When you’re standing in, you are responsible for knowing your actor’s blocking. Other crew people–say, the 2nd 2nd AD–may also be interested in your actor’s blocking, as well as the blocking of other actors in your scene. If the 2nd 2nd AD doesn’t get to watch a rehearsal with the first team actors, the 2nd 2nd might ask you about what the blocking was in the scene.
However, you might only know your actor’s blocking and didn’t catch the blocking of the other actors. What do you say?
The Helpfulness of “I Don’t Know”
Some stand-ins in such a situation might feel that an appropriate response to the question would be to speculate about the blocking in the scene. That is, that stand-in might make a guess about what the blocking of the other actors was, without really knowing what that blocking way.
This sort of speculative reply isn’t very helpful for a 2nd 2nd AD, especially if that AD is charged with the responsibility of setting background actors timed off of that blocking. If that AD trusts you, that AD may end up in hot water if your speculative reply proves wrong.
Therefore, in such a case, it is better to say “I don’t know what the other actors did in the scene” than to speculate about what the other actors did. Essentially, “I don’t know” is an appropriate reply to the question.
Other Times to Say “I Don’t Know”
The camera crew may also ask you questions about the scene for which you don’t know the answer. While sometimes those questions have to do with the movements and blocking of other actors, sometimes those questions may have to deal with your actor–and sometimes you just might not know the answer.
For example, say you saw a marking rehearsal, but then your actor had a semi-private conversation with the director about the blocking of the scene that suggested your actor might do different blocking when it comes time to shoot. When it comes to setting up the shot, you might no longer know if the marks on the ground are appropriate for what blocking your actor will perform.
In such a case, if the camera crew asks you a question about what your actor will do, “I don’t know” might prove to be the better reply than the speculative one. However, you might also add that you’re doing what you saw in the marking rehearsal and it seemed your actor may do something different when shooting.
It probably is better not to make a big deal about the possibility of doing something different and instead stick to the blocking you saw in marking rehearsal unless you are specifically instructed to do different or new blocking. There are chains of command on a set and it is generally not the job of the stand-in to figure out if there is new blocking if you weren’t specifically shown it or told about it.
However, Know!
Despite the ability to say “I don’t know” to a question, make sure you do know about your actor’s blocking as much as you can. This means paying attention to details like your actor’s marks, your actor’s actions when on those marks, even, say, how high your actor raised an arm or how fast your actor walked. Answering a question about your actor’s blocking with “I don’t know” too regularly may imply that you aren’t doing your job. Know as much as you can about your actor’s blocking when you’re standing in, yet keep in mind that sometimes you don’t know and that there’s value in saying that.
Know of other times when to say “I don’t know”? Have you ever been in hot water for giving a speculative answer when you were standing in? Share your anecdotes below!
This is great advice! I believe that giving speculative answers doesn’t help in the long run. Sometimes you are not invited to watch the blocking rehearsal and cannot comment on what the actor did, so it’s alright to say “I don’t know”.
While standing in, the camera operator may ask you something about the actor’s blocking, such as how they sat on a bed or how they opened up a box and took out its contents. A few times my answers have been challenged by the 1st AD. If I am very confident that I know how the actor did it in blocking rehearsal, I will politely repeat what I saw the actor do. If the 1st AD persists, I will drop it and just say “OK”. When the actor comes back for rehearsal it will get sorted out. This is a situation in which you should watch the monitors to confirm how the actor does the actions in the scene.
Sara, I agree with you: I think it’s wise not to put up too much of a fight when being challenged about blocking. It’s a good idea to voice in a polite manner about what you saw the actor do as a counter, yet not to pursue it much after then or resign to what higher-ups think happened with respect to blocking. Sometime ego can be the source of such challenges, but other times the stand-in may not be privy to changes in the blocking that have been made after marking rehearsal.