Total Pros
Most movies usually get around this with good editing… I watch a lot of movies without good editing.
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I almost always look for an animal’s reaction to its trainer/handler. ‘Tis a silly thing, but it’s fun for me.
In a slightly related side note, very early in the pre-code, pre-ASPCA Alice in Wonderland (1933) (Charlotte Henry, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, et al), Diana, the cat, leaps off of Alice’s lap and runs out of shot. A moment later, you can hear the handler calling “here kitty kitty kitty” from offscreen. It’s an inadvertent funny moment in an enjoyable film.
Ha! That’s great.
There’s a related instance that has lived rent free in my head for decades.
An 80s children sketch show called Chiquilladas (roughly “Kid Shenanigans”) made their own version of The Wizard of Oz, complete with live Yorkshire terrier. At the point when Dorothy is taken by the Wicked Witch, they say “Look! Toto knows where they took her! Lead the way!” They set Toto on the floor and… the dog runs the opposite way. In all likelihood, no trainer on set at all, it was just a random dog. The kid cast goes into full-blown “live theater/we ain’t shooting the scene again” mode and one of them needlessly points out “he’s going the other way!”, to which a more veteran kid responds “… It must be… a shortcut! Let’s go!”
I think that’s when I started paying attention to animal actors!
Only a few weeks ago I was still thinking of the scene and wondering if it couldn’t be salvaged by mirroring the image. Meanwhile, most people involved with that episode are probably dead by now.
That’s only 40 years ago !!! Barring accident or illness, the kids are probably still around, and most of the behind the scenes workers too, the only one we can be sure is gone is the dog. 😛