Filming Cliffhangers

CastorTroy

Maybe someone here can answer something I've been wondering about.

When a final scene of a show's season is being filmed and it's a scene that cuts off during it, usually after some big revelation, do they finish filming the scene then stop, or do they just stop mid scene and finish filming it when they come back?

Just seems like it would be more work to get everything back the way it was after the break than if they just finshed it before the break.

I can't actually think of a specific example but say if The Empire Strikes Back was a series and the cliffhanger occurred right after the "I am your father line", would they just stop filming then and there and film reaction shots, wtc when they come back?

babynice

I'm not exactly sure. But in one of the season finales of Friends, Chandler is kind of heavy in the last scene. When the new season starts it's meant to be a few minutes later but he's lost loads of weight! So they must have filmed it a few months later.

ixoy

I doubt it since they won't know if they are coming back. Take "True Blood" - always ends on a cliffhanger that they immediately move on from. No way could they keep filming.
I reckon that's why they have people in charge of continuity for clothing, poses, etc. Can't say I'm observant enough to generally notice but I'm sure there's more eagle eyed viewers out there.

Kiwi_knock

I could be wrong but I remember reading that they already shot the scenes in Sherlock that explain how Sherlock

survived

at the same time of the scenes where he

jumped

. It is an interesting question, I would presume that they are shot at the same time.

TheIrishGrover

I suppose it depends on the type of show. Sitcoms probably wouldn't as there would be minimal post production required (No special effects etc). However certain shows like Game of Thrones or Star trek or the CSIs probably do. Financially and technically speaking it would make more sense to finish that SCENE: Camera angles, lighting, continuity, actor's schedules, more time for post production, weather/background conditions for external scenes etc. However, everything after that scene probably isn't as it may need tweaks due to circumstances that may have occurred in the meantime.

FloatingVoter

I'd imagine in a whodunnit scenario (.ie "Who Shot JR ?") the 2nd part isn't shot until the last possible moment before airing. Either that or several versions are shot. To prevent leaks beforehand.

CastorTroy

Yeah I figure where the scene ends just before a revelation, that they would break for fear of leaks, but if it ends after the revelation then there's nothing really to leak so no reason to not continue

The Black Oil

I think they leave it as is and come back to shoot the resolution if another season is greenlit. I've a vague memory of listening to the commentaries on The West Wing DVDs and that's how they went about dealing with the the first two episodes of season 2. They went back to recreate the scene, etc.

Clareman

Urban legend has it that the actors for The Empire Strikes back didn't know the big news that Darth was going to give

CastorTroy

Clareman wrote: »

Urban legend has it that the actors for The Empire Strikes back didn't know the big news that Darth was going to give

Yeah that was due to David Prowse(the guy in the Vader suit) being a source of leaks. So his line was "Obi Wan killed your father" and only Mark Hamill, Lucas and James Earl Jones knew the real line so Hamill had to react like he heard the correct line. When Prowse saw it when it opened, that was the first time he heard the line.

Ater me giving that as the example, I can now just imagine the eastenders theme starting after Vader says the line.