Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Who would allow their baby to be in a tv show where they have to be upset?

50 replies

UhtredRagnarson · 20/03/2021 23:09

I’m watching a tv show where a baby is screeching in fear and it’s not dubbed over or pretend, the baby is clearly terrified and looking for its parent/carer. I’ve seen this on loads of different tv shows/films and I just don’t get it. I know they have strict rules about children in TV but you can’t escape the fact that those babies are genuinely scared and screeching for their parent. Goodness know how many times they had to be deliberate upset to get the take right.

Why/how would anyone do that to their child? I just don’t get it.

OP posts:
PomegranateQueen · 20/03/2021 23:12

I have had the same thought OP and no I wouldn't sign my DCs up to anything like that.

Original poster
UhtredRagnarson · 20/03/2021 23:13

It’s quite upsetting to see it.

OP posts:
AnneLovesGilbert · 20/03/2021 23:17

Completely agree.

Probably crew members’ infants?

Likewise tiny brand new ones used for labour scenes which get coveted in blood-like goop. Really upsets me. I still feel the rage at kind medical professionals doing necessary checks on my baby and wanting to rip their arms off for touching her. Adding lights, cameras, tens of people and retakes and it’s a horrible thought.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Families TV
Tablegs · 20/03/2021 23:20

It doesn't work like that. There are incredibly stringent rules around the use of babies and tots in filming, and in this case, the parent would have been literally a step away. Generally they normally use twins so infants take it in turns on set. If they need a scene with a crying baby, they wait until the baby cries of its own accord (which they all do anyway) and then film it. Clever film editing does the rest.

dodobookends · 20/03/2021 23:24

Probably crew members' infants?

Er - no!!! They will have been provided by an agent, and will be paid for the work. It's all done officially. People register their babies with agents before they are born. Twins are particularly sought-after by agencies.

Original poster
UhtredRagnarson · 20/03/2021 23:24

I do believe you @Tablegs but there are definitely times when the babies are genuinely terrified, rather than Just crying of their own accord and being plonked in an actors arms. We all know what a scared baby looks like as opposed to just a grumpy crying one. The scene I’ve just watched was one of them and what prompted me to start the thread. Now maybe those times they are plonked in the actors arms and get scared and that’s what we’re seeing but they’re still being prevented from being comforted and their fear is being prolonged to the end of their scene. Its horrible.

OP posts:
Findahouse21 · 20/03/2021 23:24

Dd2 cried for the first 6 months of her life unless she had a boob in her mouth. Wouldn't have made a difference if someone was filming her or not! She's 14.minths now and clearly got it out of her system as nursery often comment in how cheery she is!

AlohaMolly · 20/03/2021 23:27

I think this about slightly older children in horror films, not so much babies but children maybe 5-12?

Postprandial · 20/03/2021 23:33

@Tablegs

It doesn't work like that. There are incredibly stringent rules around the use of babies and tots in filming, and in this case, the parent would have been literally a step away. Generally they normally use twins so infants take it in turns on set. If they need a scene with a crying baby, they wait until the baby cries of its own accord (which they all do anyway) and then film it. Clever film editing does the rest.
This. And DS was so unsettled for his first nine or ten months that if he’d had a more placid twin, I reckon he’d have had a stellar career as the Unhappy Baby in the Wrong Nappy part of ads.
OldScrappyAndHungry · 20/03/2021 23:34

I don’t think you would have been able to tell when my screaming DS2 was scared, tired, hungry or anything else. I could certainly never tell what was wrong with him Confused.

He just cried. And cried. And cried. I should have signed him with an agent Grin.

Tablegs · 20/03/2021 23:36

@AlohaMolly

I think this about slightly older children in horror films, not so much babies but children maybe 5-12?
The children see nothing horrible and know nothing about what's going on in the storyline. Their scenes are filmed entirely separately from everything else (including the dialogue with others in the same scene). It's all cut together later on.

It's all done with clever editing of loads of short clips, camera angles and CGI.

