Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1451070
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I S P R I N G 2 0 2 2 33 Twinning, doubling, making a doppelgänger, these are all names given to the process whereby one actor is tasked with playing multiple versions of the same person in a project. The mechanics of taking the written words from the script and transforming them into a live-action scene are more complicated and technical than they may at first seem. In speaking with the production mixers responsible for HBO's An American Pickle, HBO's I Know This Much Is True, and Netflix's Living with Yourself, it became clear that there is not a standardized approach in how to handle the sound during these technical scenes. The nuts and bolts may be similar but the approach varies from production to production; largely being influenced by the creatives involved on the camera side and actors' preference. So, how does it work? At its simplest, twinning is a basic cinema trick that involves one actor playing two or more roles in a scene. Two separate shots are overlaid in order to trick the audience into believing that the one physical actor is actually two different people on screen. In order to pull this gag off, the camera is often either locked off or shot using motion-control equipment (this is specialized equipment that records the camera movements and allows them to be repeated exactly). The two sides of the scene, often referred to as the A-side (shot first) and B-side (shot second), are filmed consecutively with the actor playing one and then the other role. In editorial, those two locked off shots get overlaid and the viewer sees twins. Obviously, this is an over-simplified example, but the mechanics remain the same. In order for an on-screen conversation to happen between the two, an Earwig (wireless earpiece made by a company called Phonak) can be used to feed the actor Seth Rogen twinning on An American Pickle