Some Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Scenes were directed over Skype.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves recently spoke to /FILM about working with actors over Skype for the first time in his career, after realizing he wanted to try something different in a scene with Andy Serkis.
So we did a thing where Andy was in London and he was at [his performance capture studio] the Imaginarium. And we hooked up via Skype and I looked at a big plasma and I talked him through what was going on in that last sequence as he’s coming down those steps. And we basically did it over Skype.
This was not his only time he directed from a computer. Reeves also discussed a Skype session where he had to re-film scenes they’d already shot, during which his actors where in different countries:
And so Jason Clarke was in Rome shooting this Everest movie and he was in a hotel room after a day’s shooting. And we were on the Volume [in Manhattan Beach California] and he was performing the new version of the scene to Andy who was in a fluorescent room and he was on Skype. And they played off of Skype and then a few weeks later I went back and shot, I got Jason here in L.A. and I shot him and Keri Russell against greenscreen. And then I had Andy over Skype and they played to Andy on Skype.
He points out that he is not sure if he’s the first one to direct over Skype, but that he would be okay with taking credit for it.
Will Skype become the new trend in Hollywood? Can a director work on two projects at the same time and never leave their living room? What do you think? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!
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