Stand-In Central recently uncovered this YouTube video made by Filmmaking Stuff all about stand-ins.

Tom Malloy presents the video. He describes himself as an independent movie producer.

Have a watch:

Stand-In Central’s Thoughts

Some notes about the video:

  • Malloy refers to stand-ins as part of a “B Team,” and the principal performers as part of the “A Team.” On major motion pictures, the labels are ordinal, not alphabetical.  In other words, stand-ins are considered “2nd Team,” and the principal performers are considered “1st Team.”
  • Malloy does a great job noting that stand-ins are not necessarily identical to their respective actors, but relatively similar.
  • Malloy confuses stand-ins with photo doubles. When he talks about shots presumably over the shoulder of an actor in a scene, but when the actor is not there, he says productions use stand-ins. Technically, productions use photo doubles. The confusion seems to come from a not-uncommon practice of hiring the production’s stand-ins to also work as photo doubles.

All in all, Malloy put together a nice, quick explainer of stand-ins.

Have you stood in on an independent film? What did you experience that was different from standing in on a major motion picture? Post your thoughts in the comments box below!