Shooting the Scene
After all the preparation, the time has come to shoot the scene.
What new actors will often say after shooting a sex scene for the first time is that they didn’t realise how passionless it would be. Some even go as far as to say it was boring!
But the truth is that shooting a sex scene is like shooting any other scene. The crew will come in and prepare the set. You will prepare yourself in wardrobe and makeup. You’ll wait around for the set to be ready and then go there and (at least in robes) rehearse your movements with the director.
Chances are that you’ll then shoot the scene from one angle as a master shot. Then you’ll go and get a coffee and something to eat while they move the lights and camera and then you’ll go back and shoot a close up of you kissing. Then you’ll go and wait for an hour while they move the setup again. Then a bit more kissing. Then wait for an hour. Then fondling. Then wait another hour. Then a shot of your face. A close up of his arm, an extreme closeup of her eyes…
And so on and so on.
In the final edit you might get 60 seconds of film showing the two actors making love in the shower but the truth is far more prosaic and it’s stop-start-stop-start with the whole process taking five or six hours to film.
And to be honest it’s very difficult to keep the emotional passion going that long – intimate scenes are often called “draining” because as an actor you have to continually move from waiting around to heightened passion a dozen times during the day.
Action!
So you are in position and the director calls, “Action!”
A good actor will instinctively block out everything around them but the scene itself. While many actors are worried right up to this point, once they begin they tend to forget everything and perform the scene.
They are in the moment and they are totally connected with the other person as though it were real life.
Until the director calls, “Cut!” when they stop and take a break at the catering table.
In other words, an intimate scene is just like any other scene: an argument, a chat, or whatever. When the director says cut the intimacy goes and you are just two professionals taking a break from their job.
More on Closed Sets
On the subject of respect for the other actor, the rest of the cast and crew also need to have respect for the actors in a sex scene.
In many cases you’ll be filming sex scenes on a closed set (i.e. one where only the essential personnel are there).
However, as the day wears on and you become more relaxed during filming you might glance up to see the third assistant director wandering in with a coffee for the director, or the film’s producer checking out the action he’s paying for!
You have every right to call a stop there and then and insist on everyone respecting the closed set!
(And while we’re on this subject, remember that even if the set isn’t closed you have every right to ask that no photographs be taken during the shooting of an intimate scene by anyone!)
