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hells_half_acreThis is a post about Hand!Porn.
Sometimes I see posts (mostly on tumblr) with screen caps of Sam or Dean's hands, and fangirl drooling over how sexy they are. I always wonder if the person really thinks the hands are sexy on their own or if they only think they're sexy because they believe that their attached to Jared or Jensen...
...because, guys, I've met Sam Winchester's hands, and they are not attached to Jared Padalecki.
So, this is just a PSA from someone who knows a LITTLE bit about how filming works. If the hands are in a shot that includes the face, then that is the actor's hand. If the hand is in a cut-away shot and you ONLY see the hand and whatever it is manipulating... there's a good possibility that those hands belong to someone else. Sam Winchester's hands spend a lot of time hitting keys on a computer or scrolling through contacts on a phone - it's "a good gig" in the words of the person attached to Sam's hands, who also sometimes works as an extra, drives trucks, and smokes. I can only imagine that the person attached to Dean Winchester's hands feels similarly, as they also scroll through phones or perhaps pick up and put down guns.
If you think hands are sexy regardless of who they are attached to, then no worries! But if you think hands are sexy because you are imagining they are hands belonging to a pretty face, you might be drooling over the wrong hands.
So, just remember - shots that pan from a face: Actor hands. Shots that just have a hand in them: Probably a Hand Double.
Why do they use hand doubles? - to save money and the lead actor's time. Lead actors make way more per hour than hand-doubles do, also, lead actors require (by nature of being human and by union law) a certain amount of downtime between work days. Using doubles for shots where you don't see someone's face means that those shots can be filmed while your lead actors are sleeping or spending time with their adorable children/pregnant wives or filming the next episode.
For that matter, there are some shots of stunt-falls where people are gushing over Jensen or Jared's asses, or (in the case of the most recent episode) laughing at how "Jared" ended up with his knee in the trash can... and again, I'm wondering, do these fans realize that those are actually stunt-doubles? Do they realize that they're gushing over the stunt-double's asses and not the boys'? Or does it not matter? I mean, there are some shots where it's definitely Jensen or Jared because you can see the face, but there are other shots where it's kind of obvious by the way the face is purposefully obscured that it's a stunt guy. (According to a recent interview, at the moment Jared is nursing a broken rib after a skiing accident, so I highly doubt he's doing any of his own stunts).
On a somewhat related note: I was having a discussion with a friend the other day about how part of the reason we can't read non-AU RPS (besides a general squick for the genre) is because we can't stand how inaccurate the fics are when it comes to the way the film industry actually functions. This is sort of along those lines. I can't get into these pictures, because as soon as the person posting it claims it's Jared or Jensen, I'm too distracted by the inaccuracy.
Sometimes I see posts (mostly on tumblr) with screen caps of Sam or Dean's hands, and fangirl drooling over how sexy they are. I always wonder if the person really thinks the hands are sexy on their own or if they only think they're sexy because they believe that their attached to Jared or Jensen...
...because, guys, I've met Sam Winchester's hands, and they are not attached to Jared Padalecki.
So, this is just a PSA from someone who knows a LITTLE bit about how filming works. If the hands are in a shot that includes the face, then that is the actor's hand. If the hand is in a cut-away shot and you ONLY see the hand and whatever it is manipulating... there's a good possibility that those hands belong to someone else. Sam Winchester's hands spend a lot of time hitting keys on a computer or scrolling through contacts on a phone - it's "a good gig" in the words of the person attached to Sam's hands, who also sometimes works as an extra, drives trucks, and smokes. I can only imagine that the person attached to Dean Winchester's hands feels similarly, as they also scroll through phones or perhaps pick up and put down guns.
If you think hands are sexy regardless of who they are attached to, then no worries! But if you think hands are sexy because you are imagining they are hands belonging to a pretty face, you might be drooling over the wrong hands.
So, just remember - shots that pan from a face: Actor hands. Shots that just have a hand in them: Probably a Hand Double.
Why do they use hand doubles? - to save money and the lead actor's time. Lead actors make way more per hour than hand-doubles do, also, lead actors require (by nature of being human and by union law) a certain amount of downtime between work days. Using doubles for shots where you don't see someone's face means that those shots can be filmed while your lead actors are sleeping or spending time with their adorable children/pregnant wives or filming the next episode.
For that matter, there are some shots of stunt-falls where people are gushing over Jensen or Jared's asses, or (in the case of the most recent episode) laughing at how "Jared" ended up with his knee in the trash can... and again, I'm wondering, do these fans realize that those are actually stunt-doubles? Do they realize that they're gushing over the stunt-double's asses and not the boys'? Or does it not matter? I mean, there are some shots where it's definitely Jensen or Jared because you can see the face, but there are other shots where it's kind of obvious by the way the face is purposefully obscured that it's a stunt guy. (According to a recent interview, at the moment Jared is nursing a broken rib after a skiing accident, so I highly doubt he's doing any of his own stunts).
On a somewhat related note: I was having a discussion with a friend the other day about how part of the reason we can't read non-AU RPS (besides a general squick for the genre) is because we can't stand how inaccurate the fics are when it comes to the way the film industry actually functions. This is sort of along those lines. I can't get into these pictures, because as soon as the person posting it claims it's Jared or Jensen, I'm too distracted by the inaccuracy.
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no subject
Date: 2013-02-23 09:58 pm (UTC)Checked out the cap and also viewed my own and I'd say it's probably Jared's hand. I DO know it matches the hand from earlier in that ep when we see Dean take the bandage off and pour alcohol on it. You can see the same calluses.
I know what you mean. That bugs the hell out of me, too. So much so, that I inevitably have to step in and point out to people when I know it is the stunt doubles and not the boys themselves. Gushing is fine, but know who you're doing it for. Gah!
no subject
Date: 2013-02-23 10:02 pm (UTC)Thanks for weighing in on the cap!
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Date: 2013-02-23 11:03 pm (UTC)