Inspiring a party crowd

Rob B

Rob B

..The actress thread had me thinking

Does anyone have tips and tricks for inspiring a crowd?.. I've got a party scene with 30+ people, and I am going at it solo with an assistant. They are all friends and family, and have all seen it before.. We are going to do 2 or 3 full shots of one song. I noticed last time, that the stop and starts of shooting slows the crowd down. I really want them to stay pumped up, and rowdy.. The audio will be dumped, so I can yell direction during the shot.

I was also going to hand out shots of Jack and beer..

R
 
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Do not hand out shots or offer them beer.

There are no "tricks". The director directs the background
actors the same way he directs the actors. You will explain
to them that in order for you to get the footage you need
you will need to stop the playback during the shooting. You
will tell them they need to keep their energy up even without
the music playing. Tell them you understand that the lack
of music makes this difficult, but their energy is essential to
the scene.

Try shooting it once or twice with the music playing the entire
time, then several times stopping the playback. Using unpaid,
inexperienced background performers has its challenges. treat
them as professionally as you can and you might be surprised
how professional they will act. And plying them with alcohol is
very likely to loosen up many people to the point where they
won't "act".
 
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x2.

Do NOT get your background drunk. You've only got you and an assistant. You have to focus on the principle talent AND all the other aspects of the shoot. Your assistant should be wrangling your background and reminding them of your direction.

Having 1 person try to wrangle 30 drunks is not going to work out well. :) Even if the effect is minimal, it's generally counterproductive.

I had a college film basically ruined because I let the small cast/crew know there was a cooler full of beer BEFORE we started shooting.

Also was 1AC on a job where they decided to spend an entire day shooting the "love scene" Both actor and actress were getting fed tequila shots by the producer between takes. The thought was that since the two ended up really disliking each other, it would loosen things up.

Nope. Total and complete disaster of a shoot day.
 
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..excellent feedback.. I can tell I am underestimating the task. Fortunately, I am replacing audio with music, so we can pump music, and megaphoning direction, during the shot...

hmm, this could be nuts..
 
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x3

While it is tempting, and seems like it would work, beer and shots would make for a miserable experience. I've seen it happen on set, not my film but someone else's, and things go from bad to worse real quick.

Definitely have that assistant help you out. Strength in numbers with this sort of scene is key. And what folks said above -- assert yourself as the person in charge and folks will perk up and pay attention.

Save the drinks until AFTER the shoot. Make it a reward for their time and efforts.
 
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If you give them alcohol (at least in the UK) you will void any public liability cover/insurance that you have...

So, other than the reasons that the others have put forward, you'd be putting yourself in a potentially tricky legal position. Just get people to act natural and try and avoid herding them like sheep or getting impatient. If they're not actors then they won't be there to act or be directed, so just let them get on with 'being at a party'. Everyone knows how to pretend to be at a party, so try and avoid stifling that natural instinct for them to let loose...
 
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