Quick Tip: Don’t Cut

As every shot finishes there is that point where the AD or Director calls cut.

Don’t.

Now I’m not suggesting you continue to roll for the rest of the day including lunch, but there is occasionally complete magic that happens the moment an actor knows that the scene is over, sometimes unbeknownst to them, and sometimes because they are still in the moment and exercising their craft when it is at it’s purest - no pressure to perform, no audience, just inhabiting a space while seemingly no one is watching.

But you are watching.

It is these moments, these seconds, these nano-seconds that are not only pure gold but often cannot actually be replicated because they are part of the human spirit and the fabric that makes us who we are.

A look away, a moment lost in thought, even a stand out of a frame - these things that happen once “the shot is done” are sometimes the gold we mine for all day and they can only be caught if you are willing to wait for them.

Let your focus puller know that they should not cut until the actor “breaks”, until they themselves have cut the scene. Ask them to continue rolling and focusing until it’s completely clear that we are not back on a sound stage behind a camera. 99% of the time, you will get nothing. But that 1% when the actor is lost in thought or is finishing a final moment when the director called cut before they had punctuated their performance, you will not only be glad you stayed the course, but you will have captured something magical and pure that only happens once in a great moon.

When you are lucky enough to capture these moments, you will know, and you will realize that this is why we make movies.