Kern wrote:
Ken Levine, who used to write for 'Frasier', 'MASH', and 'Cheers', wrote a blog post about this recently.
Quote:
Here’s an interesting thing – audiences respond way better to things they see live actors do rather than watching finished pre-records. In other words, let’s say I’m directing an episode with a car scene. I will pre-shoot it.
The editor will put it together that night and the following night when we shoot the show in front of 250 people we’ll have the ability to play it back for them and record their laughter.
However, when I direct, instead of showing that finished scene I bring out the actors involved, place them in two chairs, explain to the audience that they’re in a car driving, and have the actors do the scene live. I record the audio and even though the audience has to now imagine the scene, they laugh much louder having real actors performing the scene.
It all goes back to why some shows are filmed in front of an audience in the first place – there’s a real energy the cast derives from a live audience. They feed off their laughter. Their performances go up and if the writing is good the whole show rises. It’s intangible but the home viewer can sense it.
Getting back to that car scene, I wonder what would happen if we just aired the scene of the two actors on chairs instead of the real one with them in an actual car. I don't think the home audience would be thinking about the laugh track at that moment.
The editor will put it together that night and the following night when we shoot the show in front of 250 people we’ll have the ability to play it back for them and record their laughter.
However, when I direct, instead of showing that finished scene I bring out the actors involved, place them in two chairs, explain to the audience that they’re in a car driving, and have the actors do the scene live. I record the audio and even though the audience has to now imagine the scene, they laugh much louder having real actors performing the scene.
It all goes back to why some shows are filmed in front of an audience in the first place – there’s a real energy the cast derives from a live audience. They feed off their laughter. Their performances go up and if the writing is good the whole show rises. It’s intangible but the home viewer can sense it.
Getting back to that car scene, I wonder what would happen if we just aired the scene of the two actors on chairs instead of the real one with them in an actual car. I don't think the home audience would be thinking about the laugh track at that moment.
