actors -dead / hanging scenes

[tali122]

i ve noticed many movies which do not show clever editing or camerawork but a single take close up shot of of a dead character - how do the actors lie their unblinking , unbreathing, motionless -is it camera trickery or acting technique?-likewise when they show a hanging scene- very real in one single take -how is that achieved - is it special safety rope?

[SaxyJag]

Sometimes it can be down to the actor being very good. Things like hanging scenes are achieved partly by what you call camera trickery - rapid and subtle cuts, dummies and, yes, sometimes the discreet provision of a safety harness for the actor.

Where you can't see the 'clever editing or camera work' is usually exactly where it's being used. It's just so good that you can't see it - which is as it should be.

[noxlumos]

For the daddy of all "dead" actors check out Brian Blessed in "I, Claudius". Awesome and in this particular case no camera tricks, done in a single take. Brilliant.

My wife tells me ( works in film and theatre) that there is a harness for hanging scenes, which as long as the actor is clothed can make it look 100% real.

[joko]

some times we use a fake chest - just papier mache/fibre glass/whatever shell or something, under the clothes - unless its a bare chest in which case you would have to make a proper prosthetic one.

but mostly its the actors own work

[andy-hughes]

I did an acting course in my teens, and had to play Ceaser's corpse in the Forum Scene, when Antony reveals the slashed and bloody corpse. I was able to have my eyes closed, and I prctised in advance breathing really slowly and carefully, so you couldn;t really see my chest moving unless you stared at me for ages, which wasn't the idea!