When I watch blooper reels of TV shows, if an actor keeps dropping a prop or messing up a line, and is laughing, they all say something to the effect: “Don’t cut!! Keep rolling!! Don’t cut!! I’ll get it right.” Why do they care so much about this? I can only assume it adds a lot more time to their day if they keep having to “cut” and restart…. But why?
In: Other
Actor here 😉
What /u/Birdie121 said is true. I’ll try a common metaphor…
It’s the same reason you make “one trip” from your car with all the grocery bags, seven in each hand, one around your neck and two in your teeth instead of making two trips.
Non metaphor answer:
It depends on the shot, but most shots take some set up, and some take a lot. The camera’s gotta be in focus & in position, sound boom has their exact position figured out, dolly grip has his timing right, one of the grips is flagged a light until one of the actors turn left, and 3 extras are timed to cross in the background at just the right time. And that all could be for something as “simple” as two people talking in a cafe. Last but not least, you’ve got sound locked down, so no one on set is making a peep except for the actors.
Once ALL that is happening, everyone is focused and hopefully in the zone. You’re balancing a chair in your metaphorical chin. If you cut, all that stops, and you have to relaunch the whole machine. Launching the machine takes time, maybe not much, like 30 seconds, but do that many times a day and pretty soon you’ve added considerable time to the day.
If you just “reset & go again” / don’t cut. You can stay in the zone, and save time.
Also on the acting side, it’s often better/easier to “stay in the scene” then to cut and have make-up come in & touch up, wardrobe poke at you, and sound check the mic, as well as hearing the director say “Is the position actorpractice’s hand weird?” So now the actor is thinking about all that instead of the scene. Side note… this is also why the best actors get paid the big bucks, they can have all that happen and still nail the take. That being said, when the scene is REALLY funny, or the actors get the giggles, we often are over confident in our ability to get to together, so we’ll say “don’t cut” when actually we should probably take a sec and let the laughter settle.
If you’ve never been on a set, it’s like herding cats. And for all the crap people/studios get for making a “bad movie” I’m still constantly amazed that they get made at ALL. I don’t think there’s ever been a day on set where things went as planned. There’s ALWAYS a compromise, somewhere. Timing, equipment, actors, weather, and of course budget to name a very few.
And as Birdie mentioned, this was MUCH more important when we actually shot film. A camera burns through film at 90+ ft per minute, so if it costs even $.60-$.80 a foot, and you’re adding 10 seconds of “roll camera” to every shot, it’s better to reset and go (which takes 2 seconds instead). Nowadays, it’s not such a big deal.
Edit(s) – spelling/wording
Shout out to /u/lgndryheat for [editing insight.](https://old.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1acalqf/eli5_why_do_actors_not_want_production_to_yell/kjtdsjv/)
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