Golgot
12-06-03, 12:19 PM
I was just watching the behind-the-scenes stuff on the Pirates of the Caribean DVD, and it got me thinking about being an extra.
I was an extra in a panicking-crowd-scene for a low-key mystical-murder-mystery movie called Semana Santa (at least that's what i think it's about. All i know is there was a murderer and a supernatural-storm - in fact, if anyone knows what happened to this film i'd be interested. It was a german-funded European collaboration, so i'm not surprised it didn't get much distribution, if it's come out at all. But the actors were english/american, so i'm assuming it was in english).
Anyways, thought maybe we could share our extra's-experiences here. Mine involved being very cold in a small spanish village from about 6 in the afternoon til 6 in the morning. And me and my friends could wear are coats at least, coz we were supposed to be tourists. All the locals in the crowd scenes had to pretend it was spring, so were dressed accordingly. It was winter.
Basically the main scene was one where we're following a traditional Semana Santa procession (the ones where they carry a table with Mary, Jesus or a religious scene etc, with the main procession wearing those KKK style pointy-hat get-ups for the most part). Mystical lightening strikes the cross on the table and we panic (or at least, the pnematically driven cross drops about a foot). The hero is supposed to be hanging from a giant pair of scissors at the time (they're supposed to be a shop-sign or something. Told you it was daft).
Well, aside from a friend getting smacked in the face by an excited old lady's handbag, things went fairly smoothily. There was no structure to it other than knowing more or less where we should run. And everyone ignored that anyway. I'm hopeing they used the take where a policeman decided to leap to one side as i was moving him out the way. He'd been acting at herding people before that and had obviously decided to do it already. Well, superhuman strength in a superhuman squall. It wouldn't look out of place ;).
Anyways, the other side of extra-ing that i wanted to talk about is: the waiting, semi-starvation side. We got given a coffee and a twinkie-thing but couldn't eat the sandwiches coz they were all meat, and most of us we veggie/fishy's. Then we had about 10 hours of hanging around. It was so cold we ended up playing hide and seek amongst the intriguing architecture of the town. And we failed miserably to beg any food from the staff-tent no matter what language we tried. It was so amusing. We're asking for just a little bit. They're going, nah, there's none. And the table's were LADEN with so much ridiculously good food. Gateauxs, towering trifles, chocolate cakes like small continents. Enormous stuffed turkeys, lavish meat-arrays and salad bowls you could swim in. Miserable gits (mind you, i understand that this stuff is seen as a major payback by the staff. But still. Gits. ;))
Anyways, share away my movie-smoothie bretheren. Have you been extraneous? If so, in what, where and when?
I was an extra in a panicking-crowd-scene for a low-key mystical-murder-mystery movie called Semana Santa (at least that's what i think it's about. All i know is there was a murderer and a supernatural-storm - in fact, if anyone knows what happened to this film i'd be interested. It was a german-funded European collaboration, so i'm not surprised it didn't get much distribution, if it's come out at all. But the actors were english/american, so i'm assuming it was in english).
Anyways, thought maybe we could share our extra's-experiences here. Mine involved being very cold in a small spanish village from about 6 in the afternoon til 6 in the morning. And me and my friends could wear are coats at least, coz we were supposed to be tourists. All the locals in the crowd scenes had to pretend it was spring, so were dressed accordingly. It was winter.
Basically the main scene was one where we're following a traditional Semana Santa procession (the ones where they carry a table with Mary, Jesus or a religious scene etc, with the main procession wearing those KKK style pointy-hat get-ups for the most part). Mystical lightening strikes the cross on the table and we panic (or at least, the pnematically driven cross drops about a foot). The hero is supposed to be hanging from a giant pair of scissors at the time (they're supposed to be a shop-sign or something. Told you it was daft).
Well, aside from a friend getting smacked in the face by an excited old lady's handbag, things went fairly smoothily. There was no structure to it other than knowing more or less where we should run. And everyone ignored that anyway. I'm hopeing they used the take where a policeman decided to leap to one side as i was moving him out the way. He'd been acting at herding people before that and had obviously decided to do it already. Well, superhuman strength in a superhuman squall. It wouldn't look out of place ;).
Anyways, the other side of extra-ing that i wanted to talk about is: the waiting, semi-starvation side. We got given a coffee and a twinkie-thing but couldn't eat the sandwiches coz they were all meat, and most of us we veggie/fishy's. Then we had about 10 hours of hanging around. It was so cold we ended up playing hide and seek amongst the intriguing architecture of the town. And we failed miserably to beg any food from the staff-tent no matter what language we tried. It was so amusing. We're asking for just a little bit. They're going, nah, there's none. And the table's were LADEN with so much ridiculously good food. Gateauxs, towering trifles, chocolate cakes like small continents. Enormous stuffed turkeys, lavish meat-arrays and salad bowls you could swim in. Miserable gits (mind you, i understand that this stuff is seen as a major payback by the staff. But still. Gits. ;))
Anyways, share away my movie-smoothie bretheren. Have you been extraneous? If so, in what, where and when?