Camera, Action, Shoot! Animal Actors Are Safe on the Set

By Leslie Brown

Animals used to have a terrible time in Hollywood. The few animals that were stars got deluxe treatment, but for the most part, there were no guidelines about how these star animals should be treated. Now animals appear on the set with strict guidelines when they act in movies, television, and commercials.

Hollywood, once cruel to its animal actors, now has several advocates. According to the American Humane Society guidelines, no animal actor should work very hard or long. The associated production company must provide adequate playtime and a native familiarity for the animals. For instance, if an ape is on a set for more than three consecutive days, a play area must be provided so that he can exercise and relax. When a bear is working on a film, anything that produces smells that might bother the bear, such as perfume, strong liquor, or pastries must be removed from the location. Of course, only cats that like dogs should be cast in cat-and-dog movies. And in addition, no fish can perform more than three takes in a day.

The Film and Television Unit headquarters, located about twenty minutes from Hollywood, houses 30 full-time and part-time field representatives of the Film and Television Unit. The official monitor of animals in all Screen Actors Guild (SAG) productions, this organization keeps a strict observation of animal actors. Most of the people who work for the Film and Television Unit are former veterinary technicians, zookeepers, or animal trainers. Even though the Film and Television field representatives spend their days visiting locations, they are actually in the animal business rather than in the movie business.

One of the guidelines used for animal actors is that animals cannot be left on a set. Whichever animals are taken to a location, those animals must return home with the animal’s trainer or guardian. Even if animals that are used in a movie are frozen or stuffed, or shown as a food product, the unit requires proof that they showed up on set in that way.

Usually producers hire a trainer first and the animal second. When it comes to casting, producers sometimes let the trainer choose the animal. Some animals are on loan from a private owner, an arrangement that animal trainers do not prefer, but they are sometimes the only animal with the personality traits required by a director or producer. On camera, some human actors and actresses are better with animals than others. For example, it is rumored that Cameron Diaz is good with monkeys.

Background animals, rather than familiar stars, were once considered cheap and disposable props rather than living things. Run ragged, horses got the worst treatment of all, being tripped, shocked, and raced into open trenches. To make a horse fall on cue, wires were strung around its ankles so that the rider could just yank the wires to pull up the horse. In 1924, six horses were killed during the filming of "Ben-Hur.” Later, the Motion Picture Association of America added a section to its production code prohibiting the use of trip wires, and American Humane opened a Hollywood office to enforce the new standards.

In the late seventies, actors and crew members began fighting to have standards set for animal actors. In 1980, the Screen Actors Guild/Producer's Agreement was amended to include rules requiring the proper treatment of animals, and American Humane was authorized to oversee animal actors in film, television, commercials, and music videos, and to issue the now familiar trademarked end credit "No animals were harmed in the making of this film." Even though following its guidelines can be very expensive, producers want this end credit applied to their film. For example, even the proper care for worms on a set, as dictated by American Humane guidelines, can cost thousands of dollars a day,

Now stuffed or computer-generated animals are commonly used instead of live animals.
However, American Humane's authority extends only to SAG productions. Independent and foreign films are outside of its jurisdiction. The budget for protecting animals is tight, and the number of productions that the Film and Television Unit oversees has grown every year, particularly since the growth of cable, satellite television, and independent films.

The Film and Television Unit now uses only field reps it has trained. It sends reps around the world to cover locations and has employees on call in some places. The paperwork required by the American Humane involves a scene-by-scene accounting of what each animal does, how they are provoked to do it, and what safety precautions are used.

Some dog trainers try to find dogs from animal shelters and even adopt and coach troublesome pooches. Roger Schumacher, owner and trainer, who has been part of the Hollywood animal scene for his whole life, has worked on many films with animal actors, such as “Annie” and “Benji.” He has a kennel of twenty-five dogs, and most of them are rescues from shelters.

The use of animals as onscreen performers presents a range of technical, legal, choreographic, medical, and strategic difficulties. As for human performers, medical insurance can be required for animal. While in "real life" nothing would seem to be simpler or more natural, in filmmaking this moment is a supremely difficult technical achievement.

Filming with animals is demanding. Many takes are needed before everyone is happy: Duplicate or even triplicate performers must frequently be on hand. In the film “Seabiscuit” (2003), ten bay horses played the lead role. Animals must rest between takes because they tire under the intense heat of the lights and are likely to react adversely to prop noise.

The responsibility for overseeing animal care in filming motion pictures and television shows rests with the Film and Television Unit of the American Humane Association. This office assists in the production of about 1,000 films a year involving animals. Scripts are checked in collaboration with filmmakers to plan the safest ways to shoot animal scenes. Sets and animal costumes must be safe for animal contact, and animal action must be meticulously planned to keep within the bounds of what training can be used to protect animals from any harm.

Many techniques of scene simulation are used, such as mechanically operated simulated animals or animal parts or "animaltronics" (building a robot to look like an animal), a process involving hydraulic systems, manipulated camera speeds, editing, padded environments, and specially designed costumes. In Dr. Doolittle 2 (2001), for instance, a suicidal tiger paces on a window ledge and is "talked down" by the animal psychiatrist (Eddie Murphy). The tiger was filmed pacing against a green screen, and this image was then combined optically with a shot taken at a designed window ledge.

Using computerized two-dimensional imaging techniques, frames showing an animal moving its mouth naturally can be coordinated with a prerecorded sound track to give the impression, in close-up, that the animal is mouthing words. Three-dimensional animation makes it possible to superimpose computer-generated mouths onto images of animal faces. Stuffed stand-ins ("stuffies") are used frequently. In “The Birds,” one of the most celebrated animal films in history, dozens of gulls, sparrows, crows, and other birds were trained, and the birds' beaks were wired shut for a birthday scene, in which gulls flew at the children eating cake.

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