I can't actually believe that you all think that what you see on a screen is 'live' and actually happened in real time for the children. Of course not. There are very strict laws to protect children in the performing arts.

Original poster
UhtredRagnarson · 20/03/2021 23:39

I can't actually believe that you all think that what you see on a screen is 'live' and actually happened in real time for the children.

Umm no. Nobody believes that. We aren’t stupid. We know how it works. We also know what an upset child looks like.

OP posts:
HeartvsBrain · 20/03/2021 23:42

I have been saying this for over 40 years. I just don't understand how the mothers can do it. As soon as mine started being upset I would have been over there and comforting it, so my baby would soon have got the sack for having a very uncooperative mother!

Original poster
UhtredRagnarson · 20/03/2021 23:44

@HeartvsBrain

I have been saying this for over 40 years. I just don't understand how the mothers can do it. As soon as mine started being upset I would have been over there and comforting it, so my baby would soon have got the sack for having a very uncooperative mother!
This is how I feel too. It’s a very strong instinct to need to immediately comfort your child. Very hard to fight that. I couldn’t do that just for a TV show.
OP posts:
dodobookends · 20/03/2021 23:44

The sound you hear of the baby crying on film is not the sound the baby was actually making. They dub on the type of crying they need in the scene.

Original poster
UhtredRagnarson · 20/03/2021 23:45

Not always @dodobookends. Sometimes it is indeed that very baby making that very noise you hear. You can see them doing it.

OP posts:
MintyMabel · 20/03/2021 23:48

There was a time where you would hear a baby crying, but the scene would be shot so you couldn’t really see that the child wasn’t actually crying. I understood this was due to the strict guidelines about not filming babies who were crying. But I have noticed more recently that the kids on screen are actually crying now so I assume there has been a change in guidelines or that directors have discovered they can get round those guidelines somehow.

HamFisted · 20/03/2021 23:49

There's a scene in The Secret Garden (the old one) where there's a toddler making its way to its mum and then the mum runs away and the toddler is left behind, crying, 'Mummy!' Always made me Sad even watching it as a kid.

AlohaMolly · 20/03/2021 23:54

I understand that the finished film is very different to how it will have been filmed, thank you. But, for example, I watched the new Pet Sematary this week and the girl in it was filmed in it very clearly attacking and stabbing her mother, and her father. I get that you can explain and chat it through etc but I still wouldn’t want my child doing things like that.

Tablegs · 20/03/2021 23:55

@UhtredRagnarson

I can't actually believe that you all think that what you see on a screen is 'live' and actually happened in real time for the children.

Umm no. Nobody believes that. We aren’t stupid. We know how it works. We also know what an upset child looks like.

I have been a chaperone, I've seen how it works in practice.

Scenes are cut together from a number of very short clips sometimes lasting only a few seconds. There are often long gaps between filming those clips. The children's welfare is the top priority.

Gringlewald · 20/03/2021 23:56

@HamFisted I know the exact scene and it’s stuck with me forever. It’s hideous

Tablegs · 20/03/2021 23:57

@AlohaMolly

I understand that the finished film is very different to how it will have been filmed, thank you. But, for example, I watched the new Pet Sematary this week and the girl in it was filmed in it very clearly attacking and stabbing her mother, and her father. I get that you can explain and chat it through etc but I still wouldn’t want my child doing things like that.
I can't imagine why anyone would want to watch a film like that.
Doingtheboxerbeat · 21/03/2021 00:08

I watching the last of the Hunger Games where Catniss was screaming and throwing things at a cat , but the cat barely flinched. It took me a split second to come to the conclusion that there were two separate scenes being filmed .

AlohaMolly · 21/03/2021 00:12

To be fair, I often ask myself why I’m watching a horror film halfway through watching it too.

AlohaMolly · 21/03/2021 00:14

To be clear, I don’t think these children are being abused or forced or traumatised in anyway, I just wouldn’t want DS to be reading and saying and potentially internalising some of the things I’ve seen other child actors say.