Why, with some movies, do directors shoot scenes out of order? On the first day they may do scene 43 instead of 1. Why is this? Especially with movies starring young children. In some early scenes they look older than in later scenes.
There are so many reasons. Trying to shoot all scenes on a location that’s only available for a short period of time. A plot point involving some change in an actor that’s easier one way (dramatic weight loss, hair changes, etc.). Putting all the shots that will require CG or special effects early on to allow maximum time for post-production work. The list goes on and on.
Logistics, mostly. For example, they usually try to shoot related scenes on location all at once.
(Damn. On preview, looks like Syzygy beat me to it.)
With the young children example you gave, it’s possible that the original footage shot was unusable, so they would have to recall the young actors and reshoot. Usually unusable footage is discovered when viewing the dailies, but it may be that the director had a different idea for how the scene should run, so s/he would decide to reshoot the scene.
ET was shot in chronological order. Before the end, Spielberg made the kids cry by telling them that this would be the last time they’d ever see ET.
Another factor is an actor’s availability. He or she may be signed on contractually for only a certain amount of time, say a few weeks, so they do all the scenes.
I remeber when “Saving Private Ryan” came out a lot of the publicity mentioned that it was shot in sequence, because Steven Spielberg wanted to portray the harrowing effect of war accurately, and the only way he felt he could do it was by shooting it in order.
Keith
Keep in mind that, when they say the film was shot in order, they are probably only referring to the key actors. In SPR, for example, establishing shots, battle scenes, and the like could have been shot at any time, in any order. In fact, they were probably done by a secondary unit while SS was off directing Tom Hanks and Co.
The Hitchcock film “Rope” was not only filmed inorder but was an experiment in continuous shooting in which unusually long takes were interrupted when the camera had to be reloaded.
Thanks!
bean-shadow… Logistics, definitely. The only exception to the rule is films that are shot outdoors when seasonal changes would be obvious, those would be shot sequentially (as was the case w/Bruce Beresford’s Black Robe… I know 'cause I worked on it, and one of the lead actresses mentioned this was the first time she had ever been in a film shot in sequence).