Animal Trainer Breaks Down Dog Acting in Movies | Notes on a Scene | Vanity Fair
hi I’m Bonnie Ted I was the animal
coordinator for a dog’s journey and this
is notes on a scene with animals in the
scene what you’re seeing is the dog
jumping through the window and he’s
coming off of a desk we originally
taught him to like jump through the
window on the desk without the backpack
while we’re teaching him that we want
him to feel like he’s totally safe and
there’s a little bit of a incline in the
roof here you can see so what you can’t
see
there’s scaffolding all along here
there’s a trainer that’s sort of right
here standing on the scaffolding and
that trainer is there to safety but the
scaffolding is all closed so there’s no
way the dog can fall from here as he
jumps from the window when you see the
dog running you can see that as stride
is very long and stretched out which
shows that the dog is relaxed and you
can see here his ears are hanging down
low they’re not curling or stressy
looking and as stride here is very long
like if you watch how he he’s moving you
can see that he’s very relaxed so a
stress dog walks all buckled up so you
can see that’s a happy dog on this part
of the scene see how tight you are here
it’s because when the dog first starts
this jump I’m actually rate sort of by
the truck and now I’ve backed out of
frame as they go wide
so as I’m backing out and the dogs
jumping I’m just making sure he’s
hitting his target which is right here I
want to make sure he hits that nice and
right in the center of it and that he
has a good view of where he needs to go
so when he is up here he actually
doesn’t really see the truck he he needs
me here to guide him to where I want him
to land right smack in the middle of the
truck and that’s the safest areas for
him to be when you don’t see the whole
view it’s because there’s pads and stuff
down to safety
dog for me safety is everything if the
dogs not happy and the dogs not safe for
any animal that I’m working I’m not
doing it everything you see we’ve
manufactured if you see a dog itching a
dog sneezing you know we’ve trained the
dogs to do that I don’t want the dogs to
feel that emotion I want them to be
happy and joyful and enjoy working
because though we the trainer’s are
getting paid how we pay them is like
what’s happiness and joy and praise and
the Allied stake and as we cut to this
one it’s the same deal there’s a trainer
behind this plant the backpack is just
stuffed with paper so it looks like it’s
full of stuff but that kept it late as
he moves you’ll see how close it comes
to his feet net bangs on his legs
originally went this long and then this
long until we got to this length and he
just over time got used to feeling the
backpack hitting his legs and it was a
fun thing so at first we just do a
couple steps and then take the backpack
out and be like that was awesome and
give him you know steak or cookies or
whatever then then to the bigger
backpack until we finally just ended up
with a backpack that was this size we
would teach this dog a down state then
we’ll start to get this dog to run by
with the backpack in his mouth so in the
end we’re now using several signals all
in one scene and we’re using the trainer
here loads the backpack here and this
dog’s mouth that happens over here so
the trainer’s over here behind this
plant the other trainers probably here
somewhere where you can’t see them and
then we do the whole complete run and we
actually wanted this dog to watch him go
by so we teach our dogs a look look or
watch and we point to the dog as we load
it up and send the other dogs so then
the other dog comes through and he
watches him go right through just like
we wanted as if he was really actually
doing that all on his own
when dogs being taught to just sort of
guard the guy here we’ve asked the dogs
go to our stand stage so the trainer
will actually be over here and one sent
him from here to here go to your mark
he’s gone to a mark here and then
another trainer would be somewhere in
front of the camera so he’s looking at
the camera and he speaks we want them to
look in the direction of the actors so
often we are the actor and we’re
shooting just the dog at this point the
dogs just coming to his mark we ask him
to stand stay and then I pull the look
wherever the actor was standing or I
stand beside the actor part here when
you’re actually throwing the ball it’s
super easy to teach the dog to hit the
ball exactly in the same place at
exactly the same rate to get it in the
basket what’s really difficult is for
the trainer to throw the ball exactly
the same way and at exactly the same
speed every single time but it’s
actually quite easy for the dog
[Music]
well I mean what can you say about this
scene it brought us all today I needs
the foot a great actor I’m not just
talking about the man but the dog I mean
you can just see the emotion in the
scene and the most difficult part about
this scene is the actor is sort of
trying to find within himself something
sad and dogs are creatures that feel our
emotions here you see the actor’s hand
is on the dog and that keeps the dog
calm and quiet keeping his head down and
