last sex scene I shot, we had the actors and the Director rehearse to get it looking somewhat right privately, whilst wearing clothes. We then rigged and lit the scene whilst the actors were clothed, ended up going skeleton crew for the actual 'clothes off' bit.
We did it towards the end of the filming schedule, and we tried to limit the number of takes we needed to do.
I can't remember if we had robes for them, or if they got re-clothed between shots (we had a jib shot, as well as two different dolly directions that needed to be set up and re-lit).
We did it towards the end of the filming schedule, and we tried to limit the number of takes we needed to do.
I can't remember if we had robes for them, or if they got re-clothed between shots (we had a jib shot, as well as two different dolly directions that needed to be set up and re-lit).
In the film I'm working on, I made the actors go out on a date. The dude had a girlfriend and the girl was single. I bought them movie tickets and everything. I made them do the kissing scene multiple times during the rehearsals and made them improvise and make up their own lines. It was a hell of a lot of fun. By the time the shoot time for that scene came up, and the other intimate bed scenes came up, the actors and crew had become quite friendly and it all worked out.
But there were no real passionate, taking clothes off, scenes. I didn't do it because I didn't think I'd prepped the actors enough for that. And unless the actors are really comfortable, it can come off as quite fake. I didn't go any more beyond kissing and light touching.
Jax's example seems like a pretty good one for a clothes taking off scene.
But there were no real passionate, taking clothes off, scenes. I didn't do it because I didn't think I'd prepped the actors enough for that. And unless the actors are really comfortable, it can come off as quite fake. I didn't go any more beyond kissing and light touching.
Jax's example seems like a pretty good one for a clothes taking off scene.
Ah, zero experience myself, but one thing I've heard filmmakers and actors say (in interviews and docs) multiple times is that they prefer to do the sex scenes first to get them finished and out of the way. That way the sex scenes and people's anxieties about them don't have to hang over everyone's heads for the rest of the shoot.
I would think another part of being professional (and not ending up in prison etcetera) will include meeting the 18 U.S. Code ยง 2257 - Record keeping requirements.
Or do you???
I for one would love to hear from folks like Jax Rox and others who have actually shot sex scenes professionally, if they've ever been part of the legal side of things or have learned or observed or heard about how that was dealt with, or if it had to be dealt with at all.
Just to add to what's already been said, I would think it would be time for the director, even if the director isn't an actor's director per se, to always (try to) be especially sensitive to the needs of his or her actors when doing sex scenes.
I would think another part of being professional (and not ending up in prison etcetera) will include meeting the 18 U.S. Code ยง 2257 - Record keeping requirements.
Or do you???
I for one would love to hear from folks like Jax Rox and others who have actually shot sex scenes professionally, if they've ever been part of the legal side of things or have learned or observed or heard about how that was dealt with, or if it had to be dealt with at all.
Just to add to what's already been said, I would think it would be time for the director, even if the director isn't an actor's director per se, to always (try to) be especially sensitive to the needs of his or her actors when doing sex scenes.
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This actually happened on Game of Thrones... well, almost - a 19-year-old actress's parents were invited on set, and happened to come along on the exact day their daughter was involved in a particularly nasty rape scene.
I find that being up front is most important.
Communication, trust and transparency are all key. Most talent will have concerns. Some will have demands (friends, parents, closed set, x person cannot be there etc). Others may have unspoken expectations. Those unspoken expectations can complicate matters. Get as many details as needed into the open.
Be prepared. Include your talent in as much of the planning as they need to feel comfortable. Walk them through what your shooting plan is. There may need to be give and take on both sides.
Always schedule way more time than you expect you'll need. You'll go over time. Especially on your first.
Avoid surprises as much as possible, particularly ones that may put your talent in an awkward position. Never ever spring an unwanted surprise on your talent, especially in front of the crew. I've seen this happen from a director and it didn't go well.
Never, ever, ever use peer pressure to encourage talent to agree to anything they're uncomfortable with.
Most important, be a decent human being.
Communication, trust and transparency are all key. Most talent will have concerns. Some will have demands (friends, parents, closed set, x person cannot be there etc). Others may have unspoken expectations. Those unspoken expectations can complicate matters. Get as many details as needed into the open.
Be prepared. Include your talent in as much of the planning as they need to feel comfortable. Walk them through what your shooting plan is. There may need to be give and take on both sides.
Always schedule way more time than you expect you'll need. You'll go over time. Especially on your first.
Avoid surprises as much as possible, particularly ones that may put your talent in an awkward position. Never ever spring an unwanted surprise on your talent, especially in front of the crew. I've seen this happen from a director and it didn't go well.
Never, ever, ever use peer pressure to encourage talent to agree to anything they're uncomfortable with.
Most important, be a decent human being.
One couldn't throw a stone on the Game of Thrones set without hitting a rape scene. We're trying to budget the intimate scenes to ones that actually relate to the story. Plus, our two female leads are highly unlikely to get raped - they're special forces from another universe, and can flat jack a brother up.
Which is ironic, as real life sex rarely goes over time. Especially on your first.
(Sorry...)
...but don't completely limit your crew. Make sure there are at least two other people. If you have too many, it puts the actors off. If it's only you, it becomes really creepy.
We filmed one recently.
Get the director/producer in the same room, cut the feed to video village. This is not a peep-show.
Use plant mics so sound mixer doesn't have to be in the room. Boom dialog on the close-ups when the actors are covered.
Only ESSENTIAL crew
Have an additional female in the room for support/draping, etc.
Female wears a maxi-pad, male wears a c*ck sock to avoid unintended "intrusion"
This is the most awkward thing I have done on sets and keeping it professional, but light goes a long way.
We filmed one recently and the more people that watched, the better it became. It got really sexy.
Kind of obvious, but be very upfront even when you're casting, make sure they're okay with it. I've shot a few nude scenes (mostly just topless) and it really seems to vary by performer. The first one i shot, the woman was quite an exhibitionist and was quire comfortable. The last one I did (which I also directed) when I had the actress I wanted back for call-backs, I sensed she wasn't all that comfortable (though she had done nude scenes in bigger movies prior) so she wore a little t-shirt in the scene.
Sadly, the reason I've heard why producers like to shoot nude scenes early is so the performers can't back out of the nudity. Once they're in 70% of your movie, they have a lot more leverage since no one wants to reshoot everything.
Sadly, the reason I've heard why producers like to shoot nude scenes early is so the performers can't back out of the nudity. Once they're in 70% of your movie, they have a lot more leverage since no one wants to reshoot everything.
Sad probably wasn't the right word. As I was typing it, it occurred to me that I didn't want to seem like I was encouraging producers to be exploitive of performers. I say that because the dynamic I referred to is a power issue - shoot early while the producer has more leverage, as once a performer is in the can, they have more leverage. Clearly a reason to make sure everyone has the same expectations up front.
It brings up a good point however. In many movies the amount and extent of nudity is covered in detail in the contract to hopefully prevent these issues from happening.
Wasn't there a big movie a while back where the lead actress was doing a nude scene and she asked (maybe dared) the crew to strip to their underwear so she'd feel more comfortable. If I remember I think most of them complied.
It brings up a good point however. In many movies the amount and extent of nudity is covered in detail in the contract to hopefully prevent these issues from happening.
Wasn't there a big movie a while back where the lead actress was doing a nude scene and she asked (maybe dared) the crew to strip to their underwear so she'd feel more comfortable. If I remember I think most of them complied.