Working with children

ZelloBros

ZelloBros

I'm in preproduction for my first zombie film, "Forest Ridge."
I'm only sixteen years old, finally got an XL, and this film already has a crew of 50 including actors, camera crew, make-up crew, costume crew, hair crew, background extras, etc. The script called for a little blonde girl, which I had the hardest time finding. We finally found somebody, and she's perfect in the role! She behaves perfectly during rehearsals and script readings, but as soon as we're done, she's bouncing off the walls, and can't keep quiet. I'm pretty sure that she'll be good on set, but is there any way to successfully work with wild children? My theory is that when she has something to do, she won't be as wild. Is this common? And any advice on working long hours with kids? Thanks in advance, I appreciate everyone's imput!
 
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Of course it's common.

I've worked with kids often, You do NOT try to control them.
Let her bounce off the walls between takes. Let her be noisy.
What you do is schedule all her scenes in as short a period as
possible. Do not shoot scenes she isn't in while she is on set.
And do NOT make her work long hours. Five at the longest.

You're right. That is going to create scheduling problems. That's
why many filmmakers don't use children in their movies. But
you have a part for a child so you have change your scheduling
to fit her - not the other way around.
 
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directorik said:
You're right. That is going to create scheduling problems. That's
why many filmmakers don't use children in their movies. But
you have a part for a child so you have change your scheduling
to fit her - not the other way around.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I'll definately work the schedule around her, as she is a crucial part of the film. And I'll keep her hours around 4 at most, she's only in 5 scenes, so I'll get her scenes done before a lot of the others.
 
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Having a kid that "behaves perfectly during rehearsals and script readings" is an incredible blessing. Let her bounce the rest of the time. Like directorick says, schedule around her.

FYI: Kids grow fast, you can see the difference in weeks, so if your taking all summer to shot, you might get all her shots first, in a week or so, rather than expect to shot some now, and some in a month or two..
 
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