keeping them quiet and breathing quiet
is actually pretty difficult when we go
through these really emotional scenes
where actors are crying or they’re
talking or they’re even just touching
the dog because the dog is wired to like
try and make us happy to try and make us
feel better
so these scenes are actually a lot more
difficult than what most people would
think yeah and it’s when actors talk to
dogs or touch the dogs often the dogs
believe that that’s a release command so
the trainer is probably right in front
of the cameras the cameras dialling in
on this and holding the dogs look with
its head down and so the camera is
dulling in onto the dog’s face and the
trainers are trying to keep the eye line
to the camera when we did the scene on
dog’s journey when I release the dog and
I say all right the dog like jumps up
and wants to play frisbee and is
bouncing around but when we’re shooting
these scenes we want them to then go
back lie down put your head down and
stay calm you know the first time we
ever deal with death is usually with our
goldfish or hamster or dog and that
prepares us for later on in our lives
when we will inevitably lose people in
our lives
this box has smells like we’ve got the
dogs all in the elevator the trainers
have all come in told the dogs to sit
stay and we actually have max right at
the front door when this opens up we
want to make sure that she gets out
first and clear before the other dogs
start pulling when this door opens we’re
calling the dogs like crazy to get them
to come through the door
as quick as possible so I’m on the other
side of the door just talking to her and
that’s why you’re getting the head tilts
I have a ready steady all right which
means like I want you to go as fast as
you can want the dogs to come out of the
elevator and pull as hard as they can
and get down to the door as quick as
they can so they’re gonna run down the
hallway like this and Belle’s well in
front to make sure she doesn’t get
stepped on in actual fact Belle’s at
this point was probably four pounds so
she’s very very tiny and we really
wanted to safety and make sure that the
big dogs didn’t actually step on her
they loved her and they were very
careful but when they’re all
overstimulated and they’re super excited
and you know we’re revving them up to
get them to run down the hall you know
accidents can happen this way
max I’m actually running beside the
hand-held camera and then I’ve kind of
ran down the whole gauntlet and now I’m
behind the door and the rest of the dogs
all come in trance we’ve already taught
the dog how to dig at the door with this
particular dog she really liked little
duck that I had it was a little rubber
ducky just got it from a dollar store
and so originally I would have the door
open maybe that much inch maybe and I’d
have the rubber ducky and I just blocked
the door with my foot and show her the
rubber ducky on the other side and I had
over stimulator and then when she
started digging at the door I opened the
door and let her come through here she
identifies yup that’s where the duck is
and then she knows I’m supposed to dig
and then we added to sit and then speak
and then release the dog to go in and
get the ducky as these guys are having
their little chitchat so all in very
small pieces all taut in very small
pieces our job basically is to set very
strong patterns like often directors
they’ll say to me I don’t even need you
here you could just send the dog in a
cab and it’s because the dogs learn the
patterns so well that it looks
effortless but it’s been you know weeks
and weeks of training to get them to
that point the chemistry of these two
actors like they had a really good
charisma together and weirdly the dog
just got all caught up in that and she
like totally loved Todd Lee I mean she
would see her was a hundred and fifty
crew members she could pick her up and
she would just bounce on me and look
bounce on me and look she loved hanging
out with her you can see the dog’s ears
are up the tails wagging she’s super
excited and happy
and like you can just see the pure
happiness in this dog like look at this
dog’s face I can’t even look at her
without getting happy myself
she’s just such a sweet girl you know
what drew me did this script is that it
really is what I believe I believe that
animals are here to teach us stuff and
some of the most important things like
being responsible being a good worker
being loyal and as people and as
trainers we learn something special
out of each animal I didn’t know when I
did the casting call I just see 500 dogs
like over two days I saw 500 dogs they
were brought to the directors and the
director and the producers the writers
they all pick we as trainers develop
lasting bonds with the families and with
the dogs for our whole lives and I mean
look at this dog’s face how could you
not yeah she’s a star she was a star the
day I saw her I sent her picture in I
made sure her owners I’m like you better
be sure you’re gonna let me use this dog
because I know when they see this dog
this dog is the face of a star they’re
gonna love her and she’s gonna get
picked that much that’s the mug of a
star
