Flashbacks in movies, how do they have videos from actors when they were younger, especially for old movies?

Question

How do they have these videos done years before the movie is made? And in some cases of really old classic movies, how can they film the child before a video camera was even invented?

I've always wondered how an actor has a videotape of themselves as a child for a current movie they are in..... do they take their home videos from when they were children and touch them up for the movie?

Answer 1

Well they can either do what you suggested by touching up a home movie and editing it to have it pertain to the current movie, but they can also find a child who is a "look alike" to the current actor, but just a younger version of him/her. They would then film the child actor and make the footage seem older by using a different type of film or through a computer program which adds the lines and "splotches" that make it seem older. (that is, if you see film degeneration on the screen where the lighting seems off, or the vertical lines that seem to move back and forth on the screen and the splotches that appear).

A good way to tell if it is new footage that they made with a look alike child actor is look at the credits at the end of the movie you will see "Main character's name age __" ---- Actors Name

I hope this helped!

Answer 2

This is one of th best questions I have seen on here for a long time. It is something that I too have wondered. Truly you have an insight into the world that a lot of these other yahoos...pun intended seem to miss.

The answer is obvious. The government hushed it up.

Answer 3

Read the credits! They usually say:
STAR - BIG ACTOR
STAR AS CHILD - UNKNOWN CHILD ACTOR WITH SAME COLOUR SKIN/HAIR/EYES AS BIG ACTOR
So it's just an actor.

Answer 4

when they show flashbacks, it's not really the actors who are young. the kids who are in flashbacks are some other normal kids